Melissa McCarthy so adeptly played Ursula in The Little Mermaid that she’s almost the leading topic when it comes to talking about the film, which just released at the end of May. In a recent interview, she dished on addressing a very real problem that male producer John DeLuca and male director Rob Marshall didn’t quite get until she finally gave them a demonstration.
For those who haven’t seen the newly released movie, think back to 1989 when Pat Carroll voiced the part of Ursula in the original animated version. The Sea Witch climbs onto the ship in her black dress, huge red smile, and white hair styled like fire. She strides across the deck on her octopus legs and her back end sways from side to side in a very gracious way. That movement and more was what DeLuca and Marshall were trying to coach McCarthy through but they wanted more of it and that just wasn’t going to work as the actress recalls.
In Entertainment Weekly‘s “3 Rounds” video series, McCarthy detailed the coaching experience to host Alexis Wilson, “John kept saying, lean into it and he kept shaking.” She went on to explain, “He was a Fosse dancer, and he kept saying, ‘Come down hard when you’re coming down. Shake, shake, shake when you do your shimmy.'”
Then McCarthy recalls Marshall also wanted more when he instructed her, “Really, just shake those shoulders as hard as you can.” Imagine Melissa following their advice and shaking as hard as she could while shimmying.
At the time, the actress was the only one who knew what the problem was going to be with that and she tried to simply explain it to Marshall, “When you shake your shoulders really hard, one thing happens. When I shake my shoulders,” she gestures with her hands at her chest, “Something else happens.”
She added, “You can’t throw these things around in the same fashion.”
Not fully understanding yet what McCarthy was getting at, Marshall confusingly responded, “What?”
With that, McCarthy decided to show him what she meant. When she was finished demonstrating what would happen if she were to shake and shimmy as they were suggesting, he gasped, she recalls. That certainly would have been hilarious, that was outweighed by her concern about turning the scene into something less than family friendly.