Melissa McCarthy previous revealed that she based much of her performance as Ursula in The Little Mermaid on her love of drag queens. This also is something that resonated from the original 1989 version of the Disney villain, who animator Rob Minkoff said was inspired by drag performer Divine. However, following the release of behind the scenes make-up footage and images, the make-up artist behind McCarthy’s look in the live-action remake became the subject of criticism from the LGBTQ+ community, who said that a queer make-up artist should have been hired and replaced him on the movie.
Peter Smith King has worked in the industry for over forty years, and has worked in both TV, film and theater. Although he has worked on such projects as Lord of the Rings, the idea of Ursula’s inspiration being partly taken from drag acts has seen his work on The Little Mermaid become the subject of criticism from a number of drag stars.
Sierra La Puerta said, “We said Ursula was inspired by a drag queen we didn’t mean on who had only been doing it for 3 months bc.” This was followed up by Art Simone’s personal criticism of King’s work, “When you lie on your resume and end up with the job.” Then Kerri Colby added, “Absolutely why we should hire up and coming queer artists with a pulse on the present and a vision for the future more often. Yes I agree, this is that.”
While speaking to Insider, King gave his response to the critiques on his work. He said:
“I find that very offensive. Why can’t I do as good a job as a queer makeup artist? That’s ridiculous. That’s trying to claim it and that’s fine, if that’s what they wanna do, but don’t put people down because they’re not what they want it to be. I personally don’t get it. Yes, I’m very old now, so that’s fine, I get that too, but, you know, a makeup artist or makeup designer could design makeup, they don’t have to have an attachment to the nature of what they’re doing. We [Melissa McCarthy] discussed everything. I mean, we both laughed about how much we love drag queens and drag makeup and stuff. But it wasn’t based on any drag acts at all.”
The Little Mermaid’s Melissa McCarty Performed Ursula With a Drag Queen in Mind
The reaction to Ursula’s make-up design has clearly stemmed from the comments made during the premiere of The Little Mermaid, when Melissa McCarthy revealed that she performed the Disney villain as though it was a drag performance, and specifically named Divine as someone who gave her a vision for the character. She explained:
“I was a nanny, and we used to watch it every night. And I always was like, I know for a fact — but I couldn’t prove it —that she had to be based on Divine. She just had to be. I was like, ‘the makeup, the look, the attitude.’ And now we know that yes, she was of course based on Divine.”
Obviously, the performance and the appearance are two different things and while it seems clear that there has been a drag influence in the performance of Ursula, the resemblance in appearance was never something that was hugely influential for King’s work.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
