Lizzo wanted to make Ursula 'fine as hell' in The Little Mermaid reboot
Lizzo planned to make Ursula "fine as hell" if she landed the part in The Little Mermaid reboot.
The Juice hitmaker hit headlines in 2018 when she made a video of herself singing Poor Unfortunate Souls as the sea witch from the 1989 animated Disney version, with the clip racking up three million views. In addition, Lizzo auditioned for the part when director Rob Marshall began casting for the live-action update the following year.
"Everyone knows I auditioned for Ursula in Disney's upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid, and I didn't get it. But you know, I'm fine as hell," she told Variety. "That has nothing to do with Ursula, but I was down to make Ursula a THOT, shaking a*s."
While Lizzo was pleased with her audition, the part eventually went to Melissa McCarthy.
And though she may have been disappointed over the result, the singer - real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson - revealed that there were no hard feelings when she bumped into Melissa at Adele's One Night Only concert in Los Angeles last November.
"She was like, 'Hi, I'm Melissa.' And I was like, 'Hi, I'm Melissa. And I also auditioned for Ursula.' And she was like, 'Well, why the hell did I get the part?' which is a classic Melissa McCarthy thing to say," the 33-year-old recalled. "And then she goes, 'This is my daughter Vivian.' And I'm like, 'Get out of here, because my name is Melissa Viviane.' We were looking at each other like, 'What the hell is going on?'"
The Little Mermaid, also starring Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, and Javier Bardem, is set to be released in May 2023.
