Melissa McCarthy is no stranger to causing a memorable stir on-screen. From her standout cinematic performances in comedies like Bridesmaids, Spy and The Heat, the actress is now floating over to the dark side by embodying Ursula, one of Disney’s most iconic villains, in the live-action version of The Little Mermaid, arriving only in theaters on May 26.

Knowing the pressures that can come with bringing such a fan-favorite character to life, previously best known from the 1989 animated movie version, I asked McCarthy during her recent appearance at CinemaCon about how she was able to block out any “noise” about her casting and focus on her own creative path to become Ursula.

“I did like every other character - first, I just prayed to Pat Carroll (who voiced Ursula in the 1989 movie) and told her how much I love her, and then I just really thought about Ursula. I mean, it’s a movie I’ve watched probably a hundred times because I nannied through my twenties and we watched it every night for about a year and a half, so I’ve lived with it. I just thought about what scares her, what’s damaged her.”

Without question, having McCarthy now play Ursula, following her past experiences with the animated film, is a real full circle moment. As she took on this fictional role, McCarthy said she began to better understand Ursula’s behavior, even relating it to the ways our real world recently faced.

“An interesting thing from Covid was I thought about how isolated she was,” McCarthy said of Ursula. “She’s shunned by her family, she’s kept in isolation - of course, she’s paranoid. Yes, she’s a villain but there’s something really heartbreaking about her, and I started to love her in a different way - not just as like a dishy broad, but also as someone who got that far gone spoke to my heart.”

Also starring Halle Bailey as Ariel, Javier Bardem as King Triton and Awkwafina as Scuttle, McCarthy has nothing but praise for her The Little Mermaid cast and crew.

“[Director] Rob Marshall, there’s no one like him. And Halle, I’m telling you, even in her most vulnerable moments, Halle is playing this with such a modern, young woman strength, and it is such a relevant story in how she’s like I want to carve out my own life in my way. I want to choose the life I want to lead. My god, if that’s not relevant today, I don’t know what is.”

As I concluded my conversation with McCarthy, I wondered what she would say to her Ursula character, following her entire experience playing the Disney villain in this latest adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

“I would love to have a drink with her, and I think I would tell her anything can be mended. I think her heart was so broken by being so cast aside. Instead of trying to destroy everything, which I think people do when they’re hurt - they respond like wounded animals - she should’ve thought maybe there’s a way back into your family. Could’ve had a very different ending.”