See How Melissa McCarthy Brought Ursula to Life in Behind-the-Scenes ‘The Little Mermaid’ Video (Exclusive)
Lots of “wild” filmmaking went into creating Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula for the live-action Little Mermaid.
In a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, shared exclusively with PEOPLE, McCarthy, 52, walks fans through how she and a crew of stunt performers and prop masters created the villainous sea witch’s movements.
“Ursula’s movements, the keyword for me was always like ‘slinky’ and ‘sliding off a barstool,’ ” she says.
“We had all of these amazing, incredible stunt people. There were these kind of like giant, moveable teeter-totters with seven people manning them,” explains McCarthy as footage shows her being moved above the ground on set.
She adds, “It was, like, full-blown running, fully holding on and pulling back and leaning back until they bring us to a halt, spinning. It was a wild thing to watch.”
The Oscar nominee also had puppeteers present to bring her tentacles to life.
“Every time I would dance from the waste up, I had these eight amazing dancers and each one had a tentacle. So when I would do things they really would come up and, like, you know, coif my hair or something. It was incredible.”
Original Little Mermaid Jodi Benson Says Pat Carroll Would ‘Love’ Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula (Exclusive)
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The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall, stars Halle Bailey as Ariel, plus Javier Bardem, Jonah Hauer-King, Awkwafina, Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay and more.
In June, after the film debuted in theaters, McCarthy shared photos from the making of the movie and wrote, “Swipe for some more sea witch goodness!! So thrilled you have all been loving our not-so-little movie. The amount of incredible humans it took to bring it all to life is amazing.”
McCarthy added in another upload that she hoped the film “brings you as much joy and love as we felt making.”
In April, McCarthy told PEOPLE she “threw myself in front of [director Marshall’s] car and begged him” to play Ursula. “I didn’t really, but I did beg him to talk to me. That part’s true,” she added. READ MORE