Movies Melissa McCarthy in talks to play Ursula in live-action Little Mermaid By Lauren Huff Lauren Huff Lauren Huff is a writer at Entertainment Weekly with over a decade of experience covering all facets of the entertainment industry. After graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'em, Horns!), Lauren wrote about film, television, awards season, music, and more for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Us Weekly, Awards Circuit, and others before landing at EW in May 2019. EW's editorial guidelines Published on June 28, 2019 04:38PM EDT Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Everett Collection Melissa McCarthy is heading under the sea. The Can You Ever Forgive Me? Oscar nominee is in early talks to play Ursula in Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, EW has confirmed. Though the studio hasn’t officially made an announcement, Rob Marshall confirmed to EW last year that he was diving into directing the project immediately after Mary Poppins Returns, which hit theaters last December. “It’s about a woman finding her voice,” Marshall told EW. “A girl finding her voice, actually. And that immediately just felt like an interesting, timely piece that resonated with us.” The Little Mermaid‘s original composer, Alan Menken, is writing new music for the live-action version. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who worked with Marshall on Poppins, has also been tapped to work on lyrics for new music for the film with Menken. In addition to his musical duties, Miranda will also produce alongside La La Land producer Marc Platt. The 1989 animated film, which was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, tells the beloved tale of Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson), a young mermaid who falls in love with a prince and longs to be human. The nefarious sea witch Ursula agrees to make Ariel’s dreams come true in exchange for her beautiful voice. McCarthy will next be seen alongside Elisabeth Moss and Tiffany Haddish in The Kitchen in August. Related content: How ‘Part of Your World’ became one of Disney’s most iconic songs Lin-Manuel Miranda working on new Little Mermaid music with Alan Menken Ariel was almost blonde and other The Little Mermaid secrets