Minj says she went into the audition process not expecting too much. It was kind of like, you made a great impression with us and we wish we could have gone that direction, but we couldn’t." “When I went back to Disney and did a different project for them that hasn’t been announced yet, I was told by several of the higher-ups there that this was created for me as an apology for Ursula. While the role ended up going to Melissa McCarthy, Minj’s audition, which, she tells TODAY, is described in more detail in her upcoming book “Southern Fried Sass,” did not end up not being fruitless. “I didn’t think I did have an opportunity, until I actually ended up in the conversation in the room for it.” Minj tells TODAY that she auditioned with Disney for the role of Ursula. When the live-action remake was first announced in 2016, calls for a drag queen Ursula arose and fans cast Ginger Minj into the running, citing videos of her performing Ursula’s marquee number “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” Major publications like Billboard got on board, running headlines like “Why Disney Should Cast Ginger Minj As Ursula In the Live-Action ‘Little Mermaid’ Remake.” “I realized, oh my gosh, that’s Ursula! This is the real life embodiment of Ursula.” Could a drag queen play Ursula in 2023? For a moment, maybe “When I discovered ‘Pink Flamingos’, I was watching it going, that person looks so familiar to me,” Minj says. With Divine’s plus-sized, curvaceous figure, signature hyper-arched brows painted almost into his wig, and a joyful proclivity for the crude and obscene, it’s not hard to see the through-line from this drag superstar to the under-the-sea provocateur. Rob Minkoff, the original movie’s animator, told Vogue that it seemed like a “funny and quirky idea” to “take (Ursula) and treat her more like a drag queen.” Specifically, Divine, the drag alter ego of Harris Glenn Milstead. Ultimately, the inspiration for the cauldron-stirring tentacled witch - voiced by Pat Carroll - came from an unlikely place: Drag. Disney worked through several versions of “The Little Mermaid’s” antagonist, from trying to cast Bea Arthur, Joan Collins and Broadway star Elaine Stritch to voice the villain to considering her form to a shark. The Ursula we know (and fear) was almost not. spoke to drag performers to get their thoughts. Does this era also call for a different villain - one that nods to the character’s drag roots more overtly at a time when state legislatures are calling to ban the art form? Bailey’s casting in the role was both embraced and met with racist backlash. “The Little Mermaid” has changed since Hans Christian Andersen’s original rendering, thanks to Disney’s intervention (for one, now it has a happy ending). “Adaptation is such a huge part of fairytales’ survival in society,” says Bee Eldridge, a doctoral candidate at the University of London focusing on representation in fairytales and a blog editor for the Disney, Culture & Society Research Network. The 2023 remake starring Halle Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula puts familiar characters back into the spotlight, with some alterations made to meet the moment. The selfish, slimy, cold-hearted octopus with a gaudy sense of style and a lust for power is crucial to Ariel’s tale in Disney's version of “The Little Mermaid." Ursula uses her prowess in magic potions to take advantage of her niece’s desire for a human prince, convincing her to hand over siren-song-producing voice and finally giving the sea witch the upper hand over her brother. But that’s what I want to be.' And I strived to be that for the rest of my life.” I don’t know how I’m gonna be a sea witch. I thought, 'You’re the complete antithesis of everything I’ve ever been told is attractive: You’re fat, you’re an octopus, your hair is short, and you’re wearing too much makeup.' But I thought, 'Well, that’s what I want to be. I didn’t really understand why I was so obsessed with her immediately. “Then, all of a sudden, the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen turns around. But that’s what I want to be.’ And I strived to be that for the rest of my life.” "I thought, ‘Well, that’s what I want to be. Minj’s neighbor, and “only friend,” was a redhead who wanted to see the movie because she wanted to be Ariel. “The Little Mermaid’ was the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater,” the drag queen, 38, tells. Before Ginger Minj would dominate multiple seasons of "RuPaul’s Drag Race," act in major movies and write a cookbook, she was a young boy in 1980s Florida looking into the eyes of an octopus … and seeing herself look back.
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