LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Lizzo, a Grammy-winning artist, was under a lot of pressure as she auditioned for Ursula in Disney's live-action adaptation of 'The Little Mermaid' but unfortunately she "didn't get it." The 'About Damn Time' star later joked she performed "terribly" in her audition. "Everyone knows I auditioned for Ursula in The Little Mermaid, and I didn’t get it," she revealed.
The part was later handed to actress Melissa McCarthy but Lizzo was eager to play Ursula in Rob Marshall's live-action adaptation. The 35-year-old even posted a viral video singing the film's iconic song 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' on Twitter, where she presented herself as the evil sea witch. The video garnered over 3 million views.
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'Can you act though?'
Lizzo's video led to a social media debate about her skills. A user wrote, "Lizzo or no one." "@Disney if you don't cast Lizzo for Ursula in a Little Mermaid remake, you are making a mistake," remarked another user. Someone said, "You are an amazing singer but can you act?" Another commented, "If @lizzo isn’t cast as Ursula I’m not even going to watch." A blunt comment read, "Can you act though?"
Lizzo recalls her ‘Little Mermaid’ audition
Lizzo described auditioning for Disney's animated movie, which hit theatres across the United States on May 26, and losing the role of Ursula in her Variety cover story last year. "Everyone knows I auditioned for Ursula in The Little Mermaid, and I didn’t get it. But you know, I’m fine as hell. That has nothing to do with Ursula, but I was down to make Ursula a THOT, shaking a**," detailed the singing icon, who was born Melissa Viviane Jefferson.
'My audition was terrible'
Lizzo ran into McCarthy while filming Adele's 'One Night Only' CBS concert special in Los Angeles, and the two women connected through their common Ursula experience. "She was like, 'Hi, I’m Melissa,'" Lizzo stated. "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. And then I was like, 'Girl, because my audition was terrible.' And I say that as Tyler Perry walks by. And I was like — ruined my chances there. 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?'"
'Sometimes I like to make jokes'
However, Lizzo was joking when she told McCarthy her audition was bad. "My audition wasn't terrible," the pop artist told Variety. "Sometimes I like to make jokes. My audition was good. You can ask Disney. I don’t want to talk too much about it. The singing was great. I’ll just say that."
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