‘The Little Mermaid’ Makeup Artist Just Responded to Criticism Over Ursula’s Look
Ever since we got a sneak peek of the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, there’s been some not-so-nice talk about Ursula’s makeup, played by the incredible Melissa McCarthy. It’s not the actor people were poking fun at. It was the look, the green eyeshadow and thin brows and red lip. Now, the veteran makeup artist is speaking out about the criticism.
Peter Smith King is a British hair and makeup artist. He has more than 40 years of experience doing makeup for films, theater and opera, including The Lord of the Rings and Mary Poppins. He told Insider that working on The Little Mermaid was incredibly special with a “lovely crew, lovely cast.” He and McCarthy collaborated on Ursula’s look.
He also revealed that they didn’t draw on outside influences for Ursula’s makeup. That’s a departure from the original film. According to Time, the original 1989 Disney animator, Rob Minkoff, said he sought inspiration for Ursula from the late drag queen performer, Divine. King said that wasn’t the case here.
“No, no. It was me. I didn’t really draw on anything. I played around quite a lot with different colors, different shapes, and stuff,” he said. “It just was sort of Melissa and I talking and creating. So I didn’t really draw on anything at all.”
He also responded to criticism from the drag community that the makeup would have been better coming from a queer artist. For example, RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under star Art Simone tweeted: “When you lie on your resume and end up with the job.” Kerri Colby, from Season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race wrote back that “absolutely why we should hire up and coming queer artists with a pulse on the present and a vision for the future more often. Yes I agree, this is that.”
Drag queen Sierra La Puerta took a screenshot of McCarthy’s makeup and tweeted: “”We said Ursula was inspired by a drag queen we didn’t mean one who had only been doing it for 3 months bc-.”
“I find that very offensive,” he said. “Why can’t I do as good a job as a queer makeup artist?…That’s ridiculous. That’s trying to claim it and that’s fine if that’s what they wanna do, but don’t put people down because they’re not what they want it to be.”
King said he and McCarthy spoke about their love for drag but again, that this version of Ursula was not based on one queen. “I personally don’t get it,” he said. “Yes, I’m very old now, so that’s fine, I get that too, but, you know, a makeup artist or makeup designer could design makeup, they don’t have to have an attachment to the nature of what they’re doing.”
