In The Scenario, reporter Kirbie Johnson takes readers behind the scenes of the buzziest movies and TV shows to reveal how the best wigs, special effects makeup, and more are created. For this edition, Johnson speaks with the people responsible for the beauty moments — on land and under the sea — in Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid.
Growing up, The Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie. The music was unparalleled, I was entranced by Ursula’s makeup, and perhaps I related just a little to the line “the human world is a mess.” Now, 24 years after the original animated classic hit theaters, we’re getting the live-action version with stars Halle Bailey (Ariel), Melissa McCarthy (Ursula), Daveed Diggs (Sebastian), Awkwafina (Scuttle), Javier Bardem (Triton), and more.
Live-action remakes are a business strategy for Disney: When you have a prolific intellectual property library and an animated sequel doesn’t make sense, live-action comes to the rescue and resuscitates classic films for a younger audience. Cinderella, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Mulan have all gotten the live-action treatment in the last several years; we’ll be getting Moana, Lilo & Stitch, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs soon. Many could argue making a live-action version of The Lion King may have been the hardest to pull off — the entire movie revolves around talking animals, not realistic in the slightest. But what happens when you have to create the illusion of non-merpeople swimming and talking underwater?
Allure spoke with the team who brought these characters to life, from choosing the perfect shade of red hair for Bailey’s Ariel to the story behind Ursula’s brows and how they made each character’s hair appear to be floating off the head when the actors weren’t actually underwater.
The Inspiration Behind Ursula’s Updated Look
McCarthy has confirmed her performance as Ursula was an homage to drag queens and it’s been confirmed by animator Rob Minkoff that the 1989 film’s animated character was based on drag queen Divine at the direction of lyricist and creative Howard Ashman. However, Oscar and BAFTA-winning hair and makeup designer Peter Swords King — a tenured expert who has worked on 53 films (maybe you’ve heard of Lord of the Rings?) — shares he didn’t create Ursula’s hair and makeup to replicate a drag queen exactly, because Ursula was originally designed to be a “grotesque” and “scary” villain of the story. However, Swords King was still influenced by the original character and that community, sharing he has been inspired by drag queens like Miss Fame for techniques like blending and contouring.