Melissa McCarthy Calls Playing Ursula in 'The Little Mermaid' a 'Fever Dream' (Exclusive)
"It is a movie I've seen more times than any other," the Bridesmaid star told PEOPLE at CinemaCon in Las Vegas
Melissa McCarthy is still coming to terms with portraying Ursula in The Little Mermaid.
"I think it took quite a while for me to kind of digest that," she tells PEOPLE at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. "Like, I was actually going to get to play Ursula, which seemed like a fever dream."
The role was also a pretty big deal to her daughters Vivian Falcone, 15, Georgette Falcone, 13, whom she shares with husband Ben Falcone — even if they didn't truly understand the full gravity of their mother's role until they watched the movie.
"My girls were a little like, 'What does that mean?' And I was like, 'It means I'm gonna play her.' And they're like, 'In what way?'" adds McCarthy, 52.
"We all went to see it about three weeks ago and my kids at the end turned around. They were like, 'Okay, that's what you meant.' "
Related:Melissa McCarthy Says She 'Surprised' Herself with Her Singing Abilities as Ursula in Little Mermaid
The Oscar-nominated actress also opened up about the process of becoming the Disney villain, and the many "extremes" of playing the famous sea witch.
"[Ursula] is just bigger than life," McCarthy says. "So then to kind of have to live with her for that long and really think about, like, what is she afraid of? What is she insecure about? By the end, I really fell in love with her in such a different way."
Ursula is also a character McCarthy knew a lot about already. While accepting the Cinéma Vérité Award at CinemaCon on Thursday night, the actress estimated she'd seen The Little Mermaid "well over 100 times."
"It is a movie I've seen more times than any other movie," she shared with the audience, adding that this new live-action version of the 1989 Disney classic is "a love letter to the original."
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Related:Melissa McCarthy Says She 'Begged' Director to Portray Ursula in The Little Mermaid (Exclusive)
The film might even convey a different message than it did a few decades ago too. McCarthy added that the film is "so relevant now" and described it as "a modern young woman trying to carve out her life."
"If that's not right on point with today, I don't know what is," she said.
Speaking to tells PEOPLE for this week's cover story, McCarthy revealed she first became of fan of The Little Mermaid when she nannied for a family in New York in her early 20s. "The girls could watch a little bit of TV and pick a movie. And I swear there was a two-year jag where we watched Little Mermaid every night," the actress said "Even if they did want a different one, I was like, 'Or we could just watch The Little Mermaid again.'"
Watch the full episode of The Beautiful Issue Cover Story: Melissa McCarthy below
Related:Melissa McCarthy Says She Would Do a Bridesmaids Sequel 'This Afternoon' (Exclusive)
So when she heard director Rob Marshall (Chicago) was doing a live-action version of the classic film, she said "I threw myself in front of [his] car and begged him. I didn't really, but I did beg him to talk to me. That part's true."
"I've spent more time with Little Mermaid than probably any other movie, which I didn't really think about until Rob's like, 'Did you see this a few times?' " added McCarthy. "I'm like, 'Well, [now that] you ask me, I've seen it a weird amount of times. Which could have frightened him. Luckily it didn't."
The Little Mermaid swims into theaters May 26.
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