Meet the identity behind the person who inspired the great villain of ‘The Little Mermaid’
In 1989, Disney released “The Little Mermaid”, a film that presents the story of Princess Ariel, daughter of Triton, the king of Atlantis, inspired by the tale written by the Danish Hans Christian Andersen in the year 1837 that bears the same name.
During the plot, Ariel ends up being held hostage by Ursula, a marine mythological being who is half human and half octopus, who seeks to take Triton’s power and, to achieve it, ends up persuading the youngest daughter of the king of the seas to take her to the human worlds and gain the voice of the girl.
Over the years, the villain ended up becoming one of the studio’s most striking antagonists. But, do you know who was responsible for inspiring the creation of this renowned character?
Divine inspiration”
Those responsible for creating Úrsula were the producer Howard Ashmanan extremely well-known professional on Broadway who had just arrived at Disney, and the animator Rob Minkoff.
In season, Rob designed the character very different from what we know today, with striking eye makeup, lots of jewelry, a pink mohawk and a shark tail in place of his classic tentacles. Despite everything, according to the Gente do IG portal, everyone who checked the design agreed that her physical characteristics were similar to a famous drag queen of the time, known as Divine.
ashmanwho was a huge fan of the artist, ended up realizing that making Úrsula look like Divine maybe it was a great bet. In this way, in addition to appearance, the drag queen also inspired some of the villain’s behaviors, such as her outspoken form and villainous nature on the scene.
Big success
And the gamble could not have paid off more. Thanks to the film, Disney was able to recover from a huge financial crisis, entering the famous Renaissance Era, one of the most popular and praised of the studio, which also has titles such as “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin” , “The Lion King” and “Mulan”.
Unfortunately, divine could not keep up with all this success. As stated by the official Disney website, it was expected that the drag queen would also be the official voice actress for Ursula, but unfortunately, Glenn Milsteadresponsible for giving life to the artist, ended up dying before receiving the invitation, after suffering heart failure.
To take her place, the studio ended up casting the actress to dub the character. Pat Carroll, who died in August last year at the age of 95 after complications from pneumonia. In Brazil, the one responsible for lending her voice to the iconic villain was the singer and actress Zeze Motta.
Source: Recreio
