The makeup artist responsible for Ursula’s look in the new live-action version of “The Little Mermaid” responded to criticism that he’s not “queer” and shouldn’t have recreated the infamous villain’s look.
Peter Smith King is a British hair and makeup designer with 42 years of experience doing makeup for films, theater, and opera. He’s worked on major projects such as “The Lord of the Rings” and “Mary Poppins” before committing to transform actress Melissa McCarthy into the evil sea witch in Disney’s “Little Mermaid.”
King said he loved working on the movie set. “It was lovely. A lovely crew, lovely cast,” the makeup artist told Insider, adding that when deciding on a look for Ursula, he “discussed everything” with McCarthy.
The 1989 animated version showed Ursula with exaggerated eye makeup, inspired by the late popular drag performer Divine. Animator Rob Minkoff told Vogue that Divine inspired the original look for Ursula.
“Divine seemed like such a great, larger than life character, and it just seemed like a funny and quirky idea to take [Ursula] and treat her more like a drag queen,” he told Vogue in a May 2023 interview.
But some, including drag enthusiasts, were not impressed with King’s version of Ursula.
“Now when we said Ursula was inspired by a drag queen we didn’t mean one who had only been doing it for 3 months bc-,” media personality Sierra La Puerta tweeted on May 17 with a photo of the actress in full makeup.
Now when we said Ursula was inspired by a drag queen we didn’t mean one who had only been doing it for 3 months bc- https://t.co/gOODRvVT4l pic.twitter.com/BvNSf4wdp4
— Sierra La Puerta (@_SierraLaPuerta) May 17, 2023
Two former “RuPaul’s Drag Race” participants also weighed in on the look.
“When you lie on your resume and end up with the job,” Art Simone joked.
Kerri Colby wrote that the look proved “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.”
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King said he was “offended” by the backlash from the drag community. “I find that very offensive,” he told Insider. “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,” he said.
King claims he used original ideas for McCarthy.
“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 told the publication. “It just was sort of Melissa and I talking and creating. So I didn’t really draw on anything at all.”
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