Casting is now under way for Disney's The Little Mermaid, and Melissa McCarthy is reportedly in talks to play Ursula the sea witch. As of now, the actress has yet to officially sign on, as they're still in the early talks of the process. Ursula is of course the villain of the story, which follows a mermaid princess named Ariel who meets a human prince on land. The remake will incorporate some of the songs from the original movie along with new music from Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns) is directing the movie using a screenplay written by David Magee. Miranda and Marshall are also producing with Marc Platt and John DeLuca.

Live-action remakes have proven to be successful for Disney, so it was no surprise when it was announced a new Little Mermaid movie was in the works. The live-action Aladdin movie was just released last month, grossing $819.5 million (and counting) against its $183 million budget. Next month will see another major release from Disney as a photorealistic computer-animated remake of The Lion King will hit theaters on July 19. It doesn't take Nostradamus to predict that this movie will be tremendously successful as well, likely even more so than Aladdin. Every other animated Disney classic could be the next movie to be updated, and there had been a lot of anticipation surrounding the possibility of Disney's The Little Mermaid.

No other actors have yet been officially cast for the movie, but plenty of names have been floating around in the rumor mill. Musician Harry Styles and Noah Centineo (Charlie's Angels) were reportedly being considered to play Prince Eric, while Jane Levy (Don't Breathe) and Zendaya Coleman (Spider-Man: Far From Home) were rumored frontrunners for the role of Ariel. Lindsay Lohan has also publicly campaigned for the role on social media, although that seems far less likely to happen. Back in March, director Rob Marshall addressed Lohan's requests to be in the movie only by saying the casting process wouldn't begin until summer.

Melissa McCarthy first made a name for herself co-starring with Billy Gardell on the comedy series Mike & Molly. She then moved on to movies by starring in many entertaining adult comedies, such as Bridesmaids, Spy, and The Heat. McCarthy notably also starred in the 2016 remake of Ghostbusters and made several memorable appearances on Saturday Night Live as various characters. More recently, she appeared in last year's Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Given her comedy experience and versatile abilities, McCarthy should have no problem fitting right in with a live-action Disney remake.

There's no release date attached to the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid just yet, but the movie will reportedly begin production in April 2020. However the cast turns out, chances are it will be a big hit for Disney as with the other live-action remakes before it. This information comes to us from Variety.