Melissa McCarthy once felt like a poor, unfortunate soul on set. In an interview with The Guardian, The actor—who’s starring as the villainous Ursula in Disney’s live-action Little Mermaid remake—revealed that she once fell “physically ill” due to the toxic nature of a set she was working on.
“I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill,” the Oscar nominee said. “My eyes were swelling up; I was absorbing all of this nuttiness.”
According to McCarthy, the toxicity on set stemmed from one person in particular, whom she did not name. “There were people weeping, visibly so upset by this one person,” she said. “And I think that’s why the manipulation worked, because to get to me, this person would fire people I loved, which kept me quiet. It was very effective.” Eventually, McCarthy had enough and learned to advocate for herself. “One day, I was like, ‘It stops today!’” she told the paper. “I just kept saying to them, it stops, it stops. And I know now I’ll never keep quiet again.”
McCarthy’s Little Mermaid costar Halle Bailey recently told CNN that McCarthy was responsible for teaching her how to “speak up and [say] what works for [her]” on set. “She was telling me, ‘Yeah, I had to learn. I wasn’t always this way, and when you’re young, you’re timid,’” said Bailey.
A prolific comedy actor, Melissa McCarthy has 60-plus IMDb acting credits, including Spy, Ghostbusters, and her Oscar-nominated turns in Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Bridesmaids. While it’s unclear what person and which set were responsible for her negative experience, it hasn’t dissuaded her from making more films, particularly comedies. “Comedy allows you to sit next to somebody whose ideas don’t match up. And maybe you come out a little closer,” she said. “I think that’s what I’m supposed to be doing, in this world.”
