Disney is bringing the live-action Mulan remake to the silver screen on November 2018. Variety of hearsays revealed that the company has fast-tracked its production for the film, created on the hit 1998 animated movie. Jurassic World and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are working on the dialogue, based on the script by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin.
Production Must Be Quick To Attend To Its Demand
There is no director or star devoted to the live-action film yet. But Disney allegedly is set to start looking for a Chinese actress to portray Mulan quickly. Mulan is the latest live-action remake in a long line for Disney, following in the footsteps of Maleficent, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book. In fact, along with The Jungle Book 2, director Jon Favreau will helm the live-action Lion King.
Disney producers Chris Bender, Jason Reed and Jake Weiner are taking the necessary precautions to assure fans that Mulan will be ethnically authentic. The studio had primarily pursued an Asian director for the project, meeting with Ang Lee and Rogue One star Jiang Wen, a hit director in his native China. Sony, which is developing a competing live-action film about the Chinese legend, also hoped to put an Asian director at the helm, but eventually hired television veteran Alex Graves.
In adding to extensive talks with Chinese cultural advisors and working carefully with Disney's own China-based team, the studio is bringing on Hong Kong-based super-producer Bill Kong as decision-making producer. Kong produced the most fruitful Chinese films to cross over - Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which he acknowledged an Oscar nomination - as well as many of China's biggest hits, including Monster Hunt, Wolf Totem, and Journey to the West.
Producers Focus On Recruiting Chinese To Create The Cast
Last fall, controversy for a short time arose when reports textured that the original spec that Disney purchased, written by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin, featured non-Chinese characters, including a white male lead. Disney quickly replied that Mulan and all primary characters in its movie, which has been rewritten by Jurassic World's Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, will remain Chinese. The studio is directing its casting search in mainland China for the main roles, including the legendary woman warrior herself.
Next up from Disney in the live-action collection is a reciting of Beauty and the Beast, which comes out March 17.
