Directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider, North Country), the new live adaptation of the famous female warrior Mulan in Chinese classic tale has cast Liu Yi Fei in the titular role. My reaction? I’m rather disappointed….mainly because I was really rooting for a new face to be in the role, especially for the younger group of Chinese actresses who fight nail and needle for their first big break onscreen. Yi Fei doesn’t need that anymore, but investors want their money worth in the Chinese market, so it’s understandable why they went with a well-known face. Still, my hopes….dashed.
Comparison:
Via: 01
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
She’s a clear choice. She’s objectively attractive, and she’s also improved her fluency in English over the past couple of years. A new face will not have the same advantage. Why would Disney cast an unknown actress anyway? They have a track record of getting relatively high profile actors to star in their live adaptations. LYF has also been gearing up for Hollywood. Realistically speaking, the only two young(-ish) actresses with Hollywood connections are Liu Yifei and Jing Tian so the feasible pool of actors wa small to start with.
I was expecting Zhang Ziyi, but they probably decided to skew a little younger. And perhaps the fact that ZZY is not as fluent in English also played a part.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Ah…so Liu yifei was chosen, what a big news. I agree, I don’t think new faces will be an advantage at all. They will be so new that both Chinese viewers and Oversea viewers will not be as excited. Liu yifei is already known in Hollywood and also famous in China. I was kind of rooting for Ni Ni, but the choice of Liu yifei doesn’t sound bad. The only bad thing is imagining Shang to be a white guy…ur…like we can’t see he’s not asian, it will be quite awkward and funny like usual. No other actress can fight like Liu yifei’s kick ass skills, but I don’t think Disney will have people with real kungfu to play this show, it will obviously be very modern technological fighting scenes anyway.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I honestly thought Ni Ni would have been a greater choice, but Liu Yifei triumphs her in martial arts and fluency.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I like Liu Yifei so I’m happy for her, but I’m also a little disappointed. I thought Disney would cast a relatively new actress, but this does make sense with all the money that will be involved.
Has Yifei’s acting improved? I haven’t seen any of her recent projects. If Shang is still in the live adaptation it’ll be interesting to see who gets the role.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
My only issue with this is her acting. I thought Jing Tian would’ve been a better choice because I believe her acting is better and she has a face more similar to Mulan. I just hope LYF won’t disappoint. People are expecting a lot.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
It’s Disney so obviously anybody who gets to be Mulan will undoubtedly receive attention so I don’t really buy the excuse that having a big star is the only way to ensure a big audience. It’s the safe way, sure, but not the only way. LYF really does not need this and quite frankly does not seem like she can carry the burden of this character. Asian Americans all across the US are fighting to get better roles every day and this could have been a great breakthrough for one of them but this outcome just looks like Disney wanted to take the easy way out. In the end it’s all about the money and investors will have their way as long as they can supply it to the movie producers. Shame really.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I am surprised they didn’t go with Jing Tian, she kind of already in a few Hollywood movies. I have never watched any of it and only know her name through those trailers.
While it’s not a great casting choices, more or less of the Chinese money but at least in the next few years, I get to see more Asian actors and actresses in Hollywood production in a leading roles. Very excited about Crazy Rich Asians.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Ew, Hollywood thinks it can do Chinese(-themed) movies better than China. Anyways, I hope this gets released same time as LoCH/RoCH, as they will blow Disney’s Mulan away!
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I dunno that Hollywood can’t. It has made some pretty awesome movies in Chinese settings. Mulan being one and Kung Fu Panda being another. Rush Hour franchise with Jackie Chan was also memorable.
To be honest, I haven’t seen a single good adaptation of Mulan since…well, Mulan. The Chinese ones suck – draggy, morbid and not in the least entertaining. I’m not saying Chinese can’t do great movies. All I’m saying is that don’t discount Hollywood for making decent ethnic movies either.
But to be fair, the last few Hollywood live adaptation of other sourced material starring Asian characters, have failed miserably. I hope they break that mold by making Mulan a success. But of all ppl, they chose LYF. This is not off to a good start.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Disney is just there to milk Chinese money. I couldn’t care less about this coming adaptation of Mulan by Disney. At best, it will only slightly beat Beauty n the Beast or Once Upon a Time at the Chinese b.o.!
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Mulan is my favourite Disney movie next to Beauty and the Beast and I was disappointed by that adaptation so I hope this is miles better.
I’m so happy for Liu Yi Fei! She is beautiful and if they were going to go for an already popular C-actress they could have made a MUCH worse choice. At least LYF is a great martial arts and has undeniable presence onscreen compared to milquetoast stick figures that pass for popular actresses these days like Angelababy and Zheng Shuan.
They better not even think about casting a white for Mulan’s love interest! I don’t want to see any wimpy looking ex-EXO boys or their ilk either. Prayer circle for Shawn Dou/Dou Xiao, to be cast as Shang. He is already a Disney Prince in real life ( that body! those teeth! 😀 ), great actor and martial artist and speaks excellent English.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I will join the Shawn Dou prayer circle! Would also love Hu Bing as Shan Yu.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Majesty, you made me laugh “prayer circle for Shawn Dou” omg I 100% agree. He’s so darn handsome and has a very out-off-a-Chinese-painting face.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
@ Majesty: I would pray for Shawn Dou also or Mark Zhao.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Absolutely agree about Dou Xiao/ Shawn Dou. It doesn’t get any better than that. He’s got the whole package and can play any role. Super nice in his romantic movies and incredibly awesome in his action movies. Prince Yan Xun would be the most perfect “Disney Prince”, especially with braided hair, shaded eyes and earrings just like in PA. Can’t we start a petition and send to Disney?
Just finished episode 32 of Tribes and Empires, and finally the promised bromance starts to develop. Both DX and Huang Xuan are super gorgeous. Hope we get to see them a lot more from now on.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
aight so who’s playin Shang?… Give us a good lookin Chinese Actor Please. No White etc guys. Give us an actual Chinese dude.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I would like to see Mark Chao casts as the general since he can speak English fluently
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Am glad they make the story more Chinese then American one.. well only the language.
She is to pretty to look a bit boyish, but we never know the outcome would be awesome.
Finally badass female “princess” character live action movie!
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I thought LYF was a good choice, way back when this was first annouced i seriously thought she would be chosen since she’s relatively known and is fluent enough in english.
If the pickings was between her and Jing Tian I’m glad is her.
I think Disney didn’t take a new American Chinese actress because the Chinese would have cried foul so they took an active chinese actress. Same reason they would not cast someone like Angelababy who is part German.
Ni Ni would have been a good choice but I think her model tag and not a traditional chinese beauty was against her.
Liu Yi Fei martial arts skills though would trump any of the above names. Which was what they were looking for.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Mulan is one of my favourite Disney animations because it is about a Chinese girl and that she is so bad ass! All the other Disney princesses need saving, but Mulan does the saving instead! And there’s a YouTube video that does a body count for Mulan in the animation movie. Hilarious!
I’m disappointed by this casting choice. It’s clearly a business decision as this allows the film to air in the China theatres without any obstacles and more hype for the Chinese audience with a known c-actress. I was hoping for Ni Ni as well as she’s a much better actress and has that aura of “toughness” even though she doesn’t look muscular.
My first choice would have been Chloe Wang (Bennett), Daisy Johnson/Quake from Agents of Shield. She’s gorgeous, athletic (does all her own stunt/fight scenes on AoS), can dance and can sing (had a short stint on the Mando-pop music scene – anyone remember “Uh-Oh”? =P). But I knew she wouldn’t be considered once they issued the casting call for a full Chinese actress.
Shang’s character has been removed from the story with rumored love interest to be a fellow soldier instead. So it looks like it’s Mulan with a different story.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
Chloe do not fit into Mulan’s image without tremendous efforts to change her visuals to look like Mulan while LYF fits into Mulan’s image and the only effort is to make her look more masculine.
Chloe is not 100% Han Chinese from China.
I’m happy they chose an actress who is Han Chinese born and raised in Mainland China.
Chloe does appeal for White Americans because she does not look Chinese and she is half-White.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I don’t mind LYF as a Mulan. I mean, realistically they didn’t have much choice of Chinese actresses who could speak decent English, has martial arts skills and would be relatively known enough to pull in box office in China. The only issue with LYF is her acting skills – which can be occasionally rectified with good directing and supporting cast. She has had her moments, even though majority of her works are pretty much wooden face……
Please tell me Shawn Dou auditioned for Shang. The only other actor I can think of with good English is probably Mark Chao or some of the actors from HK.
23 thoughts on “Liu Yi Fei gets chosen as Disney’s Mulan over 1,000 others”
I think Ludi Lin would be a good suggestion, he has experience in martial arts and can speak English.