Disney began filming Mulan this week! Following up on the success of The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, this is another live-action remake from its 1998 classic. Filming is taking place in New Zealand and China. The release date is set for March 27, 2020, for the United States, but we will see if it keeps this date as production progresses. We are most likely to see a movie that takes aspects of the Disney animated story as well as the original legend. Whether or not this will remain a musical is uncertain.
The role of the titular character is being filled by Liu Yifei, known for her roles in The Forbidden Kingdom and The Assassins. Disney has released its first photo of her as Mulan.
Disney stayed true to casting Asians for the role. Alongside Liu Yifei as Mulan, we will see Jet Li (The One, Fearless), Donnie Yen (Rogue One, Ip Man), Jason Scott Lee (Dragon, Lilo and Stitch), Yoson An (The Meg, Ghost Bride), Utkarsh Ambudkar (Pitch Perfect, The Mindy Project), Ron Yuan (Marco Polo, The Accountant), Tzi Ma (Arrival, Rush Hour), Rosalind Chao (Freaky Friday, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Cheng Pei-Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lilting), Nelson Lee (Blade, Traffic), Gong Lee (Memoirs of a Geisha, Raise the Red Lantern), and Chum Ehelepola (Sequestered, A Moody Christmas). It will be exciting to see the cast together in action, especially the famous Jet Li.
On the production side of things, Niki Caro is the director. She is known for her successes in The Zookeeper’s Wife, North Country, and Whale Rider. The screenplay is done by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Jurassic World, Rise of the Planet of the Apes). The executive producers are Barrie M. Osborne (The Lord of the Rings movies), William Kong (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and Tim Coddington (Bridge to Terabithia). And the producers are Jason T. Reed (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Chris Bender (The Butterfly Effect), and Jake Weiner (A History of Violence).
Mulan follows the story of a young woman in China who disguises herself as a man to save her elderly father from being conscripted into the army to fight the invading Huns.