Mulan Remake Includes ‘Global Casting Search'

Disney announced it would begin a 'global casting search for a Chinese actress' to play the lead role, hoping to avoid recent 'white-washing' casting controversies.

Disney announced it was going ahead with a planned live-action remake of the 1998 animated film "Mulan," with a tentative Nov. 2, 2018 release date.

This decision is likely an outcome of the recent successes of other live remakes, including "The Jungle Book," "Cinderella" and "Maleficent." The most recent remake starring Emma Watson as Belle in "Beauty and the Beast," is set to premiere March 2017.

Not only is Mulan being redone, Disney announced it would begin a "global casting search for a Chinese actress," per The Hollywood Reporter. When the project was first announced over a year ago, it sparked an online petition to not "whitewash" its cast, as seen in casting Asian roles to Scarlett Johansson in "Ghost in the Shell," Tilda Swinton in "Doctor Strange," and Matt Damon in "The Great Wall."

Mulan is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a daughter who disguises herself as a man to take her aging father’s place in the army during wartime. She was one of the greatest heroines in Chinese culture.

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