No, it was another movie about a white male savior who had yellow fever, and saved the Asians from the evil Asian forces. For some unfathomable reason in movie featuring Nic Cage, Nic Cage didn't get the protagonist role, he was given short screen time as the wise mentor role while some bland white guy was the hero.
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White male lead in the spec script Disney bought for the live action remake of Mulan
- Thread starter lightskintwin
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No, it was another movie about a white male savior who had yellow fever, and saved the Asians from the evil Asian forces. For some unfathomable reason in movie featuring Nic Cage, Nic Cage didn't get the protagonist role, he was given short screen time as the wise mentor role while some bland white guy was the hero.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Yeah that is really weird. "The idea of a white man in this traditional Chinese tale is ridiculous. But we must keep casting consistent with the original cultural appropriation if this tale and keep any Chinese actors out if this."
It would be like if Ridley Scott had defended Exodus by claiming he would have loved to cast black actors but he wanted to maintain the cultural heritage established by the ten commandments movie.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Rice-Eater
Member
I just breathed a sigh of relief lol.
Spring-Loaded
Member
but why does the white dude lead need to be in there
Subpar Spatula
Banned
No one knows if the white dude is in it. The OP is misleading. It's based off a spec script bought by Disney. It's only reliable in that in what appears to be the very first iteration (not written by Disney) there was a white male lead.
Answers will be given when casting notices are sent out.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Yeah, that's what I'm asking: why does there need to be a white male lead in any version of any script of a Mulan movie? Why must that be the starting point for this script?
StopMakingSense
Member
It was Anakin himself, Hayden Christanson.
Well duh, Mulan is the white guy's love interest.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Why was there EVER a white dude in the lead? Why did it take a spec script with a white dude for them to agree to remake Mulan?
Demoskinos
Member
Fucking gross man. That is the entire point of Mulan is Mulans journey and rising above expectations.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
The starting point was remaking Mulan. They purchased a script for a reason no one besides Disney knows. It could be because the writer is quite good but the story she worked on was eh, parts of the script were decent, or they wanted to make sure no one else made the story. It's all conjecture at this point. What is more telling is Disney isn't going to whitewash something this huge in today's world as noted as their push for more diversity in their movies.
Disney did not write or commission a script with a white male lead, it was a script by a third-party who wanted to get recognized in the industry and it seems she has. Disney's version is actually not going to be what was written in this spec script.
The script didn't make Disney want to remake Mulan, Disney wanted to make Mulan and shopped for scripts.
Fixed
Asian Women aren't much better in terms of representation though, but males really get ignored when it comes to Hollywood.
DOWN
Banned
So essentially this was a script floating around and what Disney has gone toward via new writings and rewrites may not resemble this script in the OP at all? Essentially this could be one of the common cases where they just bought a script to make sure they wouldn't get in trouble for making something similar and maybe they don't even have this writer doing any current work on the real script?
I just don't buy that Disney would fuck over their version of Mulan and fuck up their live adaptation this much. They don't have that kind of track record that I can recall.
I just don't buy that Disney would fuck over their version of Mulan and fuck up their live adaptation this much. They don't have that kind of track record that I can recall.
Okay, that is good news.
UnemployedVillain
Member
And bought the one with the white male lead to use as a starting point...I understand that you're being optimistic and hopeful, but either the rest of the script was so incredible it easily surpassed all the other ones, or the white male lead was so insignificant that he could be completely written out without warranting simply going for another script without him, but it seems unlikely
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Good thing Disney has said nothing about casting white people. :/
Zoe
Member
AngryAsianMan isn't a random dude.
MisterHero
Super Member
i'm glad the spec writers did this purposefully to call attention to the problem of whitewashing movie roles
Zoe
Member
The title says Disney, but the content says "a source" :\
I'm sure the script has changed, but it would be nice to actually get a statement from Disney.
Again, as has been stated several times, they don't necessarily even buy scripts because they intend to produce them; they can do it to prevent other studios for going in on it (otherwise you end up with stuff like the Jungle Book situation) or with the full intent that they'll only use elements of it; something as simple as literally "well I really like this supporting character here, we could do something similar" might merit buying the script, because if you have something similar and you didn't pay for it they'd be within their rights to come after you. One thing the Writers Guild is actually very good at is making sure screenwriters get their due.
This is an account deliberately given with no background into how films get made to get more exposure and outrage.
Admiral Woofington
Member
why isn't Thor 2 in the poll?
HisImperialMajesty
Member
If we couldn't make Iron Fist Asian American (because the comic 'historically' starred a white guy), can we at least keep Mulan about Chinese people, because, you know, history?
Classic Hollywood.
Classic Hollywood.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Its kinda sad when you hear black males from elsewhere come to America the same way and yet you look around and see the rare opportunity here its like man how bad is it where they come from.
If you want to see crazy changes - find the original script for Guardians of the Galaxy and compare it to the actual movie.
HisImperialMajesty
Member
No one doubts that changes will be made from a spec script to the final version. The reason why people are speaking up now is because we want to make sure that the RIGHT changes are made, and that Disney produces a final product that represents Asians and Asian Americans in a positive, progressive manner. We don't need your white savior character, thank you very much.
They LOVE Asians. That's why they send the handsomest blond dudes to save/teach/redeem them.
hydragonwarrior
Member
No but seriously, I want Scarjo as Mulan
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Kung Fu Panda was a gigantic hit there. Kung Fu Panda wanted to be authentic as possible, and I think that benifited the final product in america too.
Mulan on the other hand was extremely american, but I think most of the stuff americans liked about Mulan was the American bits. It's also harder to please both when you're altering a Chinese story instead of making your own.
BronsonLee
Member
This really is my favorite thread to collect people who just want to be mad about shit
lightskintwin
Banned
Shut up, nerd.
BronsonLee
Member
You know I'm not actually talking about you here right
The callback is amusing but this whole thing popped off because of a guy with an agenda who should know better, but morphed it around to suit his blog
lightskintwin
Banned
I have no idea, but I just really wanted to say it back to you. LOL
StickSoldier
Member
This isn't even Mulan! More like Molan!
BronsonLee
Member
They announced they were making it this week, but also announced new scriptwriters that would be rewriting the spec script the OG people wrote
So they are going to use it as a base, but they'll likely change 75-80% of it. Then other scriptwriters will get a pass at it. Then it'll hit the Disney braintrust.
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