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White male lead in the spec script Disney bought for the live action remake of Mulan

Who should play the lead character and true hero in Mulan's live action movie?

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Cindi Mayweather

Cindi Mayweather

Member
I should see people of only Asian and Steppe descent. Anything else is a failure. No wandering European Knights, no Africans. I don't give a crap. Anything else is a failure. This is Mulan. No one cares about while people in this story.
 
milkham

milkham

Member
Zoe said:
You know, I don't care what nationality the actress ends up being, but if they go for a Chinese actress with a Chinese accent, they better make all of the characters have similar accents. Let's not mix and match.
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I don't think i could sit through a movie full of chinese accented english
 
S

sphagnum

Banned
Cindi Mayweather said:
I should see people of only Asian and Steppe descent. Anything else is a failure. No wandering European Knights, no Africans. I don't give a crap. Anything else is a failure. This is Mulan. No one cares about while people in this story.
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You know, if they really want to fuck with us, instead of making the white guy a European merchant, they could make him a Tocharian, and then he'd HAVE to be white and be in the area, and it would be historically accurate.
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
milkham said:
I don't think i could sit through a movie full of chinese accented english
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I'd rather not either, but what kind of message is it gonna send if Mulan has a noticeable accent but everyone else speaks perfect English?
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Zoe said:
The might whitey thing aside (cause really, what else is new), it's really disappointing that two female writers would come up with such a premise for a movie that was ahead of its time in female representation.

Edit: there are some podcasts where they talk about their script, but I can't listen to them right now.
http://www.thedisneymoviereview.com/26/
http://www.chickswhoscript.com/podc...lizabeth-martin-and-magic-realization-page-87
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This just confuses me more. They're a little cagey about racial representation, but they're clearly way into promoting female representation in the film industry, and upset as the sexist situation that the film industry is in, so that they stuff a male lead into the film is especially odd. Unless they think that's what they had to do to get it sold.
 
F

FinaruDensetsu

Member
I think the guy who plays Mike Chang in Glee would be a decent Asian-American to play Shang if he's still in the live action movie.

Henry Shum Jr. that's his name.

And for Mulan they'd just have to do an open casting call and find a talented unknown like they did for Moana.
 
O

Ordinaryundone

Member
Cindi Mayweather said:
If you lack the "courage" and insight to make a Mulan movie without an all Asian cast maybe you shouldn't make a Mulan movie.
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I mean, the original Mulan had a black guy (Eddie Murphy) playing Mushu and a Hispanic guy (Miguel Ferrer) playing the main villain, and a bunch of white people as ancillary voices. They were all drawn Asian (well, as Asian as a dragon can be anyway), but still its there. Most of the primary actors were Asian, which is great (I love me some BD Wong and Pat Morita) but the movie never had an all Asian cast courage or no.

Edit: Also, funnily enough, Shang (BD Wong) was Asian until he started singing. Then Donny Osmond took over. He was actually in talks to play Shang period but was given second billing for an Asian actor. Jackie Chan ended up doing the Chinese and Mandarin dubs.
 
G

Goldrush

Member
Is chasing China money actually realistic for this movie? Wonder how open the Chinese audience will be to a Western-produced movie about China, especially since Wuxia movies are commonplace. Will loading it with native Chinese actors and actresses be enough to lend credibility to the movie or will the movie be doomed to be viewed as inauthentic regardless of the actual quality of the movie or the cast?
 
Cindi Mayweather

Cindi Mayweather

Member
Ordinaryundone said:
I mean, the original Mulan had a black guy (Eddie Murphy) playing Mushu and a Hispanic guy (Miguel Ferrer) playing the main villain, and a bunch of white people as ancillary voices. They were all drawn Asian (well, as Asian as a dragon can be anyway), but still its there. Most of the primary actors were Asian, which is great (I love me some BD Wong and Pat Morita) but the movie never had an all Asian cast courage or no.

Edit: Also, funnily enough, Shang (BD Wong) was Asian until he started singing. Then Donny Osmond took over. He was actually in talks to play Shang period but was given second billing for an Asian actor. Jackie Chan ended up doing the Chinese and Mandarin dubs.
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That's a completely different situation due to being voiced. Eddie Murphy played a dragon, not a person. Also, since we're talking about a live action movie, having an Asian cast would be pretty important, no? Whether the original had Eddie Murphy as Mushu or not is kind of irrelevant.

That's the last I have to say about it. Anything else is a conflict of interest.
 
L

lightskintwin

Banned
I see the Asian American industry insider ConcernedforMulan who wrote the letter is posting on reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/asianameri...isneys_spec_script_for_liveaction_film_mulan/

I assure you it is. My sources are sound, and I have read the script myself. No one has openly spoken out about this issue yet. I've chosen to anonymously leak what the script contains in vague phrasing to raise awareness and to urge Disney to reconsider the direction this movie is going.
Please feel free to share the link and use #MakeMulanRight if you feel so inclined. Thanks for reading.
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I will not be releasing the script to avoid potential legal ramifications as well as to extend an olive branch to Disney as a sign that there's still time for change. The new writers from Jurassic World have picked it up and are poised for the next rewrite. My intent is to expose what was purchased as the original and allow the voices of the people to influence how the new writers go about it.
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I care because art informs what we think about people and cultural groups. It's been a common problem for Hollywood to cast white people in asian roles, or to whitewash cultural stories because they think it will be more appealing to an American audience.

Not only does casting a white man make a movie that's about Ancient China less authentic and less effective as a story, it assumes that Chinese characters aren't worth holding up their own movie. Asians have struggled for a long time to gain visibility in hollywood, and if this type of thing keeps happening (see also: Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Last Airbender, The Great Wall, etc) then Hollywood is telling its audience that it's alright to perpetuate racist stereotypes and whitewash Asian identity and culture.
I encourage you to read the letter if you haven't already.
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No, they definitely wrote a white person into the script, because no one has been cast yet. The script has it specifically written into it. You're right, I'm not directing the movie. But I am one of the consumers and I think a great host of Americans would vouch for me when I say that it's wrong to write in a white man into a script they do not belong in.
I hope to see change happen, and I hope that I will want to pay to see the movie.
Click to expand...
 
O

Ordinaryundone

Member
Cindi Mayweather said:
That's a completely different situation due to being voiced. Eddie Murphy played a dragon, not a person. Also, since we're talking about a live action movie, having an Asian cast would be pretty important, no? Whether the original had Eddie Murphy as Mushu or not is kind of irrelevant.
Click to expand...

Oh I agree, it should be an all Asian cast if at all possible. I was just found about your previous comment, assuming anyone who made a non-100% Asian Mulan movie to be cowards, a little strange when it's not a franchise known for that sort of thing.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
Admiral Woofington said:
Make a (white) man out of you
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Time is racing toward us
Til the whites arrive
Heed my every order
And you might survive
You're not skinned for
The major role
So pack up
Go home
You're through
How could I make white man out of you?

Be white man
You must be skinned like the white rice grain
Be white man
Like all the clouds of a great typhoon
Be white man
You yellow girls give him raging boner
Mysterious as the white side of the moon
 
Cindi Mayweather

Cindi Mayweather

Member
Ordinaryundone said:
Oh I agree, it should be an all Asian cast if at all possible. I was just found about your previous comment, assuming anyone who made a non-100% Asian Mulan movie to be cowards, a little strange when it's not a franchise known for that sort of thing.
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I put courage in quotations because as a Hollywood film it would be pretty "brave" to make a big budget non-while all Asian film according to classic Hollywoid standards. Of course, I use quotations because it's not actually brave because it should be standard procedure. It was tongue in cheek.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
lightskintwin said:
Yeah, i get the Asian American argument, but there's no way you're going to have me believe that using a native Chinese actress set in China about a traditional Chinese legend is a bad thing.
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The way I read it, he's saying casting a Chinese actress as Mulan as a ploy to appeal to a Chinese market is bad, which is quite different from saying a native Chinese actress set in China about a traditional Chinese legend is a bad thing.

He likes the Americanized version of the story where it's more Mulan vs patriarchal society, and not just the traditional Chinese story of Mulan going to extremes to maintain the family's honor. If they're looking to appeal to Chinese markets, they probably will scale back on the Americanization a bit.

Maybe it's too big of an assumption from evidence on hand, but better to bring this stuff up now while changes are able to be made. I can easily see them automatically saying movie about Chinese people must mean the movie has to be tailored made to sell in china, with the resulting product being a mess that neither country likes.
 
L

lightskintwin

Banned
thepotatoman said:
The way I read it, he's saying casting a Chinese actress as Mulan as a ploy to appeal to a Chinese market is bad, which is quite different from saying a native Chinese actress set in China about a traditional Chinese legend is a bad thing.

He likes the Americanized version of the story where it's more Mulan vs patriarchal society, and not just the traditional Chinese story of Mulan going to extremes to maintain the family's honor. If they're looking to appeal to Chinese markets, they probably will scale back on the Americanization a bit.

Maybe it's too big of an assumption from evidence on hand, but better to bring this stuff up now while changes are able to be made. I can easily see them automatically saying movie about Chinese people must mean the movie has to be tailored made to sell in china, with the resulting product being a mess that neither country likes.
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You're right, but I could see both sides of the argument and it could very be a mess that neither country likes. IMO they're better off sticking to the Americanized version and make as much money from the domestic and international markets and hope China likes it rather than the other way around.
 
O

Obliterator

Member
Come on if they are going to do this, they need to do it right.

The entire cast should be primarily Asian, except for the voice of Mushu who should be Eddie Murphy
 
L

lightskintwin

Banned
Obliterator said:
Come on if they are going to do this, they need to do it right.

The entire cast should be primarily Asian, except for the voice of Mushu who should be Eddie Murphy
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LOL You don't think that would look silly? I don't think Mushu would work in live action. Perhaps Disney could prove me wrong, but I remain skeptical.
 
O

Obliterator

Member
lightskintwin said:
LOL You don't think that would look silly? I don't think Mushu would work in live action. Perhaps Disney could prove me wrong, but I remain skeptical.
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Are you suggesting there will be no Mushu? Because there 100% will be or at least I would think so, he will just be CG. It will be lame as hell if he's cut

Cobalt Izuna said:
Kevin Hart bruh

he was so good in Secret Life of Pets
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I'd be ok with this too
 
L

lightskintwin

Banned
Cindi Mayweather said:
Have you seen Jungle Book? I thought it wouldn't work but it did. They can do Mushu.
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Nah, I haven't seen it yet, but those are real animals being CGI'd in Jungle Book. I have my doubts on how a miniature talking Dragon voiced by an African American comedian will come across in a live action movie about a Chinese legend. It sounds like it'll be too silly, but admittedly I could be completely wrong.
 
P

Pop-O-Matic

Banned
Casimir said:
outcast6.jpg

x6ihhtdngb7br3ql5ibv.jpg
.
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They're remaking Highlander with Nic Cage?
 
O

Ordinaryundone

Member
Pop-O-Matic said:
They're remaking Highlander with Nic Cage?
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Nah that's from Outcast, a 2014 "semi-historical" kung-fu movie about two disillusioned Crusader Knights (Nic Cage and Hayden Christiansen) who run to China to get away from the war. Christiansen falls into opium use but gets a new lease on life when he's hired to protect a local princess (Liu Yifei) and her brother whose court have been overthrown by a usurper.

It's actually not a bad movie, if incredibly cheesy and Cage-y. Awful critical reviews though, I think it's got a sub-10% on RT.
 
newtypepilot

newtypepilot

Member
There's already a live action movie about Mulan, back in 2009. Trailer

Just stick to the story from the original poem, Disney. They can't just change the story and have a white character be the focus. It's like they are asking for a backlash.
 
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Democracy was murdered this day by Kenneth Bone.
 
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