Crystal Liu to Play Mulan in Disney’s Live Adaptation
Disney’s Mulan has found its star! On November 29, Disney announced that Chinese actress Crystal Liu Yifei (劉亦菲) will be portraying the woman warrior in the upcoming live adaptation of the 1998 Disney animated musical. Mulan is set for a 2019 release.
This puts an end to Disney’s year-long worldwide search for an actress to play our favorite hero, who disguised herself as a male to take her father’s place in the war.
Crystal, who made her acting debut in 2002, is not new to Hollywood, having made her Hollywood debut in 2008’s The Forbidden Kingdom. Since then, Crystal has starred in English-language films such as 2015’s Outcast and The Chinese Widow, which was recently released.
Disney’s Mulan, the 1998 animated film, was based on the Chinese legendary hero Hua Mulan, who was first described in a ballad written in the 6th century. The musical film voice starred Ming-Na Wen as Mulan, costarring Eddie Murphy as Mushu and BD Wong as Li Shang. The live adaptation will take elements from both the Disney film and the original ballad.
Source: On.cc
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
so glad is asian actress got the role. I am looking forward to the movie.
I think they should find Brenda Song to be Mulan because she’s a Disney actress and she looked more like Mulan a lot.
@cutie777 what? Brenda Song isn’t even Chinese. She’s also basically a nobody besides the fact she was once a B-list Disney star
@karina I know she’s not Chinese but I prefer her better it’s just my opinion. Even though she’s not Chinese at least she look more like Mulan than Crystal.
@cutie777 I can see your point. Brenda also has the required skills and looks to play the part.
@bubbletea I know right? I’m glad you’re agree with me too.
@cutie777
no one knows what the real Mulan looked like. If you’re referring to the cartoon Mulan, that’s just a version imagined by Disney. Anyways, Liu Yifei is a better choice than Brenda Song.
Am pretty sure the real Mulan isn’t delicate looking or even pretty. So if follow real life there’s no movie to be made. Liu Yifei is sort of a good choice except seriously she’s a mediocre actress. Who knows? Maybe this will be her ultimate acting breakout role. For me she could have stood there and do nothing and she would be perfect, like how she did in Condor Heroes.
@cutie777 I actually think Brenda is a better choice too. Crystal is just bland. But yes.. she is not Chinese so won’t go well with the Chinese community.
Overall, I think they should have found someone younger.
@happybi I googled her. I don’t think so. Maybe crystal poker face will be an advantage as mulan. And am sure it has tondo with china investing as well.
@happybi I’m glad you’re agree with me but other doesn’t oh well.
@happybi Hi happybi, Yup, agree with you. This would not go down well with the chinese community. I will see what the film has to offer as a live production.
@bubbletea hey you! Hope all is well!
@happybi Hi yourself. Hope you and the family are doing well.
@cutie777
Do you mean the Asian American girl who only dates white guys??
@lilworth I’m not too sure about her dating life but you could be right. I know her by watching Disney movies or shows.
@lilworth Brenda is a decent actress. Not the best, but also not the worst. Anyone is better than ABB or Motor Mouth Grace Chan. Brenda was engaged to Miley Cyrus’s brother, yes, so what. Robert DeNiro also dates outside his race. That does not mean he hates his race. It is just like a friend of mine. He is so skinny but loves his women with some serious meat on their bones. It is who someone is romantically attracted to. There is a very pretty idol boy and his “girlfriend”, or beard of a few years , is so fricking ugly that she is fugly, or ugly for a living.
Maybe he is attracted to ugly women. It all adds up to preference, or whatever turns a person on.
I’m glad they didn’t choose a hapa or some other Asian ethnicity passing off as Chinese. LYF is also good at English so this is perfect choice tbh
Great unexpected news but frankly she’s a mediocre actress. But I like her. Better than angelababy. At least Chinese actress in Hollywood pool is wider now.
Wow. A very good opportunity for LYF, but she’s not a good actresss lol
LYF is gorgeous but so incredibly dull. Don’t know if it’s just her roles or what. Hope it doesn’t bomb.
I expect that will cast a white actor to be her love interest as I can’t imagine Disney going with an all-Asian cast.
@anoninhk doubt it. They will cast an Asian, except in Hollywood’s lexicon of Asian, that would be anyone with yellow skin instead of Chinese. When it should be Chinese. Nope, you will see perhaps at worse mixed but looks Asian.
Now for the villain, that can be someone caucasion.
Will be Mushu be in here? Could be voiced by non Asian actor.
@funnlim Your last sentence in the above comment comes across as not so nice, IMHP. There are villian roles for chinese actors too, just saying.
@bubbletea Well, at least she did not say villain roles can be some one like Eddie Murphy. That will really go over well. LOL!
@anoninhk If that were the case, it certainly would set off a firestorm of complaint against Disney about white supremacist practices.
LYF always look like she has a mask on. That #pokerface. One word to describe her is bland. It’s not like she doesn’t mix with her shows, but she doesn’t add to it.
Hollywood has done a terrible job with casting, as always. Why can’t they ask the opinion of those with Chinese ancestry who actually pays attention to Chinese media and can critique Asian actresses?
Hollywood has bombed the last few adaptations with Asian influences by whitewashing the movies. This time, they’ve improved. However, the final girl they landed on is LYF. Just…why! There are hundreds of Chinese actresses in Hollywood trying to break in. Give them a break.
News Flash!
To this date, no historical evidence has been found to confirm the real Mulan ever existed. The whole “legend” was based on a verse of an ancient poem that literally just said Hua Mulan enlisted in place of her father. That was all folks! Even King Arthur and Merlin had more literary references yet both have been deemed to be only legendary figures.
In the context, it is silly to debate about who looks more like the real Mulan.
Ok, so based on what I read (in an article from SCMP), LYF was chosen as “the one” amongst a pool of 1000 candidates (which included a few other familiar faces in the Chinese acting world) because she met the 3 criteria they were looking for: ability to speak English, martial arts skills, and “star quality” (last one is obviously very subjective).
I haven’t watched any of LYF’s works so can’t comment on her acting, but one thing I do agree with is that casting a Chinese actress is a step in the right direction given all the whitewashing in Hollywood, especially in recent years. The director for the film, Niki Caro, has been quoted as saying that she “stresses the importance of maintaining cultural authenticity” in retelling the story of Mulan — we will see how true that is once the rest of the cast is announced.
@llwy12 I am not too impressed with LYF’s acting skills, but who knows, she might pleasantly surprise us with this live adaptation of Mulan. Based on the required criteria for the film, her ability to speak english and her martial arts skills are spot on. Her acting skills, however, does leave a lot to be desired. It is great to see a chinese born chinese actress getting the coveted role in a Hollywood made film. It is a step up the ladder for chinese artists.
i too agree that Brenda Song would have made a good Mulan. She was born in the States, but is of chinese heritage, she speaks english and has a black belt in taekwondo, not to mention, she has the dark skin that is in sync with the original Mulan character from the Disney adaptation of the film.
@bubbletea
Isn’t she 100% Korean?
@msxie0714 @bubbletea Brenda Song is actually half Hmong/Miao and half Thai. I also think her darker complexion is more fitting for Mulan compared to LYF.
@bubbletea On the other side of the coin, there’s also LYF’s reputation for being “box office poison” since all of her past movies tanked. So looks like this could go one of two ways: either Disney helps raise her out of “box office poison” status and propels her to super stardom or she drags the movie down with her. My guess is that it will be the former, since this is Disney after all, so there will be a guaranteed audience to some extent…
Btw, regarding the discussion about whether the actress bears a resemblance to Mulan — supposedly one of the other actresses who “auditioned” for the role (one of the 1000 candidates) was British-Taiwanese actress Judy Hu Ting Ting whom people say actually looks like Mulan (I’m assuming they mean the original Disney animated version of Mulan)…she also has experience filming in Hollywood (she was in one of the Bridget Jones movies and a bunch of other smaller films), but Disney picked LYF over her, I’m assuming because of the star quality piece (since all her roles were minor in the films she was in).
Maybe Disney isn’t really looking for someone who can act…either that or they aren’t aware of the fact that LYF isn’t a good actress. Like the rest of Hollywood, Disney most likely doesn’t have much in depth knowledge of the Chinese entertainment industry…
@llwy12 or China investment factor? They need a China actress?
@funnlim I think China investment factor is a possibility. We never know what truly happened in the back room.
Actually I prefer Disney cast new Chinese descent actress based on their skill. But of course, Disney need star power. I will give LYF the benefit of doubt.
Hmmm. I actually prefer Tang Wei.
Taelizabeth Disney production. Tang wei looks too mature. Crystal looks young for her age. Maybe Emma Watson won’t be the worse Disney live action princess. I hope not.
Like many people here I think she is not a great actress. She is very pretty. Hopefully she will do a good job in this role. I really like to know who are the other well known Chinese actresses also auditioned for this role. For the male role I hope Shawn Dou or Mark Zhao will be the one if they will audition/auditioned for it. Here is an article about her role:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2017/11/29/disneys-choice-for-mulan-lead-role-leaves-some-chinese-moviegoers-baffled/#434d5ebb2f92
@dramas4me
Just be glad they didn’t choose angelababy
@msxie0714
I agree with you.