Mulan (Live-Action)

[Disney's Divinity]

From what I've observed, animation directors generally don't like the idea of having their work remade (or any animated films for that matter) and that's why they prefer remakes that make radical changes to the originals like Maleficent, Alice, Pete's Dragon, and Mulan. In their minds, the existence of the remakes is more justified when they veer away from the original work as much as possible. They see wanting to remake animated films in live-action as insulting instead of complimentary.

Yes, for the directors, I'm sure they prefer deviations because for them it feels like genre snobbery from Disney otherwise, when it's really only about money for Disney and no other motive... In Disney's eyes, re-making films and relying on nostalgia is easy money, it's not an attempt replace the originals because they believe live-action is superior. Still, this outlook from the people associated with the original films is understandable when they're not contacted or paid for their previous work that's being re-used in any way... I mean, who can blame Jeremy Irons for being grumpy at not being contacted when they brought back James Earl Jones? It can't help but make them feel: "Why am I less necessary than other talent that were involved with the original film?"

[Sotiris]

While I'm sure some members of the cast and crew would love to come back and be involved with the remake of their respective film (like screenwriters, songwriters, voice actors, etc.), I highly doubt the directors would be willing to direct them even if they were asked. At best, they would accept a position as consultants.

[JeanGreyForever]

I found this Twitter thread from a journalist who interviewed the former Disney animators on their thoughts on the remakes.

Further down the thread, she shares comments made by Tony Bancroft, which are extremely critical of the "Lion King" remake and even present day Disney in general. So that blows the theory that he's being nice to Disney out of the water.

Very interesting and candid thread. Thanks for posting!

I remember very few:
Terry Rossio didn't like seeing lines he wrote in a film he had nothing to do and didn't even get credit for.
Angela Lansbury thought the Beauty and the Beast remake was pointless.
Linda Wolverton didn't like Beauty and the Beast as well and that their world didn't really make sense.

I don't remember their exact words but it was something along those lines.

Ironic coming from Linda considering how she butchered Sleeping Beauty. And Alice in Wonderland is hardly considered one of her finest works either. But I do agree with Linda there along with Angela Lansbury.

[DisneyFan97]

I really hope this doesn't get delayed again ??

[Sotiris]

Finding the right actress to play Mulan was the single most important decision we needed to make, so we cast the net wide. It was a global search, open to anyone who wanted to audition. Here are just a few of the thousands who went on tape for us. I was so moved by their love for the character, their sincerity, and excitement. I hope everyone who tried out for Mulan knows that their passion is woven into the fabric of our movie, and that that all played a part in helping me understand and appreciate how beloved and important Mulan is to so many.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAGb_SfFXhH/

A short clip from Yifei’s first audition scene. Also the first day I met her. She had traveled from Beijing the day before, and had not slept due to the punishing jet lag between China and US time zones. We needed to see her do four scenes, one of which had five pages of dialogue. All in her second language. The audition took 2 hours, and then she went for a physical training session for another 90 mins. She was deeply exhausted, but never asked for a break, was totally focused, committed, and consistently brilliant. I saw the depth of her talent, her physical strength, her artistry and her undeniable spirit. I knew I’d found a partner, a collaborator, and a warrior. We loved her so much we delayed the shoot 6 months to wait for her to become available. Best decision we ever made.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAJBe18AIbQ/

I love that so many of you are interested in the audition process, so here’s a special one. It was very early in our search, before we even had a screenplay. This is a scene specifically written for the Mulan auditions by writers Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa. I love how the words pretty much articulate the auditioning process ‘I just need one person to believe in me and that person is you’. We believed so strongly in Xana that we offered her the role of Mulan’s sister Xiu. You are going to LOVE her in this movie, I promise.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CALYKqAl4To/

Casting Mulan’s fellow soldiers was a blast. Here are headshots of Yosan An, Jun Yu, Jimmy Wong, Chen Tang, Doua Moua, and Vincent Feng. I’m sure they will be appalled to learn that when casting, I was thinking about them like the Spice Girls (!) as I tried to assemble a group with distinctive individual traits - the romantic, the bully, the brute, the baby etc. I think we really nailed it with this bunch of crazy cats, all of whom are individually and collectively brilliant in the movie. And since it has been such a big casting week on my insta, mad love and respect to Casting Director Deb Zane and her lovely associate Dylan Jury. They are the people who tirelessly found (and/or discovered) actors for the huge number of speaking roles in the movie, from mega-stars to unknowns. What a pleasure and a privilege it was to work with them.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAOTT7alNVg/

[Disney's Divinity]

The actress they chose inadvertently ended up causing a lot of problems for this film, didn’t she? First the Hong Kong comments which put a bull’s-eye on this, then we learned at one point they were re-shooting because of rumored acting issues. Now we learn they delayed six months just to get the actress, which unknowingly landed it square in the pandemic.

[estefan]

I don't think the three months of re-shoots ever happened, so that turned out to be a false rumour.

[Sotiris]

When you watch a completed film it’s easy to believe that every choice was perfectly planned, and that making the movie was all about just executing those (hopefully) great ideas. Not so. Developing and prepping a movie is a vigorous, fluid, and more organic process than you might expect. Ideas are born and discarded. Sequences prove to be more expensive than budget allows. Locations, however beautiful, can be logistical nightmares. So this week I thought I’d talk about the some of the u-turns, pivots, dead ends, and sequences that never made it. Like this one. This is an early boarded sequence of a fight between Mulan and Xianniang that was originally written to take place in tree tops. To be honest, I was a bit uneasy about the treetops idea, since it was very much the territory of the original ‘Crouching Tiger’ and I wanted our movie to be different. But the boards were cool and at the time I didn’t have a better idea. Boards by Jane Wu.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAV8vevFDwY/

A big reason why it was hard for me to let go of the treetop sequence was this place, affectionately known as the Goblin Forest. While I developed mad respect for VFX while making this movie, I was (and will always be) an in-camera girl. In my experience, nothing in the GC world comes close to what nature serves up, and this place is nature at its most strange and wonderful. However. 1) Bringing a huge film crew in would be doing the forest no favors. 2) Building a set to recreate the forest would be prohibitively expensive. 3) It was only part of a sequence so we would still need to accomplish the rest of the scene elsewhere, and 4) The rest of the scene included a dozen horses and riders moving at speed. Hard as it was to let it go, I came to appreciate that we would need a new approach...

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAYHqcrFq2J/

The solution to my forest problem came while solving another, different problem, which was how to deliver the muscular, adrenalized clash of two armies locked in an epic and fierce battle WITHOUT showing any violence... this being a Disney movie after all. The solution was to stage the battle in a geothermal environment so we could imply violence but not explicitly show it. (Using steam to our advantage basically). This led us to a deeper examination of geothermal places and how super strange and cool they are. We scouted volcanoes, lakes and geothermal valleys and discovered a new solution to our forest dilemma that I like to think ended up way more interesting... Another beautiful and strange place for Mulan to find herself.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAbR-FLlASl/

One of the bigger challenges, production-wise, was how to deliver the Imperial City. During the Tang Dynasty, the Imperial City was the largest and most sophisticated city in the world, and a golden time in cosmopolitan culture. We were fortunate to discover a Tang Dynasty city in Xiangyang, in the Hubei Province. That was the good news. The trickier part was navigating the fact that it’s a wildly popular tourist attraction, which led to all kinds of tricky shooting and scheduling...

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAvneoTl9KK/

While XY Studios were a huge gift to the production design of MULAN, it lacked one crucial thing - a killer establishing shot of the Imperial Palace. We needed stairs - the more dramatic the better - for a couple of essential moments in the movie. We found them Hengdien, in Zhejiang province. We were very inspired by the amazing shot on these stairs at beginning of ‘Hero’, but knew we need an iconic shot of our own. Here’s Mandy Walker masterminding such a shot on one of our many location scouts, and the drone which eventually captured it. My strong advice would be to experience the shot on the largest possible screen. It’s super cool.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAyRhDxF725/

One of the very important things we do in the last weeks of pre-production are camera tests with the actors. It gives us an opportunity to see the characters for the first time, on film, in hair, makeup and costume. Generally it involves actors walking to and from the camera, but I like to encourage them to be in character and to enjoy the experience. This is a little clip we cut together to show the studio. It was their first glimpse of the new Mulan - as a village girl, a male soldier, and a warrior woman. Also their first look at her squad - our beloved group of boys and their sergeant. I love them all - and I love this piece cut by editor David Coulson.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEXNd6Jhgan/

The day before we started shooting, I challenged myself to a long run up the beach where I was living. I had never run 20km before - but I’d never made a gigantic action adventure movie before either, so why not? I timed the run to coincide with our amazing Mongolian and Kazakh stunt riders on one of their early practices. Looking back, the experience of wondering whether I would make it, and what surprises the journey would hold, seems very apt right now as I approach the release of the movie. But on that day, at around 19km, this is what I saw... a bunch of guys, practicing STANDING UP while riding GALLOPING HORSES... Such badassery. So inspiring. And quite frankly astonishing to me that only one of them fell off.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZdhYlBsWV/

Our first days shoot actually started a day early. Our budget and schedule (84 days) did not allow time to shoot a montage of Mulan getting dressed up for the matchmaker, which devastated me. So the ever fabulous Liz Tan 1st AD and all around goddess warrior genius filmmaker contrived to allow Mandy and I to shoot on our last day of prep. I had always been determined to bring vibrant color to this movie (my colleagues will remember the wars I waged against the color brown) and to see our first images come through like this was thrilling. Thank you to Make-Up Designer Denise Kum. Gracias to Costume Designer Bina Daigeler. And gratitude to you too Mandy Walker! My girls. Dream Team. But with special thanks to Liz who’s had my back since Whale Rider. A cunning fox and a cherished collaborator. May we have many more adventures around the world together.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEkBZbIFnUH/

A very tough part of the film making process is the very real fact that sometimes scenes that have been beautifully executed do not always make it to the final cut. Sometimes the material is so rare and beautiful that it upends the structure and the momentum you are trying to create (in this case the beginning of the 2nd act). This scene is a great example. Mulan is on her long journey to take her father’s place in the Army training camp when she encounters Xianniang, the witch, who has fallen from the sky and is entangled in the trees of a petrified forest. Both Gong Li and Yifei are extraordinary in a scene that is visually and emotionally both exquisite and disturbing. What a privilege to work with the iconic Gong Li, and witness such fierce commitment and fearlessness, let alone her rare beauty and power. I urge you to check it out in the DVD extras. It’s quite something.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEms6nAFFEI/

The Witch Xianniang fights alongside our true villain, Bori Kahn, brilliantly embodied by Jason Scott Lee. And what a body he created for the character. We needed to shred him, so under the guidance of our physical trainer Bojan Mladenovich, this the result of just two months training, organic food, and Jason’s determination to bring everything to the creation of the brutal, dangerous, and unpredictable Bori Kahn. Genius Hair, Make-Up, and Prosthetics Designer Denise Kum designed and created the scarring, evidence of Bori Kahn’s past battles.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEpCx4MFqCV/

[blackcauldron85]

A Wall Street Analyst's opinions:
https://deadline.com/2020/05/disney-no- ... 202946549/

Beyond the viability of theaters, he said, the company would have to “un-furlough a lot of their employees” in distribution and marketing. “I don’t think it’s a given that Mulan‘s going to be released as we think.”

I think the whole article is worth reading.

[Disney's Divinity]

I would be more than fine with this getting gypped of a theatrical run. Deserves it much more than Onward, really.

[Farerb]

A Wall Street Analyst's opinions:
https://deadline.com/2020/05/disney-no- ... 202946549/

Beyond the viability of theaters, he said, the company would have to “un-furlough a lot of their employees” in distribution and marketing. “I don’t think it’s a given that Mulan‘s going to be released as we think.”

I think the whole article is worth reading.

I don't think they'd do that with Mulan with its big budget and money spent on marketing. IMO it's more likely that they'd postpone it to next year and release something like Jungle Cruise to digital and streaming. Mulan is guaranteed to gross more than a billion dollars, so there's no chance Disney will give up on it.

[Vlad]

I don't think they won't be able to release Mulan as planned, in July. Most countries are beginning to reopen movie theaters, with all the safety measures taken into account.

[Clindor]

A Wall Street Analyst's opinions:
https://deadline.com/2020/05/disney-no- ... 202946549/
I think the whole article is worth reading.

I don't think they'd do that with Mulan with its big budget and money spent on marketing. IMO it's more likely that they'd postpone it to next year and release something like Jungle Cruise to digital and streaming. Mulan is guaranteed to gross more than a billion dollars, so there's no chance Disney will give up on it.

I was thinking the exact same thing. With its goals to attract the Chinese market to the Disney brand even more and the potential of a franchise, if they estimate this movie is about to crash because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-lockdown context, they are more likely to postpone it again to a further date, and in the meanwhile, releasing other movies for digital purchases like potentially The One and Only Ivan, Soul, (Black Widow?..) I don’t think they’ll skip Jungle Cruise theatrical release though, and for the same reasons as Mulan.

[estefan]

I don't think they won't be able to release Mulan as planned, in July. Most countries are beginning to reopen movie theaters, with all the safety measures taken into account.

They're supposedly waiting to see what Warner Bros does with Tenet, but I think that one is definitely moving. The recently released trailer didn't have a date at the end, so WB is certainly thinking about a new possible release date.

This entire summer movie season appears to be a wash. I predicted back in March that things would start getting back to normal around June, but it looks like I was being optimistic. While it's getting better in some countries (New Zealand, most notably), the virus doesn't appear to be slowing down in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Brazil, which are very important theatrical markets.

I love going to the movies, but I'm not going until that curve is close to flattened where I am. It's too much of a risk to be in a theatre for two hours at the moment.

[JeanGreyForever]

I was thinking the exact same thing. With its goals to attract the Chinese market to the Disney brand even more and the potential of a franchise, if they estimate this movie is about to crash because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-lockdown context, they are more likely to postpone it again to a further date, and in the meanwhile, releasing other movies for digital purchases like potentially The One and Only Ivan, Soul, (Black Widow?..) I don’t think they’ll skip Jungle Cruise theatrical release though, and for the same reasons as Mulan.

Wow, you're really out of touch with Disney if you think they would ever relegate Black Widow to digital only.

I don't think they won't be able to release Mulan as planned, in July. Most countries are beginning to reopen movie theaters, with all the safety measures taken into account.

They're supposedly waiting to see what Warner Bros does with Tenet, but I think that one is definitely moving. The recently released trailer didn't have a date at the end, so WB is certainly thinking about a new possible release date.

This entire summer movie season appears to be a wash. I predicted back in March that things would start getting back to normal around June, but it looks like I was being optimistic. While it's getting better in some countries (New Zealand, most notably), the virus doesn't appear to be slowing down in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Brazil, which are very important theatrical markets.

I love going to the movies, but I'm not going until that curve is close to flattened where I am. It's too much of a risk to be in a theatre for two hours at the moment.

I agree. Every state that is reopening in the US is getting more and more extreme cases with the virus and I'm expecting things will be forced to shut down very soon again. I've also heard speculation online that Disney doesn't want to release Mulan because they fear the backlash towards anything even remotely Chinese from Americans and even foreign countries who are angry that China lied about the virus and didn't allow them time to act (not that 45 was ever going to take action). I can say myself that I know some very open-minded people who have no good will towards China right now and I'm frankly disturbed by how easily they can turn. It's one thing to hate the government but another thing altogether to blame the entire Chinese people. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised because keep in mind that the US is the same country that wanted to bomb Agrabah and refuse to drink Corona beer because they're afraid of contracting the virus.

[Clindor]

I was thinking the exact same thing. With its goals to attract the Chinese market to the Disney brand even more and the potential of a franchise, if they estimate this movie is about to crash because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-lockdown context, they are more likely to postpone it again to a further date, and in the meanwhile, releasing other movies for digital purchases like potentially The One and Only Ivan, Soul, (Black Widow?..) I don’t think they’ll skip Jungle Cruise theatrical release though, and for the same reasons as Mulan.

Wow, you're really out of touch with Disney if you think they would ever relegate Black Widow to digital only.

First: calm down. No need to become antagonistic, belligerent or rude to express an opinion. Yours was already welcomed before

And then, it isn’t just me, it’s also analysts who speculated this since last March. And, actually no, compared to them and as far as my point is concerned I do not think Black Widow is the most probable title to be offered a Premium Video On Demand release in the upcoming times or at least not the first. What I’m trying to say is logically there will be other scheduled theatrical films to be offered a pVOD treatment before Black Widow does if that even happens. But in the meantime, yes. They will do if they think that will bring them enough money especially compared to a theatrical release within this context cause at the end of the day what they care most about is still to have the money for their products.

Disney could actually also make a mix of the two solutions: release a movie in theaters during a shorter window of time like a month for instance, and right after release this same movie directly on pVOD for those who do not trust going out to the cinemas and prefer to watch at home. I know it sounds crazy from a pre-pandemic perspective to have a blockbuster being released for digital purchase that way ...but there’s a lot of crazy other stuffs we never thought could happen before and since this pandemic began. We have to stay humble towards what best solution(s) lies ahead for Hollywood.

And Disney isn’t some kind of almighty divinity that can decide of everything: they have to find their way to go through the crisis and they are certainly not invulnerable to it. If you don’t believe me, you can always go watch what happened to the company stock price throughout the month of March and check for yourself how quickly the situation can change and how bad it can become for them.

[JeanGreyForever]

Wow, you're really out of touch with Disney if you think they would ever relegate Black Widow to digital only.

First: calm down. No need to become antagonistic, belligerent or rude to express an opinion. Yours was already welcomed before

I'm not being antagonistic, belligerent, or rude. I'm simply granting you the same courtesy you granted me when you came after me over and over with the same tone and attitude. You didn't have a problem with it then so I didn't expect you'd be so offended now that it's being redirected at you. Never respond to me again and stop pestering me with private messages because I have no interest in hearing from you and will publicly shame you if you don't cease contact.

[Clindor]

First: calm down. No need to become antagonistic, belligerent or rude to express an opinion. Yours was already welcomed before

I'm not being antagonistic, belligerent, or rude. I'm simply granting you the same courtesy you granted me when you came after me over and over with the same tone and attitude. You didn't have a problem with it then so I didn't expect you'd be so offended now that it's being redirected at you. Never respond to me again and stop pestering me with private messages because I have no interest in hearing from you and will publicly shame you if you don't cease contact.

I’m cool and not offended. You manifestly do your best to be a bully. Which is.. nice, but not really constructive, right? Debating, and opposing opinions are okay, but attacking for attacking, because you have some desperate needs for social recognition, is what it is. And because people are not idiot, I think they’ll notice. So thank you for making the job easier then.. Btw depicting your own attitude, and then protecting it on others? Meh.. ^^

Also I only wrote you one single message with two words: « calm down » which isn’t a threat compared to what you are going for. This is a million times away from harassment. And that’s also the way I began my previous post in this topic. So don’t attempt false accusations ..again. And to this moment I still think that a non-malevolent, yet well-meaning « calm down » is the least I could do considering the situation, and yet, not enough. I heard your provocation because obviously you want a fight, and I suppose you will never have enough. I guess it’s safe to say you will always come back for what seems to be here just ego-matters. And now you’re starting to make threats? Really? ^^

EDIT: btw your private response to that simple message, I don’t think that’s polite and benevolent, so maybe you’re giving yourself too much credit :

Please never respond to me again. I've had enough of you and your caustic personality. You are a fraud.

I hope you don’t do that frequently when someone expresses a different opinion.. that’s not okay.

I’m not pestering with you indeed specifically because now it’s safe to say I kind of guessed the kind of Internet person you are, that plus my goodwill to flee you. And of coourse unsurprisingly you come back for contact.. That could be seemed as hypocrisy beyond compared. I think I already guessed what it is you are trying to do around here, and I’m avoiding that by all means. These are not the reasons why I visit the forum once in a while and you should grow up and start hearing that. If you don’t care to have a good, constructive, interesting conversation, that’s fine. But don’t pest other people if they’re not living in the same self-absorption as you are. Too bad.

[Sotiris]

The fighting needs to stop. JeanGreyForever, if you really don't want Clindor responding to you then you should stop initiating. You can't keep replying to him and quoting his posts and then expect him not to respond. Clindor, if Jean doesn't want to engage with you, you need to respect her wishes and stop talking to her and sending her private messages. If you two ever decide to interact in the future, you'll have to be courteous and respectful to each other.

Now, let's get back on topic, please! Any further off-topic replies will be removed.

[Clindor]

Thank you Sotiris