Two Live Action 'Mulan's Looking for Chinese Casts

Mulan: Rise of a Warrior (2010)

You may have heard about the brief social media tornado of outrage yesterday over Disney having a bought a spec script for Mulan that not only white washed the story with a 'white savior' but took our heroine out of the center and placed her as the equivalent of eye candy and prize to be won.

Disney's current live action Mulan on Once Upon A Time

You will be glad to know, Disney confirmed this is NOT the direction they are headed. At all.

In fact, they're not only very intently on a global search for a Chinese cast, for their newly fast-tracked film, but have announced they're ideally looking to have an Asian director too. (Ang Lee was approached and passed on the project, so the search continues. Source) And they've got competition.

Sony is also looking for an Asian director and plans to feature a "predominantly Asian cast" for their version of Mulan as well.

From the announcement a month ago:

While no plot details were revealed about how Sony's Mulan will differ from Disney's version, there are plans for it to shoot in China, be made with a "Chinese partner" and feature a mostly Chinese cast.

(We would hope this is a given for any Mulan project but perhaps it's better to just state the obvious and remove doubt up front. For your diversion, enjoy the Mulan cosplay by Ukranian cosplayer Buta-kun - many more photos at the link.)

The Sony project, while busy trying to snap up cast and crew from under Disney's nose, is in much earlier stages of development, however. Mirror Mirror's Jason Keller is currently writing the script* but the film likely won't hit theaters until well after Disney's already slated release of November 2, 2018 - if it does at all.

Competing with Disney to make a fairy tale, myth, legend or fable in the current live action trend is a race against a behemoth and it will take a determined and confident studio and film crew to get their film to release.

Warner Bros Jungle Book, once neck-and-neck with Disney in production has now been shifted to a 2018 release. With the unexpectedly huge success of Disney's version, we don't envy the Warner Bros team in their battle to The End, though we do look forward to seeing the legend take center stage again for a while.

It should be noted, that China and Hong Kong have already made quite a few live action film versions. One of the best is said to be the Huangmei Opera version from 1964 with Ivy Ling but the 2010 version, Mulan: Rise of a Warrior, with Vicki Zhao Wei was well received too. (See posters below.)
              
You can see the impressive trailer of the 2010 film below:

* As far as Disney Mulan script, Jurassic World's writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were hired to rewrite and Disney reportedly liked it so much, this is what put it on the fast track. 

Breaking News: 'Mulan' Gets Fast-Tracked for Disney Live Action Remake

Mulan by Heather Theurer

It has certainly been a week for Disney live action  news! Mulan has been on the live action slate for a while but announced late yesterday (Tuesday) she's heading for a 2018 Winter release date - November 2nd 2018 to be exact.

Though Mulan is not a fairy tale - it's based on the legend of Hua Mulan, the girl who disguises herself as a man to go to war - Disney's treatment added that touch of wonder and magic that people associate with fairy tales so it's in the public consciousness as such. Mulan's even been named a Disney Princess, though she's royal not by birth or by marriage, and so the "fairy tale" continues in that regard as well (by "fairy tale" we mean adding to the invention by way of the wonder factor and the spinning of a tale, not necessarily the falsehood it also implies).

Mulan by Veronica Art

The great news is that Disney had embarked on a global search for the right actress to play the Chinese legend and lead character.

Though a director has yet to be hired, the script by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin is “a more nuanced and elaborate adaptation” of material “combining the legendary ballad and the 1998 animated film,” according to reports. (source)

Also good news is that the team be accessing the original ballad more than the original animation (which, we will admit, was still an impressive tribute, especially considering how things could have been changed under the Disney banner). The script is going to take a bit of work, as is evidenced by the numerous attempts at a spec (see details HERE) but they must be getting close, otherwise they couldn't confidently set things in motion. Disney is well aware there will be a lot of scrutiny on representation and authenticity (relatively speaking) and reports are that they intend to do honor to the legend in the live action film as well.

We look forward to watching this develop.

Fan art poster from a few years ago

Bibbidi Bobbidi Basketball Jerseys

1. THE PLEASURE ISLAND MONSTROS

A Whale of a Team

The man-eating beast lurking around the shores of Pleasure Island has inspired this team’s monstrous stats. Watch out for their end game (and their toothier front, as well)!

Fairy tales and sports: it's one of those combinations I have to weed through daily to find the 'real' fairy tale news, but this time the two have been combined wonderfully by the talented graphic design team at shirts.com.

These guys looked like they had a lot of fun making these! 

4. THE FORBIDDEN MOUNTAIN THORN BUSHES

A Thorny Lineup

You’ve got to watch out for these players! They have infamous elbow jabs and they know how to use them. If they’re behind at the half, they become real fire-breathing hot heads.

15. THE SNUGGLY DUCKLING DREAMERS

Breakin' Femurs

The only team in the league that can somehow play with hook hands. They’ve got big dreams to win the whole thing and nothing is going to stop them except, perhaps, a spontaneous frying pan duel. 

Very clever!

Here's their introduction (and I like their notes about the teams too):

16. THE ARENDELLE ICE HEARTS

It Takes Heart

Beware the frozen heart!

They’ve got icy resolve to win at any cost.

They keep their home games as cold as an eternal winter,

 the cold never bothered their biggest fans, anyway.

It’s that time of year again: the sneakers are squeaking, the balls are bouncing, and you’ve finally spotted your first referee of the season. It can only mean one thing -- March Madness is here! 

While we’re all basketball mad around the office with our brackets all stacked with care, we noticed that we have a year-round-madness that is much more magical than even the hottest NCAA game. We’re speaking, of course, about Disney magic! So, we thought it would be a wonderful idea to take our two passions and mash them up. 

If the Disney universe held its own basketball tournament, these are the jerseys all the fans would be proudly sporting to every game.

I have to say, if these were real products, I'd be pulling out my wallet to order a couple of them right now.

14. THE XIAN LUCKY CRICKETS

Lucky Shot

If your team can deal with the incessant cricket noises throughout the game, we think they’ll have no problem winning the match. Either way, fans love the fireworks show at the end buzzer!

(I like the cricket one because it makes me think of lots of different folktales too, not just the movie source.)

You can go see them all, full size, HERE - and guess which jersey belongs to which team (movie).

Now we just wish they were real.

A Look Inside "The Art of the Disney Princess"

I mentioned in a previous post HERE about an unusual art book coming from Disney, titled "The Art of the Disney Princess". It features different artist's interpretations (in their medium of choice) of different Disney princesses. From illustration to photography the pictures range from playing with realism to metaphoric interpretations and more.

It's just been released in the last week (or so) and some artists have shared their artistic contributions on their blogs.

From the official blurb:

Every little girl has a favorite Disney Princess--and for that matter, every grown-up girl, too! In The Art of the Disney Princess, Disney artists, designers, illustrators, and animators from around the world have re-imagined their favorite princesses and portrayed them in a variety of mediums. Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, and Cinderella are newly incarnated in water color, pastel, oil paint, colored pencil, mixed media, and computer graphics pieces that range from the traditional to the unconventional. This artwork has been created especially for this museum-quality book, which is sure to delight art lovers, Disney collectors, and any prince or princess who ever believed that fairytales do come true.

Photographic interpretation of Disney Princesses Snow White & Jasmine
by Ryan Astamendi
(click for a larger view - recommended)

Pictured above (along with the front of the book) is a photographic interpretation by Ryan Astamendi (whose blog you can find HERE).

Jasmine & the Magic Lamp
(I love this one too)
by Stacey Aoyama

Belle
by Stacey Aoyama
(you can see Stacey's blog HERE)

Here's a number of signed prints I found for sale on EBay during the Disney Expo (close-ups are available to see HERE):
Nice to see Tiger Lily there! Here's a close-up, simply because I rarely see art with her as the subject, plus, it's lovely:

Princess of Never Land
by Cathy Clark

The Little Mermaid 'Movie Poster'
by Eric Tan.

I particularly like his Sleeping Beauty interpretation below.
Sleeping Beauty 'Movie Poster'
by Eric Tan

From Eric Tan's BLOG about the project:

Ever since I started designing posters, I've always had this goal of creating my very own versions for all the animated Disney films. Those classics have had such an impact on my art and my career, that I wanted to do it almost as a tribute to the importance they had on me as a kid. Disney Consumer Products had a cool idea going when they decided to ask a bunch of internal artists to put their artistic spin on the Princesses for a book that was just released, The Art of Disney Princess. You can almost guess immediately what I wanted to do with my pieces. Yup, MOVIE POSTERS!!!

There was an event held, also called "The Art of the Disney Princess", to support the book launch and NERDLIKE.COM had a representative there to report on the show and take some photos to post. From the blog:

The Art of the Disney Princess is exactly what it sounds like, a celebration of the animated empire’s fair ladies. Disney commissioned 10 artists from Disney Global Consumer Products to re-imagine the Disney princesses. The results were dope to say the least. The event, hosted at the Zune LA house/building, was set up like an art gallery. The front room housed a collection of art pieces accompanied by its Disney Couture clothing counterpart. Each piece represented a different princess in the artists own unique styling....

...The second room upstairs was more like an art museum with pieces on the wall. From the abstract to a little weird, each piece retained the essence of the original princess, but somehow set it apart in a way that they felt authentic and real. Gone were the traditional aesthetics of the Disney cookie cutter princess. These artists had introduced the princesses to a whole new world (no pun intended). In addition to the transformation of the princesses, you could see each artists individual style and inspiration. Several pieces even escaped the realm of Disney and looked like pieces anyone would hang on their wall.

You can read the rest of the news about the show and see many more pictures HERE.

It's a real shame the event was limited to a select group and isn't on display for the public. The Disney Couture princess collection from the show will be on display at Kitson LA in February 2010 but this doesn't include all the pieces, of course. Even those who aren't fans of Disney (or who cringe when they hear the word 'princess' like I do) could enjoy a gallery showing like this! At least some of it has been put into a book for us.

You can find the book on Amazon.com - currently at 34% off - and see a lot of page samples HERE.

Twisted Princesses

Want to see what the Disney Princesses would be like if they went to the dark side?

Jeffrey Thomas (aka *jefftoon01 on deviantART) has done a wonderful job of exploring exactly that and has a very cool series going in his gallery. If you appreciate dark fairy tales you'll love it, not to mention vampires, zombies and other monsters we love.

I recommend clicking on 'full view' as there are a LOT of cool details and story nuances you won't see in the thumbnail versions.

Here's a few examples - no passive princesses here!(Um - wow! I do NOT want to meet this Aurora in the woods!)(The Cheshire Cat here is exactly how I envision him!)Yay for fan art!

I hope there's more coming - the idea of "The Princess and the Frog" or "Rapunzel" getting this treatment sends story idea galloping through my head... *dashes away to grab pen and paper*

*Pops head back in quickly to say:*

You can find the rest HERE in his deviantART gallery.

"Awesome stuff Jeff! More please!"

NOTE: A sincere thank you to Bryan Prindiville for alerting me to these! He's a fabulous cartoonist/illustrator himself - go check out his WEBSITE and enjoy - a lot of things to make you smile there.