“Mulan” has found its leading lady. Liu Yifei, also known as Crystal Liu, has booked the high-profile role, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” helmer Niki Caro is directing Disney’s live-action remake of the beloved animated film.
The worldwide search to find “Mulan’s” star took a year. “A team of casting directors visited five continents and saw nearly 1,000 candidates for the role, which requires credible martial arts skills, the ability to speak English, and the most ineffable requirement of all: star quality,” THR writes. “In deference to cultural accuracy, the studio focused on locating an ethnically Chinese young woman to play Hua Mulan, who disguised herself as a man to take her father’s army conscription in fifth-century China.”
Liu is well-known in China. Her English-language credits “The Forbidden Kingdom” and “Outcast.” “The Assassins,” “Never Gone” and “The Four” trilogy are among her other credits.
Disney’s animated version of “Mulan” was released in 1998 and earned over $304.3 million worldwide. Ming-Na Wen (“Agents of SHIELD”) voiced the title role.
Emma Watson and Lily James portrayed Disney princesses in live-action takes on “Beauty and the Beast” and “Cinderella,” respectively.
Caro most recently directed Jessica Chastain-starrer “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” a drama based on the true story of a Polish couple who helped 300 Jews flee the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. Her other credits include “McFarland, USA” and “Whale Rider.”
Scheduled to hit theaters in 2019, the new “Mulan’s” script is co-written by Amanda Silver (“Jurassic World”), Lauren Hynek, and Elizabeth Martin.
