On Saturday, Disney announced the cast of the upcoming live-action ‘Aladdin‘ remake. The Mouse House unveiled Mena Massoud will play Aladdin, Naomi Scott will play Jasmine and Will Smith will star as Genie.
The announcement came on the heels of rumors involving roadblocks during casting. The Mouse House also announced new projects, some involving live action versions of classics.
Introducing Jasmine…
It’s about to be a whole new world for the relatively unknown soon-to-be star.
After much anticipation, Guy Ritchie’s ‘Aladdin’ remake during the D23 Expo in Anaheim. While only the lead characters were announced, the internet can’t stop talking about it.
British actress Naomi Scott was cast as Jasmine. While most may not know her name, you probably know her as the Pink Ranger from the new ‘Power Rangers‘ movie, which came out earlier this year.
Scott is from London and she’s British and Indian descent. Her mother Usha Scott (née Joshi) is from Uganda and is of Gujarati Indian descent. Meanwhile, Naomi’s father, Christopher Scott, is British.
The 24-year-old was on the short-lived, science fiction Fox TV show, ‘Terra Nova‘, from September 2011 to December 2011. On the Steven Spielberg-produced show, Naomi played socially awkward teenager Maddy Shannon.
And this is not her first role in a Disney movie.
Naomi starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth back in 2011. The family friendly film tells the story of five high school students who meet in detention and form a band to deal with their struggles. In the movie, Naomi played Mohini “Mo” Banjaree.
She also played Megan in British Disney Channel series ‘Life Bites’.
…and Aladdin and the Genius
The Mouse House announced Canadian actor Mena Massoud to play the role of the charming thief Aladdin.
Massoud is best known for his television roles in “Open Heart” and “Saving Hope”. He’ll be in the small screen version of “Jack Ryan.”
He was born in Egypt but grew up in Markham, Ontario. He attended Ryerson University’s School of Performance and studied acting and theater.
Following the announcement, Massoud tweeted, “So honored & grateful for the opportunity to help bring this magical story to life once again.”
And as for the Genie…
It was already pretty much out that American action star Will Smith will be the Genie, role voiced brilliantly by the late Robin Williams in the 1992 animated blockbuster.
The role earned him a Golden Globe for Special Achievement and paved the way for other celebrities to take on similar voice-over gigs.
A release date was not announced. However, Disney did announce the release date for the live action remake of the 1941 animated film ‘Dumbo.’
The movie directed by Tim Burton and star great actors such as Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Eva Green and Danny DeVito. It will hit theaters on March 29, 2019.
Smith is also rumored to be in talks for a major role in Burton’s project.
Disney also confirmed ‘Lion King’ and ‘Mulan’ and gave fans a preview of the opening scene of ‘Lion King’.
Trouble finding the right cast
Just days before D23, the Mouse House made known that it was encountering a trouble finding the right cast members for the starring roles, and the Internet was not having it.
People on the Internet was pretty upset with the news that Guy Ritchie‘s project was still castless for not finding singing and dancing actors.
Some advised the studio to start the search in Bollywood, as it seems an obvious place to start. Others suggested actors like Riz Ahmed, Dev Patel and so on.
And even after the cast was announced, some fans are asking for more. They criticized the casting of Scott and Massoud as they ask for more Arab representation.
However, the tricky situation for Disney highlights the root of the problem. Which is that it’s hard to say exactly where the ‘Aladdin’ of Disney’s making is set.
It might be the Arab world or the Indian subcontinent, or someplace in between.
The animated story was based on a tale spun in ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ by the fictional storyteller Scheherazade and takes place in the fake city of Agrabah.
Original Arabic collections didn’t include the story of Aladdin and his lamp, which was likely added by a French translator in an 18th-century edition. Some speculate that the character has origins in China.
Sadly, the lack of specificity and care that went into the story is also the reason it doesn’t matter who the lead of this movie is, as long as he’s vaguely brown and maybe Muslim.
‘Aladdin’ is an important movie for South Asian, Arab, and Muslim as they felt it’s one of the movies that addressed the fact that these cultures exist. Even when it didn’t specifically identify them.
That audience backstory, illustrating the singular symbolic appeal of ‘Aladdin‘ to disparate groups, guaranteed a torrent of unforgiving reactions to any casting news.
Source: Uinterview