"Aladdin" Finds its Leading Man
Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 10:30PM by Nathaniel R
Will Smith has been booked as the genie for a fair bit but now Disney is really revving up for their live action remake of Aladdin, casting both their "Street Rat! Scoundrel!" and future prince in Mena Massoud (pictured above), and their Princess Jasmine in Naomi Scott, who just played the pink ranger in the film version of Power Rangers...
Disney has clearly been listening to the complaints of whitewashing that have been tripping up so many movies lately. Disney remakes do not need known stars to earn gazillions (the properties are the draw... so your guess is as good as mine as why they felt they needed someone who couldn't sing to lead Beauty & The Beast), so they thankfully didn't look for a star but cast an unknown as the lead. Massoud is a Canadian actor who was born in Egypt. (He's on Instagram and Twitter and so unknown that he's not verified yet - though surely his follower count will explode in 3...2...1). Before Aladdin opens though he might be famous. The 24 year old actor has a recurring role in the upcoming television series Jack Ryan based on the Tom Clancy franchise. (John Krasinski takes over the ever-morphing lead role, a character that's already been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine in the movies).
British actress Naomi Scott is bi-racial, her mother being Indian. Critics are understandably annoyed that Hollywood views Indian and Middle Eastern people as interchangeable but at least they went with actors of color. So... baby steps. Hopefully Massoud can sing -- Naomi Scott has already released some music.
Meanwhile, Pasek & Paul have signed on to write new songs. The La La Land songwriting duo were denied the chance to EGOT in a single year when their great ballad for The Flash wasn't nominated for an Emmy (the Emmys REALLY hate the CW) but it looks like they're after additional songwriting Oscars. The Disney remake will follow The Greatest Showman on their busy schedule. A lot of Disney's animated musicals don't actually have very many songs so they have to bulk up the score. But didn't they already have to bulk that up for the stage version? Hmmm. If you've seen Aladdin on stage tell us about the new songs. What will they chuck to make room for Pasek & Paul songs?
Reader Comments (10)
this is just depressed me talking, but; I feel they should've retired the genie after Robin Williams died. He was such a singular actor that I can't imagine any other iteration of the character matching up. That said, Will Smith is goofy enough to make it work. As for grabbing a half-Indian to play Jasmine...while I understand the "baby steps" argument I say this- if they can go for a no name Middle-Easterner for the male lead they could've done the same with the female to attain racial accuracy. If they get Ben Kingsley to be Jafar Im going to lose my shit.
Never satisfied.
Could've been better, but could've been worse I guess. Probably won't watch it anyway.
There are actually a lot of historical linkages between Arabia, Egypt and India so I don't hate the casting. It plays into the idea of modern nation states to view identities in the past as super fixed within contemporary borders--they were not. Of course I understand that Hollywood representation of the "Middle East" sucks and losing the opportunity for an Arabian actor and actress to play one of the rare non-terrorist, non-Saudi prince, non-"repressed women" or exotic prostitute/harem roles (ala 300) sucks a lot. But let's also not pretend that this is Bale/Edgerton bad. It is not.
Viewing India and the Middle East as a vibrant, diverse, and interconnected region that had political (like like elite intermarriage), cultural and migration linkages prior to/independent of European colonialism is actually kind of huge when you think about it. Yes, it's a Disney movie so giving them credit for doing this intentionally is too much. And the property itself (Disney's Aladdin) already has a lot of cultural insensitivity issues. But it also struck me when I lived with a family in India for a time that the two teenage daughters in the Brahmin family said their favorite cartoon was Aladdin because it "reminded us of India." Yes, single anecdote. But all sorts of representation matters, and film that allows,for example, Brahmin South Asians to identify, empathize, and see connections with (implicitly) MusIim Arabians is not bad. It also pushes back against the flagrantly racist notion that only white actors "sell" in international markets. I will wait to assess the quality on this one because the raw material so far and is not entirely a "no."
I'm gonna be honest-I'm sort of over the trend of Disney just going back to the well over and over and milking nostalgia. I skipped Beauty & the Beast and feel like I missed nothing, and feel like skipping Aladdin will be worth it as well. Maybe Pasek & Paul will find a new way to re-invent, but wouldn't it be wonderful if Disney did The Wild Swans or The Pied Piper as an original live-action musical? Some fairy tale they haven't already milked a billion dollars after? It's not like people wouldn't still see it if it had the Mouse logo on it.
The big rumor is they are going to get an A-lister for Jafar. Supposedly, they want Tom Hardy or Gary Oldman. Is whitewashing okay when it's the villain?
They did cast people who couldnt Sing in Lá La Land
Isn't the story of Aladdin set in China according to the original text?
I love the 'gym selfie ready for Grindr' photo of him.
Seriously?! Why does Disney insist of doing live action versions of their animated classics?
Yes I know its about money but does anyone in the studio care about their artistic legacay?