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?