Gong Li and Jet Li set to join 2020 Disney release of ‘Mulan’
Live-action reboot of 1998 classic ‘Mulan’ boasts a full-blown Asian cast as the producers lock down two more Chinese actors
Looks like Disney is determined to offer a reflection of who the Mulan characters are inside, in its latest live-action rendition of its 1998 animated film Mulan.
The story depicts real-life heroine Hua Mulan, who took her ill father’s place in the army in the Northern Wei Empire during China’s Three Kingdoms Period.
Since the confirmation of Chinese actress Crystal Liu Yifei’s role as the legendary, real-life inspired female warrior Mulan, more Chinese actors have jumped on the Mulan bandwagon including Hong Kong’s very own action star Donnie Yen Chi-tan who is befittingly assigned the role of Mulan’s martial arts mentor Commander Tung. New Zealand-born Chinese-Vietnamese actress Xana Tang also made it to the list, as Mulan’s sister.
The latest addition to the star-studded cast are revered actors Gong Li and Jet Li. While talks continue over the latter’s participation, the pair are set to fill the roles of a powerful witch and Emperor Qin Shi Huang, respectively.
An esteemed actress in China, Gong has been credited with popularising Chinese cinema in the English-speaking world, especially after winning the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal as a hapless prostitute in Farewell My Concubine (1993), and the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the American film Memoirs of a Geisha (2005).