Earlier this week it was announced that Guy Richie, the director of Sherlock Holmes, will be directing a live-action adaptation of the beloved Disney classic Aladdin. A story about a poor boy who finds a magic lamp with a genie trapped inside. He finds that the genie can grant him with three wishes while falling in love with the princess of the fictitious city of Agrabah.
The company recently released its casting flyer and on it explicitly states that the titular character and his love interest Aladdin and Jasmine are Middle Eastern characters.
Alright kids, if you know someone who fits this, you better share this with them. Submit asap. Good luck my babies pic.twitter.com/PLP37ritcV
— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) March 9, 2017
The flyer also says that the casting calls for a person who is around the ages of 18-25 and is able to sing. Casting begins in April 2017 and filming begins from July 2017 to January 2018. The release date of the film is yet to be announced but my guess is that it will be released in 2019 or 2020. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the script has already been written by John August. Guy Richie is a strange contender to direct the film as he’s notable for many crime related movies but we will see his interpretation of the 1992 movie when it hits theaters.
This is exciting news as the representation of Middle Eastern’s is almost non-existent in Hollywood so I think many Middle Eastern’s will be thrilled with this. However, I am skeptical whether or not they will cast someone who is actually Middle Eastern. Whitewashing in Hollywood is very controversial subject with the rumors of the casting of the live-action adaption of Mulan and films that featured whitewashing such as Aloha and Doctor Strange. Additionally, the wording on the flyer is left ambiguous as it doesn’t really say that the actors have to be Middle Eastern and so this could be concerning to a few people that Disney might cast someone who resembles to the characters. Hopefully they will pull through and cast someone who is actually Middle Eastern. To keep spirits up, Disney has been on a roll recently by casting actors and actresses who are the same ethnicity of the characters that they portray such as Auli’i Cravalho in Moana.
Disney has also announced other upcoming live-action movies that they are planning to make such as The Little Mermaid, Mulan, The Lion King and Mary Poppins.
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