Mulan (2020 film)

Walt Disney Pictures expressed interest in a live-action adaptation of the 1998 animated film Mulan starring international star Zhang Ziyi, with Chuck Russell chosen as the director. Plans for a live-action Mulan remake began in 2010, but the project never came to fruition.[19]

On March 30, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Disney had restarted development of the live-action adaptation with Chris Bender and J. C. Spink producing, while Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek would be writing the screenplay.[20] On October 4, 2016, it was announced that Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver would rewrite the script, combining the Chinese ballad and the 1998 animated film, while Jason T. Reed would be producing the film along with Chris Bender and Jake Weiner.[21] In February 27, 2020, Reed revealed that Mulan's sidekick from the original film, Mushu, was removed due to the character's negative reception in China.[7] Redd also said, aside from both the original ballad and the animated film, the filmmakers drew inspiration from different Chinese adaptations of the ballad while writing the film, stating that, since "[t]he traditional Disney audience and the diaspora Asian audience viewed the movie in one way, and the traditional Chinese in China audience viewed a slightly different way", the filmmakers "dug in to try and make sure that [they are] addressing both of those audiences in a thoughtful way".[7]

Liu Yifei plays Mulan in the remake.

Since several recent Hollywood films were accused of whitewashing, Mulan has been under intense scrutiny since The Hollywood Reporter reported that Disney was making a live-action adaptation of Mulan. An online petition titled "Tell Disney You Don't Want A Whitewashed Mulan!" received more than 100,000 signatures.[5] On October 4, 2016, Disney announced that a global search for a Chinese actress to portray the title role was underway.[22] A team of casting directors visited five continents and saw nearly 1,000 candidates for the role with criteria that required credible martial arts skills, the ability to speak clear English, and star quality.[23]

On November 29, 2017, Chinese-American actress Liu Yifei was cast in the film to portray the titular role of Mulan. Many celebrated this as a win for diversity in Disney films.[5] Further cast announcements for Donnie Yen, Gong Li, Jet Li, and Xana Tang were made in April 2018,[6][10] Utkarsh Ambudkar and Ron Yuan in May,[24] Yoson An and Chum Ehelepola in June,[9] Jason Scott Lee in July,[8] Tzi Ma, Rosalind Chao, Cheng Pei-Pei, Nelson Lee, Jimmy Wong and Doua Moua in August,[17][14] and Chen Tang in September.[15]

Disney originally sought an Asian director. Disney first considered Ang Lee, Taiwanese film director and two-time Academy Award winner for Best Director. The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that Lee was approached but declined on October 12, 2016.[25] According to the report, published on November 22, 2016, he said that he would like to see an Asian director leading the film, but he himself had to decline because he was still obliged to promote his film Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.[26] Next, Disney met with Jiang Wen for the position; finally on February 14, 2017, Niki Caro was hired as the director of the film, which made Mulan the second Disney film with a female director and a budget above $100 million following A Wrinkle in Time.[27]

Principal photography began on August 13, 2018, at different locations in New Zealand and China and wrapped on November 25, 2018.[28][17] According to actress Gong Li, the film's production budget was $290–300 million due to the "massive and...unprecedented scale" of the sets,[29][30] although the actual figure was later reported to be $200 million.[3][31] The budget makes Mulan the most expensive film ever directed by a woman.[32]

The visual effects are provided by Sony Pictures Imageworks, Weta Digital, Framestore, and Image Engine, with Seth Maury and Andres Langlands serving as visual effects supervisors and Sean Andrew Faden serving as production supervisor.[33]

Director Niki Caro revealed that the remake won't feature any songs from the original film;[34] the film instead will feature instrumental versions of the original film's songs.[35] Caro later explained that the songs were deleted because she felt it didn't fit with her realistic vision of the film; she believes that since people do not break out into song as they enter war, the film should not either. Though she still tried to "honour the music from the animation in a very significant way",[36] she did not want to disrespect the original film in any way; however, she claimed she could not find a place to squeeze in the original music. Producer Jason T. Reed clarified Caro's previous statement by saying that the songs will be featured "in a slightly different way" in the remake.[7]

Harry Gregson-Williams, who previously worked with Caro on The Zookeeper's Wife, composed the film's score.[1]

Matthew Wilder, who previously co-wrote the songs for the original film, revealed that the remake will feature a new version of the song "Reflection", and that the song "thematically plays a large part in the new movie throughout the score".[37] Christina Aguilera, who previously performed an end-credits version of "Reflection" for the original film, confirmed during a performance in The Xperience that she had recorded a new version of "Reflection", as well as new material for the remake's soundtrack.[38] On March 6, 2020, she released a new single for the film's soundtrack, titled "Loyal Brave True". The song was written by Jamie Hartman, Harry Gregson-Williams, Rosi Golan and Billy Crabtree, and produced by Jamie Hartman. The song was also released in Spanish, as "El Mejor Guerrero". Additionally, the singer confirmed that she would also release a re-recorded version of "Reflection".[39][40] On March 8, a Mandarin-version of the song, titled "自己" ("Zìjǐ"), performed by Liu Yifei was released.[41] Liu's interpretation is a revisitation of the Mandarin-language version of Aguilera's song, originally performed for the animated movie by Hong Kong-Chinese American singer Coco Lee, who also voiced Mulan in the Taiwanese Mandarin dubbing in 1998.[42][43]

On July 7, 2019, the official teaser trailer and the official teaser poster were released during the broadcast of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final.[18] The teaser trailer was viewed 175.1 million times in its first 24 hours, including 52 million from China, making it the seventh most viewed trailer in that time period.[51] On September 30, an exclusive photo featuring Liu as a soldier in the Imperial Army was released on Empire's upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker issue.[52] On October 24, a prequel novel written by writer Grace Lin was announced along with a preview being made available online. Entitled Mulan: Before the Sword, the novel was announced to be released on February 11, 2020.[53] On November 4, a video clip filmed during a Toho cinema preview was leaked online, featuring new shots of Mulan as a warrior battling fiercely and taking off her hair band.[54] On November 6, Liu was featured as one of the 25 stars of Next Gen Talent 2019 nominated by The Hollywood Reporter with two new studio stills released concurrently.[55] On November 20, the Japanese theatrical poster was released online.[56] On December 5, the official trailer was released with dual versions: the Chinese Weibo debuted a shorter version with different cut and a few shots that were not featured in the US version. On January 26, 2020, 6 individual character posters were released.[57] On February 2, 2020, the final trailer was released.[58]

A call to boycott the film began when Liu Yifei reshared an image posted by Chinese newspaper People's Daily. The image included a quote from Chinese reporter Fu Guohao who worked for the Global Times and was subsequently assaulted by protesters during the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: "I support Hong Kong police. You can beat me now. What a shame for Hong Kong." This sparked international controversy, with Liu being accused of supporting police brutality. The hashtag, #BoycottMulan, has since started trending supporting a boycott of the movie.[59][60][61] In response to the controversy, Liu was not present at the 2019 D23 Expo, which gave fans an exclusive sneak peek of the film.[62]

On February 27, 2020, film producer Jason T. Reed said that Mulan's love interest Captain Li Shang was dropped in response to the Me Too movement. In his statement, he explained that "having a commanding officer that is also the sexual love interest was very uncomfortable and we didn't think it was appropriate".[63] The reasoning behind the removal was met with social media backlash from fans of the original film and members of the LGBTQ community, who deemed Shang's relationship with Mulan's male alter ego Ping to be bisexual.[64][65] Reed was initially surprised by criticism of Shang's removal, but acknowledged that the character had become a "LGBTQ icon",[66] and clarified that Shang's role would be served by two new characters, Commander Tung and Chen Honghui.[64][66]