"Mulan" is one of Disney's classic animated characters that are set to have a live action remake. With the box office success of "Alice in Wonderland", "Maleficent", and this year's "Cinderella", no wonder Disney is still digging into their chest of well-loved animated characters and make live-action versions of them. Official details about its production are still scarce but "Mulan" fans are already imploring Disney to select an ethnically-appropriate actress. One of the popular bets is Ming-Na Wen, the voice actress of "Mulan" in the 1998 animated film.
Fans that can't wait for Disney's official announcement already made a list of actresses whom they think should bag the role of "Mulan" in the live-action film. Ming-Na Wen, who brought life to the character of "Mulan" in the animated feature, is one of the fans' strongest bets to star as the Disney's warrior princess in the live action remake. Ming-Na Wen, who plays "Agent May" in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. expressed her gratitude to her fans in a tweet but clarified that she just wants to be part of the film but not star as the warrior princess as she thinks Disney's looking for a much younger actress for the role.
Other reports about the live action adaptation of "Mulan" also suggested Rinko Kikuchi, the actress who starred in "Pacific Rim" and "47 Ronin" and Fan BingBing who is well-known for her character as "Blink" in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" to be considered to play as Disney's warrior princess.
However, controversies are surrounding the forthcoming project as people are petitioning to avoid the possible "whitewashing" in the process of selecting the actress to star as "Mulan." The petition already garnered 20,000 signatures as people are adamant to send a message to Disney to stay true to the history of "Mulan," thus picking an Asian actress rather than a Western star just for the sake of a better chance to in breaking box office records.
Disney had just recently announced their plan to make a live action feature of "Mulan" but fans are quick to suggest Ming-Na Wen along with other Asian actresses to be Disney's warrior princess. The studio should consider the fans petitions if they want the new remake of "Mulan" to be historically correct and a box office success as well.
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