LOS ANGELES, April 13 — A second lead has joined the cast of March 2020 remake Mulan, with Donnie Yen of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story accepting a role opposite fellow Chinese star Yifei Liu.
It’s a story of hidden identities, boundary-pushing achievement, and the chance to save a nation.
Inspired by the 6th century Chinese legend (and its later retellings) of a skilled young fighter who poses as a man in order to help defend her country, Disney’s 1998 movie amassed US$304 million (RM1.18 billion) at the international box office, making it the year’s second highest-grossing animated feature.
It won the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature — the highest tier accolade available in the years before an equivalent Oscar was introduced.
The movie is being remade for a projected March 2020 release, not as another animation but as a live-action production, and with award-winning director Niki Caro of McFarland, USA, The Zookeeper’s Wife and Whale Rider at the helm.
Chinese star Yifei Liu, who spent five years in New York during her childhood and early teens, is to play Mulan herself, and Hong Kong Chinese actor Yen is now involved as her military mentor, Commander Tung.
Yen became an action movie star with early 1990s hits Once Upon a Time in China II and then Iron Monkey, and was introduced to more mainstream international audiences through Zhang Yimou’s 2002 martial arts epic Hero.
He led the Ip Man franchise, an ongoing series of biopics about the influential Wing Chun master, and played blind warrior monk Chirrut Imwe in 2016 smash Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, with a co-starring role in Vin Diesel film xXx: The Return of Xander Cage soon after. — AFP-Relaxnews
