Actor: My Entertainment Era

Disney's "Mulan" project was launched in 15, and the first draft of the script was already available at that time. It was handed over to Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa for revision. In October 16, it was announced that the global casting would begin, and the release date was scheduled for November 10.

Many people don’t know that Disney’s original idea was to find a Chinese-speaking director to take over the project, but it was not known whether no one was willing to take it or they couldn’t find a suitable one after searching around, and finally the project fell on Niki Caro.

In fact, if you dig deeper and find the capital side, even fewer people know that there is a lot of Chinese capital behind this version of "Mulan", and these will not appear in the crew list.

Although it is said to be a global casting, in fact the main actors are still selected from the Chinese-speaking regions.

But up to now, Disney has not announced who will play the role of Mulan, so it seems impossible to release the film in November 18.

Now let’s take a look at Disney’s positioning and requirements for the role of Mulan.

In Disney's character requirements, Hua Mulan is written as: "Female, 18 to 25 years old, the character's age is 18 years old, lithe and light, fit and agile, stronger than she looks."

This role is actually a young female fighter, and many actors can play such a role.

Let’s look at Disney’s requirements for Mulan’s actors: “Oriental appearance; reliable martial arts skills; fluent English; and star quality.”

There are many actresses who meet these requirements. In order to audition for the role of Mulan, many actresses have undergone physical and martial arts training and even hired teachers to learn English. It has to be said that they have all worked very hard.

But Nikki Caro and her team still came to meet Liu Yifei today!

Liu Yifei has always been a popular candidate for the role of Mulan. Netizens have been calling for her to play the role, and Niki Caro knows this, so she came to meet Crystal Liu today.

Niki Caro has seen "Inception", "Lucy" and "Pacific Rim" and was very impressed with her performance in the films.

But she herself is not sure whether Liu Yifei is suitable for the role of Mulan, and whether Liu Yifei is willing to play Mulan.

The two parties met in a cafe downstairs from Disney’s Beijing office. This was not an audition, but just an ordinary meeting.

Liu Yifei arrived a little late. She didn't know Nikki Caro before, but she knew a Chinese staff member around Nikki Caro, a senior executive from Emperor Entertainment Group.

Through the introduction, Liu Yifei learned that the domestic partner of "Mulan" was Emperor Entertainment Group, and Jiang Zhiqiang was the Chinese producer of the film.

Niki Caro first said that she was a fan of Liu Yifei and had seen many of her movies: "Especially Pieces of a Woman, amazing," Niki Caro used such a universal adjective, "It's really hard to imagine that you were only 27 years old at the time."

Liu Yifei laughed and said that it was all thanks to the director, but in her heart she was very happy that the other party praised her like that, as she loved hearing others praise her for her good acting.

Liu Yifei and Niki Caro spent most of the meeting talking about movies other than Mulan.

Liu Yifei has starred in many movies with female protagonists, but her and Niki Caro's views on female-themed movies have many differences in details.

Liu Yifei does not agree with the term "female theme", she thinks "female lead" would be a better adjective.

Liu Yifei knows that the West is currently experiencing a feminist movement, and the film industry has responded very positively, but she still has her own views: "I still prefer the traditional classification of genres, such as science fiction, comedy, horror, and action films. 'Female' does not exist as an independent genre. Deliberately emphasizing 'female' will bring unnecessary trouble to women."

"If a crew emphasizes how many female employees they have, this in itself is a disregard for women's work ability. Because when you emphasize it, you are also indirectly admitting that you choose women based on gender factors rather than work ability, which is also unfair to women." Liu Yifei has always had her own views on the outside world.

At the end of the conversation, Niki Caro finally talked about "Mulan": "We have auditioned many excellent actors, but we haven't decided on the final candidate yet."

Niki Caro was testing Liu Yifei's attitude, but Liu Yifei had little interest in "Mulan". Or rather, it could not be said that she had no interest. Disney princess movies were certainly very tempting. Liu Yifei had privately thought that if she played Mulan herself, she would be no worse than anyone else.

But she really doesn't have time, as she has already booked a movie for next year, and her child is still young, so she can't get away from the hands of both of them.

Liu Yifei understood the principle of letting go very early on, so she chose to reduce her work in recent years and spend more time with her family.

Besides, Liu Yifei has never been a workaholic. It is common for her to take a break for half a year or a year after filming a movie.

Liu Yifei is very satisfied with her current life. She has achieved success in both career and family. The global exposure of "Mulan" can certainly bring further development to her career, but does she really need it?

"Mulan" didn't seem to be worth her sacrificing time with her family for.

Liu Yifei's life is already very happy. When the water is full, it will overflow. Liu Yifei never expects all good things to fall on her head.

Liu Yifei declined Niki Caro's invitation to audition: "I won't have much time to shoot a new play next year. I have already booked a play. The rest of the time I have to spend with my two children, they are too young."

Liu Yifei was also happy to share photos and videos of her two children with Nikki Caro.

After drinking a cup of coffee, Liu Yifei said goodbye and left.

On the way back in the car, Liu Yifei's agent sighed and said it was a pity, but he also knew that Liu Yifei really would not have time to film other movies next year, and her child was still young and needed his parents' company.

"What's so regrettable?" Liu Yifei said with a smile, "They just invited me to audition, they didn't give me the role directly."

While in the car, she also sent a message to Zhang Yuanjun who was far away in Zhejiang Province, asking him about the situation there.

After Liu Yifei got home, Zhang Yuanjun replied: "We recorded for more than ten hours yesterday. Now we have just entered the studio and I don’t know when we will finish recording." Zhang Yuanjun also posted a photo of himself sitting in the spectator seats and taking pictures on the stage.

When Liu Yifei learned that her husband was still recording a program, she stopped replying to his messages and let him focus on his work.

That afternoon, someone broke the news online:

"This morning, netizens took photos of Liu Yifei in a coffee shop. According to insiders, the person sitting opposite Liu Yifei was Niki Caro, the director of the Disney movie "Mulan". The global auditions for "Mulan" have been going on for nearly a year, but there is still no news. Niki Caro met with Liu Yifei this time, and the two are likely to discuss the filming of "Mulan".

"Liu Yifei has always been a popular candidate for Hua Mulan. The meeting between the two may lead to cooperation."

"The reporter called Liu Yifei's staff to verify the situation. As of press time, no clear response has been received." (End of this chapter)