Disney cut a kissing scene from its $200million Mulan remake after its Beijing office said it ‘doesn’t feel right to the Chinese people’, director reveals
- An early cut of the film featured Mulan smooching her love interest, Chen
- The director said Chinese office thought it was inappropriate for their audiences
- The film has sparked a series of controversies before its release next month
- Mulan is a Chinese folktale about a young woman disguising herself as a man
- Disney first released an animated version of the traditional story in 1998
Disney has decided to remove a kissing scene from its $200million live-action adaptation of Mulan after their Chinese executives thought it was inappropriate for their audiences, it has been revealed.
An early cut of the film featured a romantic scene in which Mulan shared a kiss with her love interest, Chen Honghui.
But the production team eventually deleted the scene after reviewing the movie with Chinese audiences and local executives, the film’s director Niki Caro told the press.
Disney has decided to remove a kissing scene from its $200million live-action adaptation of Mulan after their Chinese executives thought it was inappropriate for their audiences
Mulan is a Chinese folktale about a fearless young woman disguising herself as a man to save her ailing father from joining the marching army against the northern invaders in China
Liu Yifei was seen as titular character, Hua Mulan, in the Mulan trailer released by Disney
‘It was very beautiful, but the China office went, “No, you can’t, that doesn’t feel right to the Chinese people.” So we took it out.’ Caro said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Mulan is based on a traditional Chinese folktale about a fearless young woman disguising herself as a man to save her ailing father from joining the marching army against the northern invaders in China.
Disney first released its classic animated version of the story in 1998 before remaking Mulan as a live-action film.
The picture shows a scene from Disney’s Mulan remake which is due to release in March, 2020
Outrage was sparked after the leading actress, Liu Yifei, voiced support for Hong Kong police
Liu Yifei is pictured attending a Tissot event in Shanghai. She is also the leading star in Mulan
The upcoming remake has sparked a series of controversies before its scheduled release in March this year.
Many called for a boycott after the leading actress, Liu Yifei, voiced support for authorities’ crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
The Chinese-American star, 32, shared a political post on the Chinese Twitter-like Weibo.
Liu Yifei, a Chinese-American actress, plays the young woman Mulan in its live-action remake
The actress is pictured attending Jackie Chan International Action Film Week in Shanxi, China
The picture shows Mulan having a meal with her family in the multi-million live-action remake
The leading actress, Liu Yifei posted a message on Chinese Twitter-like Weibo supporting Hong Kong police. The message led to a hashtag #BoycottMulan to trend on social media
Her message which fans deemed to support police brutality in Hong Kong led to a hashtag #BoycottMulan, and it became trending online.
Another flood of outrage was sparked after one of the characters from the animated film of Mulan, Li Shang, was removed from the new film.
It is believed that this happened after Li, who is Mulan’s commander and the eventual love interest, was interpreted by fans as bisexual in its original animated version.
Another flood of outrage was sparked after one of the characters from the animated film of Mulan, Li Shang, was removed from its upcoming remake. He was replaced by a new character
Disney first released an animated version in 1998 before remaking Mulan as a live-action film
Li was replaced by a new character, Chen Honghui, who became Mulan’s new lover.
Mulan is scheduled to release in the UK and US on March 27.
Highly-anticipated: Mulan is scheduled to be released in the US and UK on March 27, 2020