Power Rangers star Naomi Scott has the task of giving audiences a brand new portrayal of the fan favorite Disney princess Jasmine in Disney’s live-action adaptation of Aladdin. Scott spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and shared some exciting things we can expect from her interpretation of Jasmine.
“I love what Disney is doing at the moment with their princesses — going from animation to live-action and making those animated characters real human beings. Being a female character is also about being a real person, and guess what? [She] can be strong and have fun, but also get it wrong and be emotional. She’s a multidimensional woman, and she doesn’t have to just be one thing. So in this movie, you see her go on such a roller coaster, as opposed to her one goal being to fall in love or get married.”
Scott also talked about the new character Dalia (played by SNL alum Nasim Pedrad) and how that character is important to Jasmine.
“I never realized it, but in the animation, Jasmine is really the only female character — isn’t that crazy?. The Dalia character is so important to this movie because she’s the only other female character. She may be the handmaiden but they’re best friends; they’re so close because they’ve grown up together. So we wanted people to watch the movie and see Jasmine’s relationship with another woman, and be like, ‘Ah, that’s what I’m like with my girlfriend,’ or ‘We would so do that if I was in that position.’ That’s something that’s missing from the animation.”
*UPDATE*
Reports were circulating the internet saying Jasmines feline pal Rajah the tiger would not appear in the film to make room for Dalia, but we at Disney Film Facts are able to confirm Entertainment Weekly’s report the Rajah will indeed appear in the film.
Are you excited to see Naomi Scott’s portrayal of Jasmine? What about the appearance of Rajah? Let us know in the comments.
The cast for Aladdin includes Mena Massoud (Jack Ryan) as Aladdin, Naomi Scott (Power Rangers) as Jasmine, Will Smith (Bad Boys) as the iconic Genie, Marwan Kenzari (The Mummy 2017) as the villainous Jafar, Numan Acar (Prison Break) as Head of the guards Akim, Navid Negahban (Homeland) as The Sultan, Nasim Pedrad (SNL) as Mara and Billy Magnussen (Into The Woods) as Prince Anders. Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) will direct.Original Aladdin composer Alen Menken is on board to compose the remake. With Oscar winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) on board to write new music for the film.
Aladdin will hit theaters on May 24, 2019.
Source: THR
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So, I have issues with Naomi Scott’s statement here. As you know, I’ve never been a supporter of these live-action remakes, from a principle standpoint. Not because they’re cash grabs or “ruining my childhood”, etc. but I’ve not been a fan of remaking these films via changing the medium in an effort to deem a film more “worthy” of being a film, in this case, making films that were animated to live-action.
And as you know I come from an animation fandom background and the idea that something being animated is somewhat lesser than if done in live-action with live-action is a pretty prevalent viewpoint that we in the animation community try our best to educate people about.
And with the previous remakes, we’ve seen statements such as some by Bill Condon in reference to his BATB film where it seems to suggest the same thing: that making the film “live-action” seems to “correct” or “fix” certain aspects that were unable to be fixed or done in animation and therefore make the “live-action” film more of a worthy film.
And even here with Naomi Scott’s statement, “I love what Disney is doing at the moment with their princesses — going from animation to live-action and making those animated characters real human beings.”, it seems to suggest that only when a character is live-action can it be seen as a “real human being” and that the medium of animation cannot do the same, hence the need for this to be “live-action” to make it a more worthy film, even though both films are the same story just a different medium used to tell the story.
I know people have disagreed with me and that’s fine, but just wanted to be honest about my feelings and this is what they are. I’m not arrogant to say these live-action remakes are immediately trash just because they’re remakes; I do watch them and grade them as justly as I can for what they are. (I thought The Jungle Book, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast were well-made films for what they were and I thought Maleficent and the Burton Alice in Wonderland films were a piece of trash for what they were). But again, in principle, I am not in favor of these “live-action” remakes for the reason I’ve mentioned above.
Phew, sorry for the long post, lol!