One of the most anticipated films is the live-action adaption of Aladdin, a remake of the Disney classic many of us grew up with. One of the great things about the film is how it is championing diversity by casting non-white actors for the leading roles. Now, it seems like this adaptation is facing backlash as reports are surfacing that the film has cast a white actor for a role that was not present in the Disney film.
According to reports, director Guy Ritchie cast Billy Magnussen, a blonde and blue-eyed actor, to play Prince Anders, a white character who will compete with Aladdin for Princess Jasmine’s heart. And if this is a remake of the Disney classic (along with the iconic songs), fans were left wondering as to the motivations behind the move.
Below are some of the tweets related to the casting:
They wrote a new character in for a remake of the cartoon Aladdin…..*looks at new character* pic.twitter.com/0QuGdskP9u
— ????ThaTzuBurr???? (@BaeTzuBurr) September 6, 2017
This new character for #aladdin makes me sad to be white, the Aladdin world has no white people sorry but we don’t need to be in everything pic.twitter.com/jaj2JWqn6m
— Ashley ®© ➰ (@Ashleyfangirl) September 6, 2017
#aladdin I am so confused to why they add a new white character to a complete story that is set in the Middle East?????????♀️ pic.twitter.com/71xzOpFXCS
— Nardy ☕️???? (@NardosNy) September 6, 2017
However, it’s worth noting that the remake has remained true to its word to cast non-white actors. After a worldwide call for the roles, Egyptian-born Mena Massoud was cast as the titular character while Naomi Scott, who has Indian and Ugandan ancestry, will take on the role of Jasmine.
They will be joined by Will Smith as the Genie, Marwan Kenzari (Tunisian-Dutch) as Jafar, Numan Acar (Turkish-born) as Jafar’s right-hand man Hakim, Navid Negahban (Iranian-American) as the Sultan, and Nasim Pedrad (Iranian-American) as Jasmine’s handmaiden Dalia. Literally Magnussen is the only white actor in the cast.
There is no release date yet for the remake.
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