Recently, Disney announced that they were having trouble casting their leads for the new live-action “Aladdin” movie.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that although popular actors Dev Patel and Riz Ahmed were considered for the role of Aladdin, the studio will most likely choose a lesser known actor. This has been difficult for the production, as the first round of auditions apparently didn’t go well. After this news broke, people took to Twitter to criticize Disney, listing actors and actresses who could pay Aladdin and Jasmine. Some people even suggested that this was just Disney’s way of stalling and justifying their eventual decision to whitewash the roles. While I initially did find this news rather odd, it is understandable for a number of reasons.
Disney is pretty much five-for-five when it comes to its live-action remakes, with the most recent remake, “Beauty and the Beast,” grossing over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Disney wants to do their best to keep this streak going. Casting someone to replace the late Robin Williams in his iconic role as the Genie is already a daunting task, as it’s likely that whoever plays the character will be compared to Williams. This means that casting the roles of Aladdin and Jasmine are especially important because their ability to breathe new life into these characters will be helpful to provide a solid foundation for the rest of the cast. This means that obvious fan-casting can ultimately hurt a film, as audiences are likely to see the actors instead of the characters that they are portraying.
Now, I’m not saying that all of the actors suggested to play these characters would be bad picks; I actually like some of them. But for other suggestions, I usually had the same response: “But can they sing and dance though?” People are forgetting that Aladdin is a MUSICAL, so not only do you need to be a good actor, you need to be a good singer and dancer. While it would be cool to see my favorite YouTuber Lilly Singh aka “Superwoman” as Jasmine, she can’t sing and therefore wouldn’t be a good fit for the role.
Another reason why it might be difficult to find the right actors in these roles is because some of the big name actors that that seem like obvious choices are simply too old. Disney wants actors in their early to mid 20s (or who look like they are) to play the roles of Aladdin and Jasmine. Some of the suggested actors and actresses are much older, and if cast run the risk not being able to connect with younger audiences
When it comes to movies that have two lead actors sharing the screen for most of the film, chemistry is key. When it comes to movies that have two lead actors that are romantically involved with each other, chemistry is EVERYTHING. The problem with many on-screen relationships is that the actors are not able to make it believable that these two characters have feelings for each other. This might have been the case when trying to cast Aladdin and Jasmine. The casting director probably found solid actors to play Aladdin and Jasmine as individual characters, but when they tested the actors’ chemistry together, they were not a good fit.
Now, the biggest criticism that I’ve heard about these casting rumors is that Disney simply isn’t trying hard enough to find adequate actors of the right ethnicity to play these roles and making it seem like there aren’t enough actors of Middle Eastern descent in the film industry to choose from. People online have joked that the roles will ultimately be whitewashed by *insert generic white actor and actress here*. I have a couple of things to say about this. For one, unless Disney wants another “The Lone Ranger “ on their hands, they aren’t going to whitewash these characters. Whitewashing is basically a death sentence for films nowadays, with movies like “Ghost in the Shell” and “Gods of Egypt” being dead on arrival. Secondly, many of the actors that people have suggested are of Indian descent. While the tale of “Aladdin” is fictional, the characters are Middle Eastern, not Indian. While this could be considered nitpicking, it’s important to maintain the integrity of iconic characters such as these.
A studio’s ultimate goal is to make movies that make money, and to make money they need to satisfy the audience. Instead of being quick to criticize a company’s decision, remember that they are just as invested in these stories and characters as you are.
