It appears as though Disney films will never grow out of fashion, something which Hollywood periodically takes advantage of. We've already seen some of our favourite animated characters come to life in productions like, 'Cinderella, 'Beauty and the Beast' & 'The Jungle Book', whose successes were so great that they spurred on projects such as 'The Lion King' and 'Aladdin'. The latter two films are set for release in 2019.
However, just last week, the live-action remake of the film about our favourite street-rat turned Prince, 'Aladdin' has gained attention for all the wrong reasons. It's recently been revealed that various extras, working on the live-action remake, were subject to brownface, a procedure which sees actors use makeup in order to make themselves look as though they have a darker skin tone.
Kaushal Odedra, one of the extras, spoke to the The Times about how he'd seen make-up teams darkening the skin of some of the cast. The controversy surrounding the issue has been so big that Disney were forced to respond, assuring that the decision to use some white actors was "only in a handful of instances when it was a matter of specialty skills, safety and control".
Navid Negahban, the actor who'll be playing Sultan, defended Disney, denying that the company was guilty of white-washing.
Speaking to Huffington Post, "It's not whitewashing", he mentioned, using the metaphor of a garden to explain the situation. "The thing is that the garden should be filled with flowers of different kinds. If not, the garden is going to be very boring. So you're gonna go and see this beautiful garden with colorful flowers, and I just hope that you enjoy the journey". Negahban is clearly very excited about the upcoming film and equally as confident in Guy Ritchie's vision as director.
Actor Kal Penn has his say
The actor Kal Penn, known for his work on 'House' and 'How I Met Your Mother', with parents of Indian origin, criticised Disney via his Twitter account.
I love @Disney so much. But when a PR person says they decided to put 100 people in Brownface in 2018 because not enough of us are qualified, that's bs, someone just didn't want to spend the $ to do it right. Let's all expect more & do better this year.https://t.co/MzZJp6jvPB
? Kal Penn (@kalpenn) January 7, 2018
'Aladdin' will also star Will Smith as Genie, and has been likened to 'Beauty and the Beast' for its musical numbers. The film is expected to premiere around May 2019.
