Disney’s new live-action Mulan is not based on the animated film. I just had to write that straight off because it needs to be said repeatedly. The live-action movie is actually based on the extremely old narrative poem The Ballad of Mulan, so there are going to be differences. Same, same, but different. And by differences I mean no Captain Li Shang. I know you’re upset but stay with me, because we got to chat to the producer of the film and he talked us through the whole thing.
The gist is that Shang’s character has been split into two new characters – Mulan’s mentor and senior in rank Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) and Mulan’s new romantic interest Cheng Honghui (Yoson An). The decision caused an uproar. How dare Disney axe Shang, the first fictional man to steal my heart with his looks, power, and song. Not to mention, he’s a goddamn bisexual icon. Out of all characters to bin, how could it be Shang? These were the thoughts running through my head as I, and a handful of journos, were shuffled into a tent on set in Auckland, New Zealand. Production was in the very final stages of filming, and Disney had invited us to speak to the cast and crew.
Producer Jason Reed copped all our questions about Shang. Let it be know that before the interview, I assumed they cut Shang’s character because he was simply too perfect to cast. I still like to think this was part of the reason, but the truth is quite different.
“One of the reasons we split the role of Shang is because the love interest and the commander were the same person, and we didn’t think that was the best way to show off those relationships in this version of the movie,” Reed explained.
“The power dynamic between a soldier and a commander isn’t necessarily a way to explore a romantic relationship so we took Shang and we split him into Commander Tung, played by Donnie Yen, and Cheng Honghui, played by Yosan,” Reed said. It took some complication out of the power differential. But it also allowed the team to go deeper into Mulan’s mentorship relationship with Commander Tung and the romantic and competitive relationship with Honghui. In other words, they thought it was inappropriate for a commanding officer – a man in a higher position of power than Mulan – to have a romantic relationship with her.
Yoson An, who plays Honghui, describes his character as quite different to Shang.
“First and foremost, he’s not a captain or anything,” he tells us. “He’s a conscript just like Mulan and all the other boys. But he’s a very skilled martial artist and there’s a sense of stillness about him. He’s got an innate confidence, but it’s not like an arrogance. He knows he’s good at what he does and it kind of shines through without him saying too much.”
Yosan is an absolute sweetie pie, by the way. Swipe for more character posters.
Reed also explained Mulan’s relationship with her new boo.
“Because she has a secret that she’s hiding, she’s very scared of being close to anybody,” he explained. “On the other hand, Honghui is just seeing that there’s this other really good soldier in the group. So Honghui’s like, ‘Hey, c’mon, let’s hang out – you and I – we’ve got to takeover the leadership and we’ve got so much stuff to do’ and Mulan keeps pushing him away. And he doesn’t understand it and it’s very confusing, so he thinks Mulan’s a jerk.” Romance.
Disney’s live-action Mulan hits cinemas March 26. Not long now.
As an aside, Disney sent over some pics from our set tour (from 15 months ago), and I look three in it. Anyway, this is me with Mulan’s horse and Mulan’s stunt double. Solid horse casting if I do say so myself.
