Disney last week announced that their year-long quest to find the leading lady for the live-action Mulan has ended with the casting of Chinese actress Liu Yifei who is also famous as Crystal Liu.
It wasn’t long before Ming-Na Wen (Agents of SHIELD), who had given voice to Mulan in the 1998 original Disney movie, reacted to the news and she appears to be very excited.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Wen exclaimed during her appearance at the Heroes and Villains Fest panel at San Jose.“And she’s perfect for it. I’m so excited. And she’s Chinese! Thank you!”
When she was asked about what advice she would offer to Liu, Wen had a simple and straightforward reply.
“Just don’t eff it up,” Wen offered. “But I’d like to think that the animation Mulan still holds a special place in people’s hearts, you know? Me and Lea Solanga [Mulan’s singing voice] creating this beautiful image with the animators and Disney back in the day, before even CGI was a big thing. It was one of the first CGI animations. I’m very proud of the continued legacy. I hope that they do it justice.”
Wen went on to express her support for the actress.
“I immediately congratulated her on Twitter because I always want to support anyone who is Asian and in the business, first of all, and a woman, or any minority woman, but definitely for me it was such a relief,” Wen said. “I think she’s really, really just perfect for that part and Disney did a really great job. I think this morning, I just saw it recently, that she tweeted me back, so I look forward to meeting her. I think its fantastic.”
Last, but, not the least is there a possibility of fans seeing Ming-Na-Wen appearing in the live-action adaptation of Mulan?
“I don’t know yet,” Wen said. “I don’t have an answer for you for that, but you know, it’d be lovely. We probably need to put pressure on Disney.”
Mulan is scheduled to release in 2019.
Wen can currently be seen as Agent Melinda May on the Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which airs Fridays at 9 pm ET ABC.
