Mulan Featurette Explores the Film’s Sensational Stunts
Director Niki Caro’s upcoming Mulan looks quite simply ravishing. Now a new featurette focusing on the live-action remake‘s epic stunts highlights why so many folks are excited about Caro’s film.
You had to know that Mulan would be an action-packed movie. The story is centered on a young woman (Yifei Liu) who disguises herself in order to take her father’s place in the upcoming war with China. Yet what’s revealed in this featurette is just how technically ambitious these fight sequences are.
“I loved creating the stunt sequences in this film,” says Caro in the featurette. “The action is explosive.” The action is both relentlessly intense and gorgeously rendered. Watching Liu brandishing her sword, leaping from roofs, and scampering up walls is a joy. There’s a visual elegance to the action, too. “It’s not just action for action’s sake,” Caro said. “It’s all coming from character or from story. Every action is very meaningful. The stunt sequences are epic…You’ve never seen anything quite so extraordinary in your life.” Her first assistant director Liz Tan adds; “This is an action movie, but it’s also beautiful to look at.” Indeed.
Mulan also has another major thing going for it; martial arts legends Jet Li and Donnie Yen and Jet Li are on hand to lend their mastery. As for the folks without Li and Yen’s pedigree, stunt coordinator Ben Cooke helped train up the rest of the cast so they all looked like seasoned fighters.
Joining Liu as Mulan, Yen as Commander Tung, and Li as the Emperor are Jason Scott Lee as Böri Khan; Yoson An as Cheng Honghui; and Gong Li as Xianniang.
Caro’s film comes from a screenplay by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Elizabeth Martin, and Lauren Hynek, based on the narrative poem “The Ballad of Mulan.”
Mulan hits theaters on March 27, 2020.
Check out the featurette here:
Here is the synopsis for Mulan:
When the Emperor of China issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army to defend the country from Northern invaders, Hua Mulan, the eldest daughter of an honored warrior, steps in to take the place of her ailing father. Masquerading as a man, Hua Jun, she is tested every step of the way and must harness her inner-strength and embrace her true potential. It is an epic journey that will transform her into an honored warrior and earn her the respect of a grateful nation…and a proud father.
Featured image: Mulan (Yifei Liu) fights on behalf of her father. Photo: Film Frame. Courtesy Walt Disney Studios. © 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
