casting couch

Disney Posts Open Casting Call for Guy Ritchie’s Live-Action Aladdin

Aladdin (1992). Photo: Disney

When Disney announced a new take on Aladdin, the 4,684th live-action remake (approximately) of one of its classic animated films, the most shocking part of the announcement was two-fold: The film’s chosen helmer (Snatch and Sherlock Holmes’s Guy Ritchie, whose aesthetic doesn’t exactly scream “musical love story”), and Disney’s assurances that no whitewashing would occur in the casting process. So, months later, how close have they hewed to those pronouncements? Well, Ritchie is still very much involved and, as of today, a casting call was made for the star-crossed leads, Princess Jasmine and poor street rat Aladdin. Per a post to Twitter, the Mouse has made the call completely open, which is an extremely rare occurrence in the casting world. If you are 18 to 25, can sing-dance-act, are – presumably – attractive, and are Middle Eastern (or look like you are; the post does not specify and kind of skirts the issue by saying “the characters are Middle Eastern,” tsk-tsk), then you can submit. To summarize: no whitewashing (yet), but no guarantee of explicitly Middle Eastern talent either. Even so: Good luck to all those who may submit. May anthropomorphic magic carpets speed you to your destiny.

Disney Posts Open Casting Call for Live-Action Aladdin