A Disney live-action version of the animated classic “Mulan” minus the songs from the original film? It looks like that might be the case, according to the remake’s director, Niki Caro.
“Yes, from what I understand, no songs right now, much to the horror of my children,” Caro said in an interview with Moviefone.
Both “Beauty and the Beast” and last year’s “The Jungle Book” incorporated the songs from the animated films into their live-action remakes — Disney even added a few new songs to “Beauty and the Beast.” But according to Caro, producer Sean Bailey has a vision for the film that they’re both working towards.
“His sensibility and mine for the material is right in sync,” Caro said. “It’s a big, girly martial arts epic. It will be extremely muscular and thrilling and entertaining and moving.”
Filming hasn’t begun, so Caro can’t/won’t get into real details just yet. “But the budget and the location and the story [are] offering such scope to me for [an] incredible, muscular piece of girly martial arts extravaganza in China,” Caro told ScreenCrush. “And I can’t wait.”
There is, however, pre-production work to be done to get her into the swing of things. “I’ve got my little girl, she’s 9,” Caro told EW. “We’re going to start learning mixed martial arts in preparation.”
Caro joins Ava DuVernay as women who each will be directing a live-action Disney blockbuster, with DuVernay helming next year’s adaptation of “A Wrinkle in Time.” Disney previously signed Caro to direct the 2015 inspirational sports movie “McFarland, USA,” which tells the story of a football coach who finds a new purpose as the coach of a high school cross-country team consisting of poor Latino boys in central California.
Disney’s live-action “Mulan” is slated to hit theaters Nov. 2, 2018.