IT'S OFFICIAL: Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott and Will Smith cast in Aladdin

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 3:20pm

Really pleased for Naomi Scott! I've always mentioned her as my preferred Princess Jasmine. Will Smith is a disappointment though, considering the amount of actors who would be a better fit.
 

 

Updated On: 7/15/17 at 03:20 PM

[gypsy101]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 3:37pm

pleased to see some more ethnically accurate casting! (edit: turns out Naomi is of Indian descent so i guess that's really not too accurate)

i think Will might be a good fit, though i wouldn't have thought of him myself. who would you have rather seen, plannietink08?

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 4:08pm

gypsy101 said: "pleased to see some more ethnically accurate casting! (edit: turns out Naomi is of Indian descent so i guess that's really not too accurate)

i think Will might be a good fit, though i wouldn't have thought of him myself. who would you have rather seen, plannietink08?

 

Off the top of my head, I'm not sure. I'd say Josh Gad but I know EVERYONE is suggesting him and no doubt he'd be eager to stay away from the Disney sidekick roles for now. I have an open mind with Will Smith, he's a very surprising choice.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 7:17pm

Plannietink08 said: "Really pleased for Naomi Scott! I've always mentioned her as my preferred Princess Jasmine. Will Smith is a disappointment though, considering the amount of actors who would be a better fit.
 

 I think Will Smith is an inspired idea: he has charisma to spare, can be funny, and can carry a tune quite well.  Its a little early to predict, but I will bet here and now that he steals the movie (yup...its a great role), gets an Oscar nod, and everyone thinks he is great.  Who did you have in mind?

 

 

 

[hork]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 7:18pm

Will Smith is the only reason I would see this.

[Dave28282]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 7:46pm

I'm disappointed with Naomi Scott. I have a very different image in my head when I think of Jasmine.

More authentic, mysterious and beautiful. Naomi looks like the generic beer drinking bar girl of a student bar to me.

The Aladdin seems to have the right look and feel for the part, but I have never heard of him. He deserved a much more interesting Jasmine.

Updated On: 7/15/17 at 07:46 PM

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 8:05pm

I am glad that they went with a pair of lesser-known actors for the lead roles because with all due respect to Emma Watson, she's just not a singer. Especially when you compare her to all the actresses with musical theater training who've played Belle in Beauty & the Beast.

Updated On: 7/15/17 at 08:05 PM

[Theatre Fan3]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 10:54pm

And what makes you think that just because they are lessor known actors that they will sing any better than Emma?

[Dave28282]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 5:13am

Theatre Fan3 said: "And what makes you think that just because they are lessor known actors that they will sing any better than Emma?"

Because then he assumes they actually looked at talent in the casting process.

 

 

[froote]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 5:16am

Theatre Fan3 said: "And what makes you think that just because they are lessor known actors that they will sing any better than Emma?"

1. Naomi Scott is a singer

2. Why would they hire an unknown who can't sing when there's plenty that can (and act and look the part)

3. Judging by the sheer amount of autotune they used on Emma, I'm sure pretty much anyone is better than what her natural voice must sound like.

[Dave28282]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 7:54am

froote said: "2. Why would they hire an unknown who can't sing when there's plenty that can (and act and look the part)"

That's the crazy thing of this era. They either hire big names with atrocious and unnatural singing performances, but in the rare case of, for example the Phantom film, they hired an unknown Christine that could not sing either. It's like they are afraid of quality.

They must have thought Julie Andrews' singing on screen in the Sound of Music or Lea Salonga's singing on screen in Aladdin was too natural and too much quality for an audience to handle.

 

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 10:24am

Dave28282 said: "froote said: "2. Why would they hire an unknown who can't sing when there's plenty that can (and act and look the part)"

That's the crazy thing of this era. They either hire big names with atrocious and unnatural singing performances, but in the rare case of, for example the Phantom film, they hired an unknown Christine that could not sing either. It's like they are afraid of quality.

They must have thought Julie Andrews' singing on screen in the Sound of Music or Lea Salonga's singing on screen in Aladdin was too natural and too much quality for an audience to handle.

 

I'd be quite happy to see a big name in any musical film as long as they brought back old fashion dubbing. There's hundreds of actors who could sing the sh*t out of a role while the Hollywood actor acted the sh*t out of it. If Hollywood were like "Here is Jennifer Lawrence on screen playing so-and-so with Caroline Bowman providing the singing voice" I could definitely get down with that!  

 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 12:04pm

I hate dubbing, and feel duped by it. In almost every case I  would rather see an actor who can carry a tune than see an actor dubbed by a singer who can sing. There are exceptions to this, but they are far and few between.

It would be nice if they would just hire Broadway talent to make a musical, but business is business.

[Sunny11]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 12:20pm

Zac Effrons character was dubbed for the first High School Musical movie but not for the next two. I don't know why the producers felt the need,  I though that his real voice was just as good. 

Updated On: 7/16/17 at 12:20 PM

[gypsy101]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 1:48pm

Zac has a great voice and probably could have had a successful music career. Disney producers do strange things sometimes!

[JennH]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 1:57pm

How is no one talking about how just three-ish days ago, it was said they were having a hard time casting them. Please say I'm not the only one seeing through that B.S.? Frankly, I'm surprised at myself that I didn't see that coming, considering all the weird announcement stunts they've pulled in the past few years. 

As for dubbing, it's a weird thing these days. Lasseter has insisted that for the animated films that they find people who can do both, so why in the name of all that's holy could they not do this for B and the B? The weak links in terms of singing were Emma, maybe Emma T, I didn't even think Dan was that bad, he has a voice that needs nurturing I think. Dubbing was accepted many years ago because no one knew the practice was even happening. But now we know better, hence why I don't think it's acceptable at least in live action musicals. I just want people who can do both, they exist, so use them for goodness sake, people are craving actual skill again, I don't care about "Business" right now. But if those in power continue to insist on stunt casting people who can't really sing, then fine, I'll deal. I could go into my explanation as to why it's more or less acceptable for animated films, and it literally has everything to do with the science of the brain but that's for another day. But here's something else....even if dubbing were used, people are STILL going to complain.  They'll do it when the person does their own singing but can't really sing OR they use dubbing and many will still complain about why couldn't they find something who can do both and do them well. Just saying.

Now as for these two in Aladdin, I literally have never heard of them, so I'll reserve judgment for later. 

Updated On: 7/16/17 at 01:57 PM

[carnzee]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 2:10pm

JennH said: "How is no one talking about how just three-ish days ago, it was said they were having a hard time casting them. Please say I'm not the only one seeing through that B.S.? Frankly, I'm surprised at myself that I didn't see that coming, considering all the weird announcement stunts they've pulled in the past few years. 

 

"

What are you alleging? 

[rg7759]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 2:24pm

i guess 'were having trouble' was code for 'yall better submit cuz were f&*king making a decision now' you have 24 hours go

[froote]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 2:46pm

Disney never said themselves they were having trouble. Just made up crap from the press.

[JennH]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 4:25pm

I'm not suggesting any grand conspiracy, it's just more annoying to me than anything. Remember how when asked about the Frozen sequel, everyone involved tried to be all coy about it, the creatives' response was turning to eachother and saying "...Are we?" and not even a week later, there's the official announcement. 

If it was 100% made up, than shame on the press, but even if it weren't from Disney's mouth, I'm still of a slight belief that rumors don't just come out of nothing at all. But that's just me. Anyways, carry on discussing actual things of importance. I don't mind Will Smith at all, I think he's a damn good choice, but also there's no one who they could cast who the public would be 100% happy with, Thanks Robin...

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 5:36pm

Grace Randolph of BeyondtheTrailer.com applauds Disney, and says Mena Massoud (Egyptian-born, Canadian-bred) is a ''fabulous'' choice to play Aladdin. But she thinks Naomi Scott was a ''horrible'' one and predicts Scott will get ''roasted'' because being half-Indian is not the same thing as being Arabic/Middle Eastern. Randolph also offers her perfect candidate for Jafar (and it's not Ben Kingsley, who's half-Indian). Plus, she's said in the past that she believes Guy Ritchie could be the ''worst'' choice to direct ''Aladdin.''

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEm0Y6HaIxQ

Updated On: 7/16/17 at 05:36 PM

[EmeraldOzian]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 7:55pm

So Jasmine will probably sound like this then.

 
 

 

Updated On: 7/16/17 at 07:55 PM

[Dave28282]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 10:20pm

So this girl was the runner up, a much better Jasmine in my opinion:

https://youtu.be/MJTdn6n6MWo?t=4m53s

Updated On: 7/16/17 at 10:20 PM

[Fan123]

Posted: 7/17/17 at 5:06am

Wayman_Wong said: "Grace Randolph of BeyondtheTrailer.com applauds Disney, and says Mena Massoud (Egyptian-born, Canadian-bred) is a ''fabulous'' choice to play Aladdin. But she thinks Naomi Scott was a ''horrible'' one and predicts Scott will get ''roasted'' because being half-Indian is not the same thing as being Arabic/Middle Eastern. Randolph also offers her perfect candidate for Jafar (and it's not Ben Kingsley, who's half-Indian)."

 

FWIW, although I'm not an expert on this, I believe that Middle Eastern folk tales such as 'Aladdin' often have a rather vague or mixed geographic/ethnic origin, and so it's possible that some versions/elements of the story might have come from India. Even the "Arabian" Nights stories (with which Aladdin is sometimes grouped) are believed to originate from various areas and peoples, including Indians, not just from Arabs per se. Some versions of 'Aladdin' even set the whole story in China, although (to my ignorant eye) there's nothing very Chinese about anything in the story apart from the nominal setting. Somebody more knowledgeable about these things may well correct me, but it seems to me that trying to define a very narrow, 'pure' pool of acceptable modern ethnicity/ies to portray these ancient folkloric characters is chasing the wind (to quote another old Middle Eastern text). That's not to say Disney should just go "screw it" and cast white people, but personally I think some leeway should be allowed. (This is really a response to the posted video, not to Wayman_Wong him/herself.)

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/17/17 at 10:42am

Speaking of dubbing, I hear that it's still an accepted practice in European films (not to generalize all films from Europe since their films are as diverse as the countries they are being produced in...and the countries themselves are incredibly diverse). If true, I wonder why there isn't the same stigma there as there is here (post-1960s).