The release of Disney's live-action remake of Mulan is being rained on by a growing "#BoycottMulan" movement. The controversy stems from resurfaced tweets by the film's lead actress Liu Yifei, who voiced support for China and the Hong Kong police during the city's during pro-democracy protests.
"I also support Hong Kong police. You can beat me up now," the actress wrote on Weibo, last August. "What a shame for Hong Kong."
Jason T. Reed, a producer on Mulan and a former Disney executive, voiced his support for Yifei and explained the situation: “Well, I think that first off, it's a very complicated situation for performers who live in China and work in China. Obviously, the tensions between the two entities is very complicated,” he began.
“I'm not qualified to discuss that in-depth. I'm here to represent the film,” he continued. “But I will say from a very personal place, no one worked harder and gave more of themselves than Yifei did. She trained for six months prior to starting production — horse riding, martial arts, practicing creating that character.”
“She worked every single day of the schedule. So I feel badly for her, that the conversation is inevitably, it inevitably turns to this and I hope that when audiences see the movie that the conversation turns back to what an amazing performance she brought in and how hard, how much she had to do in order to bring that character to life,” he added.
Mulan is available on Disney+ for $30, or subscribers can wait until December 4, when the film will be available for free.
[Via]
