THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 38 FEBRUA RY 26, 2020
PREVIOUS SPREAD: SET DESIGN BY LISA BAZADONA. LIU HAIR BY DEREK YUEN FOR BUMBLE & BUMBLE AT SWA AGENCY, MAKEUP BY MAI QUYNH FOR ARMANI BEAUTY AT THE WALL GROUP. THIS SPREAD: JASIN BOLAND/DISNEY (3).the original 1998 Mulan was a
critical and commercial hit, gar-
nering a Golden Globe and Oscar
nomination and grossing more
than $300 million worldwide
($475 million today), it faltered at
the Chinese box office. Part of the
reason is that the Chinese gov-
ernment stalled its premiere for
nearly a year because of lingering
anger over Disney’s 1997 release
of Kundun, Martin Scorsese’s
Dalai Lama movie that dealt with
China’s occupation of Tibet. By the
time Mulan reached theaters in
late February 1999, most children
had returned to school after the
Chinese New Year holiday and
pirated copies were widely avail-
able. For the new film, the plan
was to counter piracy by releasing
the movie in China the same day
as the rest of the world, a strategy
that’s no longer possible.
The film also has tested the
ability and tolerance of Disney
— which aims to be ideologically
neutral — in managing global
political fallout. In August, Liu
stirred up a major controversy
when she reposted a pro-police
comment on Chinese platformWeibo (where she has more than
66 million followers) at the height
of the violence in Hong Kong.
Her action was seen by critics
of the Chinese government as
supporting police brutality; soon
after, the hashtag #BoycottMulan
started trending on Twitter. Liu,
who has American co-citizenship
from her time in the U.S., was
harshly criticized around the
world for supporting oppression.
“I think it’s obviously a very
complicated situation and I’m not
an expert,” she says now, cau-
tious in the extreme. “I just really
hope this gets resolved soon.”
When pressed, Liu, whose answer
seemed rehearsed, declines to say
much more, simply repeating,
“I think it’s just a very sensitivesituation.” (Bailey also deflects
when asked: “Yifei’s politics
are her own, and we are just
focused on the movie and her
performance.”)
“Most Chinese celebrities
choose to avoid posting such
political statements because of
the risks to their careers inter-
nationally,” says Dorothy Lau, a
professor at the Academy of Film,
Hong Kong Baptist University. But
though Liu’s post drew criticism
globally, some experts believe the
political drama could actually
result in more support for the
film in China. “At the time, the
government came out in various
publications supporting the film
very strongly,” says USC professor
Stanley Rosen, who specializesstopped working in film and TV
since, earning fashion partner-
ships with Adidas, Shiseido and
Armani along the way.
Disney and director Niki Caro
selected Liu from more than
1,000 aspirants from around
the world to star as Hua Mulan,
the Chinese heroine who dis-
guises herself as a man to fight
in the Imperial Army in a film
carefully designed to appeal to
Western and Chinese audiences
alike. But now there’s a question
of when Mulan will be released
in China. With the coronavirus
shutting down all 70,000 of the
country’s theaters since Jan. 24,
it’s unclear — and more unlikely
every day — that multiplexes will
reopen in time for its planned
release. (Several high-profile
U.S. films, including Universal’s
Dolittle and 1917 and Searchlight’s
Jojo Rabbit, saw their February
releases scrapped.) “It certainly
has worldwide and global appeal,
but there’s no denying that this
is a very important film for the
Chinese market,” says Comscore
analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “It’s
a huge blow for Disney if it doesn’t
release in China.” Disney presi-
dent of production Sean Bailey
says he’s “looking at it day by day.”
Of course, this puts added
pressure on the $200 million
budgeted film — the priciest
of Disney’s recent live-action
remakes — to perform in the U.S.
and the rest of the world. Liu, who
is enveloped in her own storm of
controversy based on a political
social media post about the Hong
Kong protests, says she is trying
hard not to think about all that.
“It would really be a loss for me if I
let the pressure overtake my pos-
sibilities,” says the actress, who
learned English when she lived in
New York as a child for four years
with her mother, a dancer, after
her parents’ divorce.
Even before the outbreak of the
virus, Mulan — the first Disney-
branded film with an all-Asian
cast and the first to be rated PG-13
(for battle scenes) — would have
marked one of the studio’s riskiest
live-action films to date. While