The leads for Disney's live-action 'Aladdin' will be Middle Eastern
An official casting call for the new film explicitly states the characters are "Middle Eastern"
An official casting call for the new film explicitly states the characters are "Middle Eastern"
Hot on the heels off (and thereby introducing the world to Auli'i Cravalho), Disney seems to be continuing its praiseworthy new policy of casting actors who are the same ethnicity as the characters they represent.
The company recently released an official casting call for , and the flyer explicitly states Aladdin and Jasmine are "Middle Eastern."
Now, the wording of that is a bit vague. It could have said "Must be Middle-Eastern" the way it says "Must be able to sing" and "Should be between 18-25 years old," but hopefully it means they're looking to cast people who are of Middle-Eastern descent for the roles.
The location of the film was changed from Baghdad, Iraq, to the fictional Arabian city of Agrabah, so "Middle Eastern" should still give Disney plenty to work with.
Some of the other exciting tidbits that the flyer reveals is that casting is set to begin in April and shooting will commence between July 2017 and January 2018.