'Mulan' star, director talk about the Disney Plus' latest live-action movie streaming now
Disney's "Mulan" started streaming Friday and the daring extravaganza is getting rave reviews.
The star who plays the fearless heroine and her director spoke with ABC7 Chicago about the dazzling saga.
"It was surprisingly easy [to cast]. I think that's testament to the legend itself and to the studio and the vision that these extraordinary actors wanted to come play with us," said Director Niki Caro.
"To me, this is a brand new experience," said Yifei Liu, who plays Mulan. "To see the way they work, it's already a blessing. They were super professional and super careful, and just so great."
While the action scenes seem effortless, there was a lot of training that went into preparing for the role.
"Seven and a half hours a day for three and a half months," Caro said. "Physical training in the gym, martial arts training, everything, we kept her very, very busy!"
"I'm so grateful because normally I don't get time prepare, so I'm absorbing different kinds of stuff, building up," Liu said.
Caro says the scenery featured in this live-action movie is also worth taking note of.
"We've managed to bring some of the most iconic landscapes in China to this movie, and I think audiences will see things - they've never seen before in western movie-making, so beautiful," she said.
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The cast and crew said they were committed to honoring the original while enhancing the glorious legend of Mulan.
"It's two different kinds of the best way of telling the story, the essence somehow inside, they share this love and this energy," Liu said.
"Mulan" is now streaming exclusively on Disney Plus.
Disney is the parent company of ABC 7.
