Disney has recently faced some harsh criticism over darkening the skin of some of the background extras in its upcoming Aladdin film.
Based on a tale from The Arabian Nights, the film is a live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1992 animated hit. The Guy Ritchie film stars Egypt-born Canadian actor Mena Massoud as Aladdin, alongside Will Smith as the Genie.
We just started shooting Aladdin and I wanted to intro you guys to our new family… Mena Massoud/Aladdin, Naomi Scott/Princess Jasmine, Marwan Kenzari/Jafar, and I’m over here gettin my Genie on. Here we go!
Posted by Will Smith on Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Disney said it brought in white actors to help fill the many background roles, stunt positions, dancers and “camel handlers” needed, according a report in the Sunday Times.
Even with 400 of 500 background performers currently filming on Disney’s Aladdin are reportedly of Indian, Middle Eastern, African, Mediterranean or Asian descent, it’s the remaining 100 that have the British media outlets up in arms.
Described as a stand in for one of the leads, the Times story quotes extra Kaushal Odedra as seeing as many as 20 “very fair skinned” actors lined up outside make-up tents “waiting to have their skin darkened.”
Disney later released a statement which confirmed some actors were “made up to blend in” for crowd scenes, but only in a “handful of instances”.
Disney defended their decision in a statement saying, “Great care was taken to put together one of the largest most diverse casts ever seen on screen.” The statements continues, “Diversity of our cast and background performers was a requirement and only in a handful of instances when it was a matter of specialty skills, safety and control (special effects rigs, stunt performers and handling of animals) were crew made up to blend in.”
People across social media criticized Disney for the move, with some, including actor Kal Penn, labeling the company’s actions as “brownface.”
I love @Disney so much. But when a PR person says they decided to put 100 people in Brownface in 2018 because not enough of us are qualified, that’s bs, someone just didn’t want to spend the $ to do it right. Let’s all expect more & do better this year.https://t.co/MzZJp6jvPB
— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) January 7, 2018
Controversy surrounding the live-action Aladdin comes as nothing new to Disney. The production has previously sparked criticism over the casting the role of Princess Jasmine’s with British-Indian actress Naomi Scott and later they were also chastised for the introducing a new character into the story played by a white actor.
While casting the film, the studio reportedly saw more than 2,000 actors in London, Abu Dhabi, India and Egypt. The company claimed to have trouble finding actors to fill the roles of Aladdin and Jasmine because they couldn’t easily find young actors with backgrounds in singing.
Navid Negahban the actor who plays the sultan recently dismissed outcries that the film was being ‘whitewashed’.
“It’s not whitewashing,” he told The Huffington Post. Aladdin needs variety like a garden, otherwise it’s going to be boring, he said. “You’re gonna go and see this beautiful garden with colorful flowers, and I just hope that you enjoy the journey.”
“You will definitely love the film,” he added. “It doesn’t matter how old you are, the film has something for you to take away from it.”
Aladdin is not due in theaters until May 24, 2019