Walt Disney has announced that Chinese actress Crystal Liu will play the lead in the live-action adaptation of the classic animated film Mulan, according to Hollywood Reporter. Taiwanese actress Hu Ting-ting, the Mulan lookalike expected to win the role, did not make the cut.
Disney had a year-long casting search spanning five continents, with nearly 1,000 candidates auditioning for the role of Mulan, which requires martial arts skills, fluent English and, most important of all, star quality. Liu, who lived in New York for part of her childhood, is fluent in English and stood out among the competition.
Liu gained popularity for her role Fairy Sister in the hit TV drama Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Disney had allegedly planned to have a white actress such as Jennifer Lawrence to play the role of Mulan. Its attempts to “whitewash” Asian culture have been heavily criticized online.
Photo: Chen Li-yen, Liberty Times
照片︰自由時報記者陳立妍
(CNA and Liberty Times, translated by Eddy Chang)
根據「好萊塢報導」,華特迪士尼公司近日表示,中國女演員劉亦菲雀屏中選 將擔任經典動畫「花木蘭」真人版主角。原本被外界看好,酷似木蘭的台灣女演員胡婷婷意外落馬。
迪士尼在全球五大洲為木蘭選角長達一年,前往試鏡的應徵者接近千人,該角色必須要會武術、能說流利英語,最重要的是要有明星特質!小時候曾住在紐約、英語流利的劉亦菲最終脫穎而出。
劉亦菲因演出熱門電視劇「天龍八部」中的「神仙姊姊」而走紅,稍早曾傳出迪士尼計劃找珍妮佛勞倫斯等白人女星來飾演木蘭,疑似企圖「漂白」亞洲文化而引發網友批評。(中央社、自由時報)
Microsoft on Feb. 28 announced it was retiring Skype, the online voice and video call pioneer that the tech titan acquired in 2011. “Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available,” said a post from Skype support on X, directing users to sign into Microsoft’s Teams platform for further use of its services. Skype was founded in 2003 by Scandinavians Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis in Estonia, revolutionizing Internet communication by offering free voice calls between computers and affordable rates for calls to landlines and mobile phones. Over the years, and as Internet speeds improved, Skype evolved to
A: China’s animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” also smashed a box office record recently. B: It’s No. 7 among the world’s best-selling films, grossing more than US$2 billion globally. A: I t has even become the world’s highest-grossing animated film, while the political metaphors in it are causing controversy. B: But who is Ne Zha anyway? A: Ne Zha, often spelled as “Nezha,” is actually a mythical teenage deity with superpowers. A: 中國動畫片《哪吒2》最近也打破紀錄。 B: 該片已衝上影史票房排行榜第7名,全球狂賣超過20億美元。 A: 聽說它甚至是全球最賣座的動畫片,影片中的政治隱喻卻引爆爭議! B: 但哪吒是誰? A: 哪吒的名字常被拼成「Nezha」,是神話中具有超能力的青少年神明。
People desire a sense of purpose in their lives, but they often remain idle unless they have a clear reason to act. This concept is illustrated by the retirement paradox. People work hard to prepare for a future without work but find life meaningless after achieving that goal. A study was carried out to determine if a reason, even a minor one, could encourage idle people to take action. __1__ Upon finishing the first, they were instructed to drop it off at a location either right outside the room or at a spot farther away, which would take around
A: Were there any highlights at the Oscars this year? B: With 13 nods, French director Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” broke the record for most Oscar nominations earned by a non-English film. A: Wow, it broke the record of 10 Oscar nominations set by Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” B: On the eve of the Oscars, Lee was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards. A: It seems that Hollywood has finally become more diverse. A: 今年的奧斯卡獎有什麼亮點嗎? B: 法國導演賈克歐迪亞的《璀璨女人夢》榮獲13項提名,打破了非英語片紀錄! A: 哇打破了台灣導演李安的《臥虎藏龍》10項提名紀錄。 B: 李安則在奧斯卡前夕,獲頒美國導演工會「終身成就獎」。 A: 看來好萊塢終於比較多元化啦。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張迪)