Aladdin producer Dan Lin has explained why Guy Ritchie was chosen to direct the Disney movie.
Guy Ritchie, a man known for his dark, gritty, and violent action movies, isn’t the first name that comes to mind to direct a Disney movie like Aladdin. But for this year’s live-action remake of the classic film, he was the man to get the job.
Why was this decision made? Well, producer Dan Lin explained it all to ComicBook.com: “I had known him very well from the previous two movies and what I discovered was that his kids loved the Aladdin original animated movie, as did his wife. And they loved the animated movie and they loved the Broadway musical. And that’s why I sent it to him because he was at the stage of his career which I was at many years ago, where I wanted to make movies for my kids. The Lego Movie is a direct result of my wife looking at me going, ‘You’ve made Sherlock Holmes, you made Terminator. Your kids are too young to watch them. You’ve got to make a movie for your kids.’
“And he’s at the same place now where his wife was telling him, ‘Hey, you got to make a movie for your kids.’ And that ended up being Aladdin. So that’s number one, he had a real personal motivation to why he wanted to make the movie. Number two, people forget that he came from the commercial music video world and worked in other genres since then, but really in many ways it’s going back to his roots. His original indie movies are about street rats, and this is the ultimate street rats movie.”
SEE ALSO: Disney’s Aladdin producer explains what Will Smith brought to the role of Genie
Were you surprised to see Guy Ritchie directing Aladdin? Did you enjoy his work on the film? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter @flickeringmyth…
A thrilling and vibrant live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic, “Aladdin” is the exciting tale of the charming street rat Aladdin, the courageous and self-determined Princess Jasmine and the Genie who may be the key to their future.
Aladdin is directed by Guy Ritchie (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) and features a cast that includes Mena Massoud (Aladdin), Naomi Scott (Princess Jasmine), Will Smith (Genie), Marwan Kenzari (Jafar), Navid Negahban (The Sultan), Nasim Pedrad (Dalia), Billy Magnussen (Prince Anders), Numan Acar (Hakim), Alan Tudyk (Iago) and Frank Welker (Abu).