Mulan’s Kiwi warrior princess
The big-budget Disney film would not have been shot in New Zealand if it hadn’t been for one determined Kiwi director. Aroha Awarau reports.
They don’t make movies like Mulan any more. With a budget of US$290 million (NZ$420m) and epic battle scenes using thousands of extras and minimal special effects, the Disney blockbuster was shot mostly in New Zealand.
Employing a local crew of about 800, the Hollywood project contributed to our local economy.
And the person to thank for this is Mulan’s Kiwi director Niki Caro, who shot to fame in 2002 when she made the classic film Whale Rider and insisted that Disney producers shoot their new movie in New Zealand.
Producer Jason Reed says Caro was the perfect choice to direct this film based on an ancient Chinese ballad about a maiden who disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father. It was later adapted into a 1998 animated Disney film.
Academy-award winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, The Life of Pi) was rumoured to be in discussions to make Mulan before the producers chose Caro.
‘‘Finding the director was super important to us. From the very beginning we knew we needed a director who could really focus on the character, who could shoot the movie in a way that we felt Mulan’s character as much as we were watching it,’’ says Reed.
‘‘After our first meeting, I knew that it would be Niki Caro who was going to be directing. I sensed it then and I know it now that she was our very own warrior princess. She’s compassionate, she’s characterfocused, she’s kick ass and that’s what we wanted to bring to the movie. She’s the full package.’’ The movie was initially going to be shot in China. But when Caro came on board and saw that many of the diverse Chinese locations looked similar to the landscapes in New Zealand, she suggested that the production shoot in her home country instead. ‘‘One of the things we wanted to do was create a love letter to China, so we wanted to show all the different looks and all of the different elements that China would know about but weren’t so familiar in the West,’’ Reed explains.
‘‘There are all these great geographical diversities in China but it’s also spread out. It’s a huge country and it’s not the easiest place to get around.
‘‘We were originally going to be taking 800 people and moving them across 16 different locations in China.
‘‘We realised we could get a lot of those same looks here in New Zealand and it was a very easy trip. It became a logistics issue and we were able to capture the grandeur and the beauty with similar geography.’’
Stuff toured the Auckland set, starting at the studios in West Auckland, where Kiwi awardwinning production designer Grant Major, of Lord of the Rings fame, and his team recreated an imperial Chinese palace.
The costume department, housed in a giant warehouse, was hung with thousands of intricate woven costumes, a task given to German designer Bina Daigeler and her team. Some of the material was especially made in places like India.
We were then transported to another set, in Ma¯ ngere, near Auckland Airport, which used a giant green screen to create Mulan and her troops storming through the palace gates, ready for battle.
Although the majority of the film was shot in Auckland and Southland, an extra crew was sent to China to film landscapes and some battle scenes.
Mulan is a Hollywood film with a full Asian cast, a rarity in mainstream films. Reed says they were conscious to cast the right actors, which include veteran stars Jet Li, Donny Yen, Jason
She’s compassionate, she’s character-focused, she’s kick ass and that’s what we wanted to bring to the movie.
Producer Jason Reed, on choosing Niki Caro, above, to direct
Scott Lee, Gong Li and many local Asian extras.
The film also discovered Auckland actor Yoson An, who plays Mulan’s love interest.
The important role of Mulan required an extensive international search and involved thousands of actresses auditioning across 30 countries.
Liu Yifei was selected, a 32-year-old actress and star in her native China but a virtual unknown to the rest of the world.
‘‘It was important for us to find someone who embodied the Chinese-ness of the role. She’s such a pleasure to work with. She’s giving everybody the best which creates an atmosphere that’s relaxed. Everybody could do their job at the best level.’’
In between shooting scenes, Yifei popped into our tent for a chat. Although she is softly spoken, Yifei commands her audience, and you discover why she beat thousands of hopefuls to secure the title role.
She says the greatest challenge playing the legendary character who disguises herself as a male, was the gender-bending aspect.
‘‘There are a lot of choices to make but it was the most subtle that was closest to the character and not the obvious choices.’’
She avoided watching the Disney cartoon, allowing her to come up with her own creative process.
While Mulan is a classic story in her Chinese culture, Yifei appreciates the film being made in New Zealand.
‘‘I like New Zealand a lot. It’s like heaven. When we started shooting on the first day we had a Ma¯ ori ceremony. Although I didn’t understand the language, there was some connection. Everyone was so into the energy.’’
Mulan opens in cinemas on March 26.