Gong Li, Jet Li, Donnie Yen Join Disney’s Live-Action ‘Mulan’
Disney’s live-action Mulan film has scored some major Chinese talent in the form of Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha, Raise the Red Lantern), Jet Li (Shaolin Temple, Hero) and Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Drunken Tai Chi).
Jet Li, one of China’s most enduring megastars, will play the Emperor of China. Li was a martial arts champion in his youth and that expertise transformed him into one of the most successful Chinese actors of all time with franchises like Shaolin Temple and Once Upon a Time in China. Li also conquered the US in films like Lethal Weapon 4, Romeo Must Die and The Expendables series. He became a member of AMPAS in 2008.
Gong Li is set to play the film’s villain, a powerful witch (and a departure from the 1998 animated version). Li began her career as a musician before entering drama school where she earned her big break, in Yimou Zhang’s Red Sorghum. Since then, Li’s acting career exploded with film like The Story of Qui Ju (which earned her the Best Actress prize at Venice) Farewell My Concubine, Memoirs of a Geisha. She’s been a jury member at the Venice, Cannes and Tokyo film festivals and was the first Chinese actor to appear on the cover of Time magazine.
Donnie Yen made his film debut in Drunken Tai Chi after spending his youth in China, Hong Kong and then the United States studying the fighting arts under martial arts movie director Yuen Woo-ping. He’s most well-known for Ip Man, Iron Monkey, Blade II and broke big in the US with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The film is being directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider, The Zookeeper’s Wife) and starts filming in China and New Zealand this August for a March 2020 release. The lead role is being played by Liu Yifei.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
- 2026 Cannes Film Festival Winners: Cristian Mingiu’s ‘Fjord’ Takes the Palme, Seventh Win in a Row for NEON - May 23, 2026
- Cannes 2026: Sandra Wollner’s ‘Everytime’ Wins Un Certain Regard Grand Prize - May 22, 2026
- ‘Coward’ Review: Belgian Soldiers Find Love in Lukas Dhont’s Hidden Romance Masterpiece [A] Cannes - May 21, 2026
AwardsWatch Podcast Ep. 345: Recapping the 79th Cannes Film Festival and Looking to the Awards Future 
‘The Beloved’ Review: Javier Bardem Makes a Meal Out of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Movie-Making Buffet [B] 
‘The Dreamed Adventure’ Review: Valeska Grisebach’s Observant Thriller Examines the Grey Zones of Morality [B+] 
‘Minotaur’ Review: Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Timeless, Domestic Epic is an Unflinching Look at Putin’s Russia [A] Cannes