ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It's been 20 years since we first met Mulan on the big screen. The 1998 Disney animated film is now getting the live-action treatment and one of the stars is from Minnesota.
It was announced last week that Doua Moua had landed the role of Chien Po—one of Mulan's soldier friends. The story of Mulan follows a young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to take her father's place in the army.
Moua now lives in Los Angeles but he grew up in St. Paul. His family immigrated to St. Paul in 1987 from Thailand.
Moua spoke to KARE 11 via FaceTime from New Zealand. He's been training since June and just started shooting this week.
"Fans should be expecting this film to be a little bit different from the recent live-action Disney movies," Moua said. "In China there were a lot of different stories that were told of Mulan. So the writers basically kind of read and did research to take all these elements and created this world but still have bits and parts to pay homage back to the original animated film."
About his character, Chien Po, Moua said, "It has some similar characteristics of the same animation but with a little twist from me. And the amazing writers wrote an amazing role for me."
The upcoming movie comes at a time when Crazy Rich Asians is a box office hit. The romantic comedy is the first major Hollywood film set in the present day to feature a majority Asian cast in 25 years.
"There's a lack of Asian representation in the industry. So this is such an amazing time and moment for the Asian-American community to show Hollywood or the entertainment industry that... we are viable, and we come in packs, and we come as a community to support films that we want to tell," Moua said.
While Moua has found success, (like for his role as Spider in Clint Eastwood's 2008 film Gran Torino) he'd like to see more changes.
"We need to start showing that we need to be more diverse within the Asian community in the entertainment world, as well. And not be so, 'This role is for a... Chinese person, then it needs to be only for a Chinese actor,'" Moua said.
Moua is also a screenwriter. His script "The Harvest" is a 2017 Academy Nicholl semi-finalist. He plans on filming the movie in Minnesota some day.
"There are some projects that you read and you go audition for and it's amazing. But again, there's just one in a million scripts that are like that," Moua said. "It really depends on us as Asian-Americans to write for Asian-Americans and not be afraid of it."
When talking about Mulan, Moua said, "The shots so far look amazing and beautiful. So expect to be amazed and come in and watch it from an open perspective because you'll be amazed from it."
Mulan is scheduled to be released in U.S. theaters on March 27, 2020.