【Oh Mi】

Disney's live-action Aladdin is taking flight,Oh Mi after a flurry of casting announcements and several months of delay from its initial target shoot dates. Will Smith, who will play the beloved genie in this iteration, posted a photo with the rest of the core cast from the set.

Smith had been cooling his heels in London while waiting for his Disney deal to get done, which finally closed late last month. His whopping contract to do both the film and much of its music cleared the way for the work to get started Wednesday.

A day earlier, Disney revealed that Billy Magnussen would also be joining the cast, playing a new character named Prince Anders whose only ostensible purpose at the moment seems to be including a white character.

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A developing live-action Mulanreceived similar criticism when early scripts revealed a white protagonist. Thankfully, Aladdin is still the hero of his story, and the cast are all smiles on day one.

There's every chance that Prince Anders is the ill-fated suitor who Jasmine rejects early on and sets her pet tiger on (formerly Prince Ahmed -- we'll take it), and wouldn't that be something?

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