Ming-Na Wen may have had a small cameo in the brand new live-action “Mulan”, but it was supposed to look a little different.
The actress, who voiced the original Mulan in the 1998 animated feature, chatted with the NY Times about her small part as “Esteemed Guest” who introduces her successor, Liu Yifei, to the Emperor.
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“I was going to be the potential mother-in-law for the matchmaker scene,” she explained, adding that her schedule for “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” added disruption.
“[They] just threw up their hands: ‘We can’t lose you for a month!’” Wen added. “I totally understood, and I’m always very Zen about this stuff. I said, ‘Look, if it was meant to me be, it was meant to be. We all tried, and it’s too bad.’”
So Wen and the filmmakers made a compromise.
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“[They] came up with this great idea where instead of shooting an entire scene, I’d just make a cameo at the very end to announce Mulan to the emperor,” Wen said. “I thought that was very appropriate and just wonderful, a little Easter egg where I could pass the baton. And this time, they only needed me there for a week. So it all worked out!”
The live-action “Mulan” is now streaming for $29.99 on Disney+.
