Disney’s Live-Action ‘Aladdin’ Reboot Casts ‘Mummy’ Actor as Jafar
By Justin Kroll
Marwan Kenzari is in negotiations to play Jafar in Disney’s live-action Aladdin reboot from director Guy Ritchie, sources confirmed to Variety.
He joins Naomi Scott, who will play Jasmine, Mena Massoud, who will portray the title character, and Will Smith, who will voice the Genie (a role made famous by Robin Williams in the animated classic). Nasim Pedrad has also joined the cast as a handmaid and friend to Jasmine.
John August, whose credits include Big Fish, wrote the new Aladdin script. Dan Lin, who produced Ritchie’s two Sherlock Holmes movies for Warner Bros., is also producing Aladdin through his Lin Pictures company. Jonathan Eirich is exec producing.
The original animated movie was a comic take on the Arabic folk tale of a young man granted three wishes by a genie trapped in a lamp.
Aladdin was the highest-grossing film of the year in 1992, and won an Oscar for best score and best song for “A Whole New World.”
Kenzari can be seen next in Fox’s Murder on the Orient Express where he plays the conductor. He also recently appeared in The Mummy opposite Tom Cruise, as well as Ben-Hur.
He is repped by ICM Partners and Janey van Ierland at Nummer19 Films in Holland.
Watch the trailer for the original ‘Aladdin’ film:
