Tom Hardy Aladdin rumours leave fans furious as Guy Ritchie is hit with whitewashing backlash

Disney previously promised to “make a movie that’s authentic to that world”
Backlash: Tom Hardy is rumoured to be in the running to play Jafar
Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images
Emma Powell12 June 2017
The Weekender

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Rumours about who will play Jafar in Guy Ritchie’s upcoming live action remake of Aladdin have sparked outrage online.

Tom Hardy is reportedly being lined up to play the famous villain, despite Disney promising to avoid whitewashing.

Speaking about Hardy’s potential involvement, a source told The Sun: “Guy is a huge fan of Tom’s work and securing him would be a major coup. There have been conversations and, although nothing is set in stone and things are subject to change, he’s certainly one of Guy’s favoured choices.

“It just depends on schedules whether he’ll be able to sign up.”

Villain: Jafar in the 1992 Disney film
Disney

The news faced a backlash with “angry” fans criticising the rumoured casting.

One Twitter user posted: “Tom Hardy is apparently in talks to be play Jafar in Guy Ritchie's Aladdin so it's nice to see white men in Hollywood never f****** change.”

Mocking the report, another tweeted: “I wonder if in order to gain more audience they will replace parrot with dog and genie with fairy godmother.”

Standard Online has contacted representatives for Hardy and Ritchie for comment.

The news comes months after producer Dan Lin promised fans that he and Ritchie will “make a movie that’s authentic to that world”.

He told Variety: “I mean, I’m not a typical guy. Listen, I’m very fortunate working in Hollywood; I am diverse. So when I came in to make the movie, I wanted to make a diverse version of the movie.

“Luckily for me, [director] Guy Ritchie has the same vision and Disney has the same vision, so we’re not here to make Prince of Persia. We want to make a movie that’s authentic to that world.”

Aladdin will be the latest in a series of planned live action Disney remakes, including The Lion King, which will reportedly star Donald Glover and Beyonce.

Tom Hardy - In pictures

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