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“There were thousands of actors who tried out for the lead from all the continents, but Jonathan (Eirich), one of the producers, showed me a tape of Mena and I thought, ‘He’s pretty interesting.’ He came in and he ticked all the requisite boxes, but he also has a great deal of charm and charisma and his chemistry with Naomi was conspicuous.”

Following earlier live-action revamps, including Beauty and the Beast and Dumbo, Ritchie’s Aladdin infuses this new version with Scott’s independent princess and a villainous Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) whose political ambitions could be ripped from today’s headlines. But at its core is a love story.

Smith gave Ritchie the nickname “Cry Ritchie” on the Aladdin set because the filmmaker was so emotional. “I have no idea where I got this reputation from,” Ritchie says, chuckling.

Sipping a beer inside a sun-drenched room overlooking the Beverly Canon Gardens, Ritchie spoke about taking on Aladdin, casting the film and the movie that made him decide to become a director.

Was there anything about Aladdin that appealed to you as opposed to one of the other Disney films?

Aladdin, as a sort of street hustler, is familiar territory for me. All the other components come from external pressure from my wife and kids. But I had a desire to fully immerse myself in the world of Disney. That’s a big part of it — the fantasy of being able to do something like this. When I found myself in Burbank having the discussions to make the film, the nostalgia even having a conversation about it was what it might have been like for you or anyone else. You’re sitting there and it’s almost like a childhood dream, I suppose, because we’ve all grown up with Disney. There’s an aspect of our psyche that is dreamlike for us, really. It’s the realization of those dreams. When you find yourself in Burbank having these chats, I have to tell you, that in itself is almost like a pinch-me moment. Even as I’m talking about it now it’s dawning on me how big this is. You sit there and you watch those Disney movies and then you find yourself as the director of one of those movies … it’s kind of a big deal.