AceShowbiz - "Mulan" is finding its mentor in Donnie Yen. The upcoming live-action movie based on Disney's classic animated film has added the Hong Kong actor and martial artist to the cast to play Commander Tung, a mentor and teacher to the title character, Deadline reports.

Commander Tung is a new character that wasn't featured in the 1998 animated film. Meanwhile, Chinese actress Liu Yifei, also known as Crystal Liu, has been tapped to play Mulan, who was voiced by Ming-Na Wen in the animated movie. Yifei was reportedly chosen after a search across continents and involving 1000 candidates.

"Mulan" will be directed by Niki Caro, who helmed "Whale Rider" and "The Zookeeper's Wife". She will become the second female director hired by Disney to direct a film with a budget higher than $100 million, following Ava DuVernay who directed "A Wrinkle in Time". Previously, Ang Lee was offered to take the director position, but the Oscar-winning director passed on the offer.

"Jurassic World" and "Avatar" sequel scribes Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver came on board in 2015 to rewrite the spec by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin. The film will be exec produced by Bill Kong, the producer of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "House of Flying Daggers". The new movie is set for a U.S. released on May 27, 2020.

The original movie "Mulan", based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, follows Fa Mulan, daughter of aged warrior Fa Zhou, who impersonates a man to take her father's place during a general conscription to counter a Hun invasion.

Yen has starred in a number of Hollywood movies, namely "xXx: Return of Xander Cage", Netflix's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny" and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". In Asia, he is best known for his role as Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man in 2008's film "Ip Man" and its sequels. Filming for "Ip Man 4" has just recently begun.