After an exhaustive global search to find actors to portray Aladdin and Jasmine in its upcoming live-action Aladdin adaptation and the hiring of a megawatt movie star to play the Genie, Disney looked over its cast list, thought to itself, “something’s not right here,” and went out and got a blue-eyed, blonde-haired white guy. That white guy is Billy Magnussen, recently seen as Elisabeth Olsen’s preppie cokehead brother in Ingrid Goes West and as Kato Kaelin on American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson. (He does have fairy-tale musical experience, having played Rapunzel’s prince in Into The Woods.) This all comes from a new story in The Hollywood Reporter, which says that Magnussen has been cast in the film as Prince Anders, a “new role created for the movie musical.” Beyond that, details on the character are scarce. But, given his title, Anders serving as a romantic rival for Aladdin seems like a safe bet.
In less eyebrow-raising Aladdin casting news, SNL’s Nasim Pedrad has also joined the cast as another new character, Mara, a “handmaiden and friend to Jasmine.” Guy Ritchie is directing Disney’s live-action Aladdin, with former Power Ranger Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine and relative newcomer Mena Massoud as Aladdin. The Mummy’s Marwan Kenzari co-stars as the villainous Jafar, alongside Will Smith as the genie in the lamp. As opposed to, you know, those other types of genies.