‘Lilo & Stitch’ Live-Action Remake Finds Lilo in Newcomer Maia Kealoha
The years-in-the-making Lilo & Stitch live-action remake just received a major boost.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed a story first posted by Knight Edge Media which said that newcomer Maia Kealoha has been cast in the film as the title character Lilo, an Elvis-loving six-year-old who adopts a “dog” from a local Hawaiian shelter; the dog, however, is an alien created in a scientific experiment and designed to be a destructive being. Chris Kekaniokalani Bright wrote script for the live-action adaptation, which has Marcel the Shell With Shoes On director Dean Fleischer Camp attached to helm.
Kealoha is the second member to be added to the cast, following Zach Galifianakis joining earlier this year. One of the key pieces of the ensemble has now been found, but there are still more to fill. Stitch will naturally be CG-created, but Disney will probably get an A-lister to voice the character. More child roles are still being cast — The DisInsider reported just this week a casting call for the role of Mertle, who will act as sort of an antagonist to Lilo; a classic bully making fun of the weird girl in class. (The remake could provide some upgrades to the one-note character from the original.)
Details on Galifianakis’ character are being kept under wraps, but we wouldn’t be surprised if he were playing Jumba, the alien scientist who engineered Stitch, along with 625 previous iterations that could potentially wreck some havoc on Earth. Several key roles remain to be cast, and Disney is probably looking at major names to act as headliners for the film — think of Jude Law in Peter Pan and Wendy. Lilo’s older sister, Nani, could be next; however, the list of Hawaiian actresses in their 20s who could act as selling point for the film is rather limited.
Another big role, which will have to be performed through motion capture, is the main antagonist of the film, Captain Gantu, an alien tasked by the Galactic Federation to look for the estranged 626, also known as Stitch. That could be the Jude Law-like role that is played by an A-lister (though it could also be who Galifianakis is playing). We know that casting for Mertle and Nani are underway, but we are not sure yet about Gantu, Jumba, or Jumba’s partner Pleakley.
The original Lilo & Stitch premiered in theaters in 2002 and has since gathered a cult following. It was granted two straight-to-video sequels, one of which served as a pilot for a Disney Channel spin-off series. All of them are available on Disney Plus. Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois co-wrote and co-directed the 2002 film, which starred Daveigh Chase as Lilo, Chris Sanders as Stitch, Tia Carrere as Nani, David Ogden Stiers as Jumba, Kevin McDonald as Pleakley, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Captain Gantu.
Lilo & Stitch is the latest animated film to be adapted into live-action. Just this year, Disney has Peter Pan and Wendy, by director David Lowery and starring Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson in the title roles, which comes out on Disney Plus on April 28, and The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey as Ariel. That film is scheduled for a May 26 release. Currently in post-production is Marc Webb’s Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, and Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel film to 2019’s The Lion King, with Barry Jenkins directing.
A sequel to Cruella could film as soon as this year, while Guy Ritchie is reportedly attached to direct Hercules and a sequel to 2019’s billion-dollar grosser Aladdin. Per reports, Will Smith would be returning for the sequel, which Ritchie said earlier this year is in early development. Additionally, just this week it was reported that Questlove has been tapped to direct a remake of The Aristocats following his Oscar win for Summer of Soul.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
