''Adam Green's Aladdin'' is an independent film written, directed by, and starring Adam Green. It presents a modern take on the Arabian Nights classic tale. The film stars

Alia Shawkat Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her performances as Maeby Fünke in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2006; 2013–2019), Dory Sief ...

Natasha Lyonne Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American producer, director, comedian, writer, actress, and artificial intelligence film studio head. Lyonne started her career as a child actress before expanding her career taking o ...

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, and

Nicole LaLiberte Nicole LaLiberté (born December 1, 1981) is an American actress. She has had recurring roles on the television series '' How to Make It in America'' (2011) and ''Dexter'' (2012–2013) and most notably played Darya in David Lynch's ''Twin Peak ...

. The film explores themes of technology, government repression, greed, and true love. The film was partially funded through the

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

website

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

, and filmed over the summer of 2014. The film was released on April 15, 2016, through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

and on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on November 1, 2024.

Premise

The film revolves around Aladdin's dysfunctional family, who live in an average American city ruled by a corrupt sultan with a decadent socialite daughter.

Cast

* Adam Green as

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

as Emily *

as Mom *

as Uncle Gary/The Sultan *

as Ralph *

as Ms. President *

Francesco Clemente Francesco Clemente (born 23 March 1952) is an Italian contemporary artist. He has lived at various times in Italy, India and New York City. Some of his work is influenced by the traditional art and culture of India. He has worked in various a ...

as Mustafa, The Genie * Bip Ling as Princess Barbara *

Parker Kindred Parker Kindred is an American drummer who played in the band of Jeff Buckley, appearing on his unfinished second album, '' Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk'' in 1997, as well as playing live with Buckley and the rest of his band at Arlene's ...

as Genarro Russo *

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as British Druggie Guy *John Wiley as Farmer Dave *

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as Miner with Lamp *Sophia Lamar as The Stripper *

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as Saucemaker *

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as Mariachi Singer *Binki Shapiro as Miner *

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as Guardian of the Lamp *

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as Prince of Monaco *

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as Bouncer *

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as Miner

Production

The film raised money through

, with Green admitting that the bulk of the cost was spent on creating the

cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. Their construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard, made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light brown ...

sets, noting that "Most people did the movie for basically no money". Some of the smaller parts were performed by artists doing residencies at the nearby Pioneer Works studio. Green has stated that falling in love with his wife, Yasmin Green, heavily influenced the plot and that

wedding vows Marriage vows are promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a wedding ceremony based upon Western Christian norms. They are not universal to marriage and not necessary in most legal jurisdictions. They are not even universal ...

that Aladdin gives are nearly identical to his own. After completing the project, Green said he had some problems distributing it, with most

film festivals A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent date and depe ...

finding it too "off brand". However, after releasing the trailer online, Green started to get offers for screening the film. Vice Media also got in contact with Green after seeing the trailer, asking him to pitch a TV show for their

Viceland Viceland (stylized in all caps; also known as Vice TV in the United States) is a brand used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. The brand launched on February 29, 2016, with two cable channels in North America. The Vice ...

channel.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adam Green's Aladdin American independent films American comedy-drama films 2016 comedy-drama films 2016 films Films about dysfunctional families Kickstarter-funded films Films based on Aladdin 2010s American films 2010s English-language films English-language comedy-drama films