Remember way back during they had an extended casting call for Aladdin? There was some news surrounding Disney supposedly resorting to white actors because they couldn’t find any people of color who could sing and dance. While that didn’t end up being the case, there does seem to be a kernel of truth in that they ultimately went with an actor who wasn’t trained in singing and dancing.

Actor Mena Massoud eventually locked down the role, and in a new EW piece, he opened up about the skills he had to learn to take on the role. Apparently, he had the acting chops to take on the character from the get-go but had to do a real crash course on everything else before production started:

“The singing and dancing I had to really train and put in time for, as I’m predominantly an actor first.”

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In addition to those two things, he was also flown out to England to learn to perform stunts for the film, which include things like scuba diving and riding a camel (and in case you’re wondering, no, Aladdin doesn’t scuba dive in the film. It’s for a scene following when he gets thrown off a cliff — probably when Genie makes that wish for him in the original film).

Does the fact that Massoud isn’t a born and bred singer and dancer concern me? Not at all? Honestly, when it comes to these films, I tend to enjoy it more if the singing and dancing is more in-character — meaning it can be forgiven if it’s not amazing, so long as it doesn’t distract me from who the character is supposed to be. But what about you? Does this concern you on any level? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: EW