Guy Ritchie has said his five children were the driving force behind his decision to make his first family film with a live action version of Aladdin.
The director, who is father to sons Rocco and David with ex-wife Madonna and sons Rafael and Levi and daughter Rivka with current wife Jacqui Ainsley, said his offspring even had a hand in changing aspects of the finished product.
Arriving at the film’s London premiere with his youngest children dressed in costumes from the movie, he told the Press Association: “They have never been to one of these before, they had no idea this is what a film culminates in but they have been part of this process since the beginning so this will be a catharsis for them.”
Ritchie is best known for his gangster films such as Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and RocknRolla, and asked if his children were the big reason he wanted to take on such a different project, he said: “Yes. Truthfully, as a filmmaker it’s fun to do something that you haven’t done before but it is informed by the fact that there are five kids round the table, so the pressure was on for me to keep them entertained, so here we are.
“If they enjoy it, they enjoy it, they don’t overthink it. They don’t know it took lots of money and lots of time to make it, they just care about whether they enjoy it, but you do use them as a yardstick for entertainment.”
He continued: “They are my little creative crew, they are the ones that tell me, ‘Ah dad, not so much’.”
Discussing if they compelled him to make any tweaks to the finished product, he said: “Kids always want more laughs, the reason you’re laughing in it is because of my kids.”
Aladdin is released in UK cinemas on May 22.