Tom Hardy's team has denied he is in the running to play Aladdin's nemesis Jafar in a live-action remake of the Disney movie.

English actor Tom became embroiled in a whitewashing row after a report in British newspaper The Sun on Monday (12Jun17) claimed that the 39-year-old The Dark Knight Rises star had been approached by director Guy Ritchie to play baddie Jafar in the remake of the 1992 animated movie.

According to The Sun, Guy and Tom have had conversations, with the Snatch director reportedly "a huge fan of Tom’s work".

The news immediately prompted online backlash from movie fans who slammed the casting news as another example of whitewashing - a Hollywood casting practice which sees white actors cast in historically non-white character roles.

One twitter user @iamroxxyhaze posted: "I love Tom Hardy, but no. I don't want to see him as Jafar in the live action Aladdin." While another, referring to previous statements by the filmmakers insisting they wanted a diverse cast, tweeted, "guy ritchie: i'm not going to whitewash any characters in the aladdin remake; also guy ritchie: i want to cast tom hardy as jafar."

However, Tom has moved to shut down the backlash, with his representative denying he has been approached.

“There is no truth to this rumor," a spokesperson for the actor told the London Evening Standard.

Unconfirmed reports have also claimed Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall is in talks to play Princess Jasmine, and Will Smith is tipped to take on the role of the Genie.

The film's producer Dan Lin spoke about his vision for the film in an interview in February.

“When I came in to make the movie, I wanted to make a diverse version of the movie," he told movie website Collider. "Luckily for me Guy Ritchie has the same vision and Disney has the same vision, so we’re not here to make Prince of Persia (which starred Jake Gyllenhaal). We want to make a movie that’s authentic to that world.”

Director Guy's $175 million epic fantasy film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword recently flopped at the box office. The film grossed just $134 million worldwide after it was slated by critics.