《赤壁》戛纳之旅启航 制片人张家振展望票房

Guangzhou Daily

08/05/2008

The trailer for the movie [Red Cliff] will be shown for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival. Earlier yesterday, Terence Chang, the General Producer of the movie [Red Cliff] announced in Beijing that, on the 19th of the month, [Red Cliff] will host both a news conference and a banquet in Cannes. Apart from showing the trailer, director John Woo will attend the events, and with the exception of Takeshi Kaneshiro, the entire cast, including Tong Leung Chiu Wai, Zhang FengYi, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun, and Lin Chiling, will also be present.

The US$80 million initial capital has already been recouped
As a senior filmmaker, Terence Chang was John Woo's long-time collaborator. Starting from 1979, he took on the role of John Woo's manager. He was also the producer of movies including [Once a Thief], [Hard-Boiled], [Windtalkers], and [The Replacement Killers].

Despite hitting a high note, Chang denied rumors of going to Cannes to score deals. Chang explained that it was because the screening rights for most regions of the world were sold long before the production began, thus, the US$80 million initial capital was not at risk. Of the three remaining regions, the screening rights for Germany and Italy were sold at the Berlin Film Festival in February of this year. The only one left was the one for the US region. Thus, having the actors unite at Cannes, in front of the media from the whole world, would be for no one else but the audience from China and other Asian countries.

Chang expressed that when facing the foreign market, [Red Cliff] would not be positioned as an "epic film", rather, the emphasis would be on the movie being a John Woo action movie. He felt that foreign audience would be more interested in seeing a John Woo action movie.

Numerous media outlets have predicted that the box office for the two-part movie [Red Cliff] would break the box office records for Chinese movies and also that of [Titanic]. Chang responded that he would be very satisfied with a box office of RMB$300 million for each part of the movie. Chang revealed that after [Red Cliff], John Woo will continue to direct Hollywood movies as he would not abandon what he had worked so hard to achieve. The scripts that he is currently considering include a musical and one of the Western film genre.

As for record-breaking US$80 million initial capital for a Chinese movie, Chang felt that it was not enough, " For a two-part movie, it comes to US$40 million each. This kind of money was essential to filming large scope scenes with so many people involved. There were 1000 extras, 700 staff personnels, plus 300 people who were on set as horse grooms. All these came to 2000 people on the set everyday, for 8 and a half months. Due to the long duration of the production, everyone's costumes and props had to be re-made when they were worn out, thus costing a lot of money. In addition, we hired a US company for the special effects on the computers, which also costed a lot of money."

"Warrior-like and easy-going", Zhou Yu's reputation reinstated
Terence Chang admitted that there were differences between the movie and the novel [Romance of the Three Kingdoms]. Chang attributed the difference to be a result of John Woo relying upon [The Records of the Three Kingdoms] and other publications in order to be truthful to history, and not truthful to the novel [Romance of the Three Kingdoms]. The movie will take away the fabricated elements of the novel, notably reinstating Zhou Yu's reputation. Chang felt that Zhou was a naturally charming man who was also warrior-like, "When we first brought Tony Leung Chiu Wai on board, we didn't think that Zhou Yu would engage in a lot of actions. Nonetheless, he fought fiercefully on the set."

Another reinstated point had to do with Zhou Yu being formerly portrayed to be jealous of ZhuGe Liang's talents, and later died for the same reason. Chang explained that the ending would not be as such in the movie. Instead, it would be adapted into when facing Cao Cao's army, ZhuGe Liang and Zhou Yu would helping each other out. Nonetheless, Chang added that in order to not disappoint the audience, especially readers of [Romance of the Three Kingdoms], the movie planned for a struggle between the two characters when they first met, although the competition had to do with playing instrument.

One Zhang FengYi can take on four big shots
The extravagant celebrity cast was another reason for the audience's high anticipation of the movie. In the media report dated May 7th, Chang revealed that at the very beginning, he had asked Andy Lau to take on the role of Zhao ZiLong. As for the reason behind selecting Hu Jun instead of Andy Lau for the role, Chang elaborated that back when he seeked out Andy lau, the script wasn't completed yet. Later on, when he finally read John Woo's script, he felt that Hu Jun was the ideal candidate for Zhao ZiLong. During production, the directer was so pleased with Hu Jun's performance that he added scenes for him.

Chang expressed that Zhang FengYi's performance was the most memorable, "In the beginning, we put a lot of thoughts into finding the ideal candidate to take on the role of Cao Cao. Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chang Chen, and Hu Jun are all part of the same alliance against Cao Cao. Cao Cao is on his own to fight against the alliance. If the chosen actor cannot match the competition, the movie would not be as interesting to watch. After careful considerations, we chose Zhang FengYi. At first, we were a bit worried about him portraying an ambitious hero of the times, since he had always portrayed nice characters in movies. We designed a special look for him which was unexpectedly suitable. When watching the movie, you would get the sense that no one would be able to do a better job."

The fabricated love story for Zhao Wei was very moving
In the movie, two female leads were added, one being Sun ShangXiang starring Zhao Wei, another being Xiao Qiao starring Ling Chiling. Much of the audience's anticipation had to do with the performance of these two actress in such a male-dominated movie. On the matter, Terence Chang explained that whether it was in history or in novels, very little was said about both Sun ShangXiang and Xiao Qiao. John Woo designed a lot of plots for the two. For Zhao Wei, she had both drama scenes and fight scenes. There was also a romantic plotline for her. The director planned a fabricated plot, where a relationship developed between Zhao Wei and Dong DaWei, it was very moving.

There was also another fabricated small role, Li Ji, the imperial maid starring Song Jia. As people may already know, when John Woo likes an actor, he would add scenes for that actor. In the movie, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao were arranged by their father to be married to Cao Cao. The imperial maid dancer, Li Ji resembled Xiao Qiao, thus Cao Cao was kind to her. The character was supposed to just dance and then die. But John Woo added more scenes for her and she did not have to die in the end.
(Reporter Wang ZhenGuo)

Translated by: Vicki Yan / Shen Xian Mei Mei (Canada)