Rogue Pictures Presents THE UNBORN Now Playing <b>Rogue Pictures Presents THE UNBORN Now Playing</b>
Aug
11
2008

Chen Kaige and Jang Dong-Gun Team Up Again for 趙氏孤兒 (The Orphan of Zhao)?

Posted by X at 9:06pm.

Posted in Film News , Asia.

Chen Kaige is a busy man. Oh yes. Apparently.

What’s for sure is that director Chen of 霸王别姬 (Farewell My Concubine), 荊柯刺秦王 (The Emperor and the Assassin) and Killing Me Softly fame (gee, that’s like going from a Pagani Zonda to an Aston Martin DB9, to end up with a 1970s tractor carrying cow manure) is currently working on 梅兰芳 (Mei Lanfang). About the life of qingyi legend Mei Lan (film title was his stage name), the US$ 15 Million period epic will have a huge cast, with Zhang Ziyi, Leon Lai, Chen Daoming, Ando Masanobu, Sun Honglei and Gillian Chung. Now, what could become his next work is slated to be an adaptation of famous Yuan Dynasty play 趙氏孤兒 (The Orphan of Zhao). But now the interesting bit: TV stars (and real life couple) Zhang Guoli and Deng Jie were raising funds already for their own version of the film, which should make the next few months and interesting back and forth between the two groups. Sources from Chen’s side say this was something the director had been preparing for a while, and planned to shoot right after Mei Lanfang, but the recent announcement by the couple sped up his plans.

And there’s more. It seems Chen is trying to get Korean superstar Jang Dong-Gun to work with him once again, after their 2005 collabo in 無極 (The Promise). Sources close to Chen say that, although the film is still in its preliminary stages and casting is still way off, the Fifth Generation veteran contacted Jang about the possibility of starring in the film. Play was written by Jin Junxiang, based on Sima Qian’s 史记 (Records of the Grand Historian), and was the first Chinese play to be translated and imported in the west, during the early 18th Century.

[Sina] [Sohu]

  • Digg This
  • Stumble It!
  • Reddit
 

Reader Comments

  1. Rhythm-X 08/12/2008 @ 1:08am

    This is that Gillian Chung, right?  If so, good for him for putting her in a classy project like this.  Time for her to get back on track.

  2. X 08/12/2008 @ 2:40am

    If she’s still in, it’s that Gillian Chung. Then again, that could be a casting list from before everything happened. Time to get back indeed. She did nothing wrong. Except having peculiar taste in men, that is.

  3. okrim37 08/12/2008 @ 3:39am

    I’m glad for Gilliam Chung, but I’m even more curious about the Leon Lai’s and Zhang Ziyi’s perfs, who sound relly challenging.
    Then I’m pleased Chen Kaige and Jang Dong-Gun are going to work together again, THE PROMISE is a movie too much underrated.
    But is it possible to make a movie about THE RECORDS OF GRAND HISTORIAN?

  4. X 08/12/2008 @ 4:21am

    Not all of it of course, just a story which was part of the shiji influenced the plot, although the timeline was changed a little. Rest is just a classic revenge story.

  5. kenixfan 08/12/2008 @ 8:14am

    I liked The Promise too—at least it was trying to do something creative with the genre unlike Empress and the Warriors or House of Flying Daggers—it looked great at least.

    I am an unapologetic Twins fan and I will watch anything either one does BUT the evidence is quite clear that Gillian Chung is a better actress than Charlene; Beyond Our Ken, etc.  Together they can be cute on screen but apart, Charlene excels at a kind of pixie girl cute parts but Gillian can handle drama as well.

    Charlene wasn’t too bad doing drama in Funeral March but that may have been a fluke.

Post Your Comments

You must be a registered member to post comments.

If you have a Twitch account, click here to sign in.

If you don't have a Twitch account, click here to register. Don't worry, it's free!

Stuff We Like

Shop at our affiliated sites and support Twitch while feeding your pop-culture addiction.

Our Latest Film & DVD Reviews

More Film & DVD Reviews...

Our Latest Interviews

More Interviews...

Recent Contests & Featured Content

Recent Comments

 
Click Here