随便
加入时间: 2004/02/14
文章: 24019
经验值: 64
|
|
|
作者：随便 在 罕见奇谈 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.org
Will Hero dazzle Hollywood?
By Wendy Teo
THERE's a new Hero in town. And this epic movie by Chinese director Zhang Yimou is touted to be the next Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
The similarities are there.
Like Crouching Tiger, Hero boasts a stellar cast that only an acclaimed director would be able to summon and command.
While Lee Ang had Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fatt in his stable, Zhang has award-winning Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai to anchor his movie.
Familiar faces to western movie audiences - Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi - help crank up Hero's Hollywood appeal.
In Hero, Maggie, Tony and Donnie Yuen play assassins who plot to kill the King Of Qin. But they are thwarted by a sheriff, Nameless, played by Jet.
Ziyi plays Maggie's devoted servant girl Moon.
Director Zhang has roped in composer Tan Dun and production designer Yi Zhenzhou, both of whom had worked on Crouching Tiger.
And like Crouching Tiger, Hero is also partly funded by Hollywood.
TWICE THE BUDGET
But that is where the similarities end.
While Crouching Tiger had a budget of US$15 million ($26m), Hero had double that amount - US$31m.
With a bigger budget comes higher expectations and pressure to surpass Crouching Tiger's achievements.
And the new movie will have a heroic task in shaking off cynical speculation that it is just trying to hitch a quick ride on the success of Crouching Tiger - although Zhang claims he began work on Hero three years ago.
But in a way, Crouching Tiger has paved the way for Hero.
As Zhang admitted to China Daily, it was Crouching Tiger's success that boosted the investors' confidence and enabled him to get the necessary funding.
Zhang also received some funding from China, which led to speculation that the Chinese government have a hidden political agenda.
It is apparently an attempt to outdo, if not, match the success of Crouching Tiger, which is seen by Beijing as a rival Taiwanese production.
But whatever the reason, the big budget has allowed space for Zhang's perfectionist standards.
For the perfect backdrop for his scenes, Zhang thought nothing of dragging the crew across China from Dunhuang, to Inner Mongolia, to Hengdian.
One of the more spectacular scenes in the movie, a fighting scene above a lake, took days to film because the director wanted the waters of the lake to be completely still before commencing the shoot.
And even the fall foliage had to be controlled.
Zhang stationed a cameraman in Inner Mongolia to monitor the colour of the leaves, and notify him the moment the leaves were suitably golden.
Even then, they had to be a perfect shade of yellow - and then categorised according to the condition of the leaves - before they were considered fit as props.
Zhang told Time Asia: 'Special-class leaves could be blown in the actors' faces, first-class in front of them, second-class behind them and third-class were scattered on the ground.'
And after every take, the crew had to painstakingly sort out the leaves again to ensure consistency and visual perfection.
Whether fuelled by national pride or not, Hero grossed 98 million Chinese yuan ($20.6m) in its first week in China.
The response was so overwhelming that the Chinese cinema operators had to add additional runs at the unearthly timeslots of 6am and 2am.
Though touted as a potential smash in the US too, US distributors Miramax have yet to set a definite date for its release. But rumours on the Net say it may be released as late as November this year.
Crouching Tiger barely made a plop in mainland China, despite being a massive hit in Hollywood.
And already, Hero is in the running for Best Foreign Language Film in the Golden Globes 2003.
The Chinese authorities have submitted Hero for the Oscars too.
Hero is Zhang's first wuxia movie, and he remains modest about his chances.
He told China Daily: 'It was extraordinary for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to get so many nominations and awards. It was a miracle. I don't think history will repeat itself. Miracles don't repeat.'
Hero opens in cinemas here on Jan 16.
作者：随便 在 罕见奇谈 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.org |
|
|
英雄1/16在美国开演 [ZT]
