Children of Roger's revolution
Director Roger Spottiswoode started preparing for his 2007 film after finishing the James Bond instalment Tomorrow Never Dies about nine years ago.
Chow Yun-fat, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Radha Mithell are filming The Children of Huangshi in China. File photo |
The Children of Huangshi is about a young British journalist who visits China in the 1930s during the Japanese invasion and leads 60 orphaned children on a perilous 1,600-kilometer journey out of the war-zone. The group makes their way across rarely filmed mountain and desert regions to the western end of the Great Wall of China.
During the journey, reporter George Hogg relied on the help of Jack Chen, a Chinese officer; an Australian nurse, who he falls in love with, and a displaced war survivor called Mrs Wang.
One of the first jobs a director needs to do is select a cast and Michelle Yeoh, the first ever Chinese Bond girl, was fresh in his mind for the part of Wang.
Chow Yun-fat was chosen to play the Chinese army officer and rising Hollywood star Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Mission Impossible III, Match Point), was selected to represent the hero.
Australian actress Radha Mitchell was also picked to play the hero's love interest. However the key roles of the 60 children presented the biggest challenge, especially the crucial part of 15-year-old Shi Kai, who shares many scenes with Rhys Meyers.
The search began in the schools of Beijing. The crew then tried in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Kunming.
They also met children in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Toronto and New York, where a large population of Chinese live. About 2,000 children were interviewed before they found Li Guangyu in Sydney last year, about seven months after the selection campaign started.
The 16-year-old boy with a typical Chinese face speaks fluent English and fine Chinese.
Spottiswoode said performing experience was not necessary but the 25 children selected from a Chinese music school are strong improvisers. For those children with no stage experience, the director said their naivety added a strong dose of reality to the story.
The moment Spottiswoode read the script he thought of Chow for the supporting role.
"Chow Yun-fat was excellent," he said, "we never had anyone else in mind. I have seen his early movies with John Woo, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He brought intelligence and complexity to the role. Besides, he is enough Western, when the role is between cultures."
And Radha thinks whenever Chow is around, there is a kind of lightness.
"Chow is a wonderful actor," she said, "and the greatest thing is, he has a sense of humor of himself, which a lot of big stars in the US have lost."
Rhys Meyers also enjoys working with the Chinese superstar.
"Acting with Chow who is vastly experienced in his home territory is quite extraordinary," he said, "Chow is easy to work with and very, very giving."
Hyde Park International, Sony Classics and Dendy Films will distribute the Chinese-Australian-German co-production.
The movie will screen globally in November.
(China Daily 01/26/2007 page21)
