Star attraction

By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-02 09:10

Chinese actor Tang Guoqiang plays Mao Zedong in The Founding of a Republic.

Tom Hanks spearheads the all-star cast playing Abraham Lincoln while John Travolta acts as Jefferson Hamilton Davis. George Clooney is Robert E. Lee and Brad Pitt plays his rival Ulysses S. Grant.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas play supporting roles, with only three or five takes. Clint Eastwood fights shows up for two minutes, but his scene is removed because there are too many stars.

Sounds unbelievable?

Not in China.

On Sept 17, a 130-minute film featuring more than 80 major stars will hit cinemas celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The Founding of a Republic (Jianguo Daye) has a cast made up of a who's who list in Chinese filmdom.

Jackie Chan tried hard to play a minor role and Jet Li had only one line. Zhang Ziyi had her hair tied into a bun and wore a simple gray outfit.

Director Feng Xiaogang played a gang lord, while Stephen Chow called the director twice for a role but missed the cut.

John Woo's scene was also snipped from the final version.

Last winter, when Han Sanping, chairman of the powerful China Film Group, and senior director Huang Jianxin decided to make a film to celebrate the 60th anniversary, the producers did not expect to attract such a stellar cast.

Han and Huang invited some actors and started shooting in February once the script was ready, casting for the rest of the roles at the same time.

They only had eight months to screen the film before the Oct 1 anniversary deadline.

Previous 1 2 3 4 Next Page