Jiang aims for commercial success

By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-17 10:26

Director Jiang Wen has gathered some of the country's most powerful actors to make the Chinese version of Ocean's Eleven.

Named Let the Bullets Fly (Rang Zidan Fei), the film stars Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-fat, Chinese box office favorite Ge You and Jiang himself. Jiang and his actors are keeping the plot a secret, but he promises it will be straightforward.

"I will make a film that everybody understands," he said at a Beijing press conference last week.

Jiang's last directorial work The Sun Also Rises (Taiyang Zhaochang Shengqi) brought in just 30 million yuan ($4.39 million) with an investment of 60 million yuan. Many viewers complained the story was too obscure.

Insiders have revealed that Bullets tells a story from the 1920s, in a small Sichuan village. Jiang plays a bandit, Ge a bilker and Chow a wealthy man.

Jiang used some tricks to persuade the two A-listers to take part in.

"I told Chow, Ge is coming, are you in? And then I told Ge, Chow is in, aren't you in?" he says. "And I told both of them his role was wanted by the other one, so they would cherish their roles more.

"I also sent two letters to them. The first was a long letter - the script - and the other one was shorter, the check."

The cast also includes Hu Jun, Chen Kun, Yao Lu, Liao Fan and Zhang Mo. Hong Kong star Carina Lau and mainland actress Miao Pu play the two female characters. Lau acts as Ge's wife, while Miao's role is still a secret. The actors have been practicing horse riding for several months in suburban Beijing.

The film, with a budget of $29 million, is co-produced by China Film Group, Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures and Jiang's Buyilehu Films. Emperor also invested in Jiang's last film. "We have waited for Jiang's new film for quite a while," says Han Sanping, chairman of China Film Group. "This will be Jiang's first commercial production. We will do the production and marketing as for typical commercial films."

Filming started last month near Beijing and a fall release is expected.