WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Indian director plans film on Monkey King
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-19 17:20

BEIJING -- Indian director Shekhar Kapur plans to work with a Chinese director to make a film on the "Monkey King", the most popular legendary hero in China.

"It's time for China to make a super hero like Monkey King, to replace the Superman or Spider-man in the West," Kapur said Wednesday at the Third China (Beijing) International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo.

Kapur, whose works include "Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age", said he had talked about the film with Chinese director Zhang Jizhong. Zhang produced several martial arts TV series including "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" and "The Legend of Condor Heroes".

Kapur did not reveal when and where shooting will take place or what stories the film would tell.

The idea behind the movie originated with the classic Chinese novel, "Journey to the West", in which a monkey king, or Sun Wukong in Mandarin Chinese, helps guard a Buddhist monk while searching for religious texts. The fearless and fighting "Monkey King" is consistently defending his own rights in the magical world.

Kapur said he is also seeking cooperation with Chinese studios and directors to make other films about China. He is interested in the Opium Wars, which involved a Chinese official's campaign against the British opium trade with China in the 1840s. It resulted in China being forced to make territorial concessions and reparations.

The yearly cultural and creative expo, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday, includes 17 exhibitions, 18 forums and hundreds of trade fairs. Thousands of guests from more than 30 countries were expected to attend.