'Batman' in Nanjing movie role
Source: Agencies |
December 23, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Christian Bale is to star in Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou's latest project about 13 young prostitutes who helped save compatriots from Japanese troops rampaging Nanjing, the latest film exploring the atrocity.
Bale, now starring in boxing drama "The Fighter," will play an American priest in the movie, which is expected to start filming in Nanjing on January 10, Zhang said yesterday.
The film is an adaptation of a Chinese-language novel by contemporary writer Yan Geling about 13 sex workers in Nanjing who volunteered to replace university students as escorts for invading Japanese soldiers. In the novel, the American priest presides over a Catholic church that shelters a group of prostitutes and female students during the invasion.
The massacre, known in the West as the "Rape of Nanking," resulted in the slaughter of more than 300,000 people in 1937, making it one of the worst atrocities of the World War II era.
Bale was picked because of his versatility and dedication to his roles, Zhang said, noting he was impressed by the research Bale did into the history of the massacre.
"I gave him the names of some books that he should read about the Nanjing massacre," the director said. "When I went to see him, I saw those books were lying open on his table, and I was very touched."
The US$90 million production is due for global release next December. It's being filmed with a mix of English and Chinese spoken.
The book's title translates roughly as "The 13 Women of Nanjing" but the film is going by the working title of "Nanjing Heroes."
Zhang joins several others in making movies about Japan's wartime atrocities in Nanjing. Other recently released films about the Japanese invasion include Lu Chuan's "City of Life and Death" and Florian Gallenberger's "John Rabe."
Zhang said yesterday that he hopes to bring a fresh approach to the topic in telling the story through a woman's perspective. He also hoped to enhance the foreign appeal by casting Bale, the Hollywood star who played Batman in "The Dark Knight."
"We've made many, many Nanjing movies ... but they are mostly like we're talking to ourselves. A lot of young people in Western countries might not know about it," Zhang said. "So I think that perhaps by doing it this way ... could let maybe 100 or 200 million young audiences watch this film and maybe then they'll know what happened in Nanjing in 1937."
Zhang, whose credits include "Raise the Red Lantern," last year released "A Simple Noodle Story," an adaptation of the Coen brothers' "Blood Simple," and "Under the Hawthorn Tree" in September.
Bale, now starring in boxing drama "The Fighter," will play an American priest in the movie, which is expected to start filming in Nanjing on January 10, Zhang said yesterday.
The film is an adaptation of a Chinese-language novel by contemporary writer Yan Geling about 13 sex workers in Nanjing who volunteered to replace university students as escorts for invading Japanese soldiers. In the novel, the American priest presides over a Catholic church that shelters a group of prostitutes and female students during the invasion.
The massacre, known in the West as the "Rape of Nanking," resulted in the slaughter of more than 300,000 people in 1937, making it one of the worst atrocities of the World War II era.
Bale was picked because of his versatility and dedication to his roles, Zhang said, noting he was impressed by the research Bale did into the history of the massacre.
"I gave him the names of some books that he should read about the Nanjing massacre," the director said. "When I went to see him, I saw those books were lying open on his table, and I was very touched."
The US$90 million production is due for global release next December. It's being filmed with a mix of English and Chinese spoken.
The book's title translates roughly as "The 13 Women of Nanjing" but the film is going by the working title of "Nanjing Heroes."
Zhang joins several others in making movies about Japan's wartime atrocities in Nanjing. Other recently released films about the Japanese invasion include Lu Chuan's "City of Life and Death" and Florian Gallenberger's "John Rabe."
Zhang said yesterday that he hopes to bring a fresh approach to the topic in telling the story through a woman's perspective. He also hoped to enhance the foreign appeal by casting Bale, the Hollywood star who played Batman in "The Dark Knight."
"We've made many, many Nanjing movies ... but they are mostly like we're talking to ourselves. A lot of young people in Western countries might not know about it," Zhang said. "So I think that perhaps by doing it this way ... could let maybe 100 or 200 million young audiences watch this film and maybe then they'll know what happened in Nanjing in 1937."
Zhang, whose credits include "Raise the Red Lantern," last year released "A Simple Noodle Story," an adaptation of the Coen brothers' "Blood Simple," and "Under the Hawthorn Tree" in September.
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