The Hong Kong auteur is still putting final touches to his martial arts epic, with the film to be delivered to mainland Chinese censors hours before its first press screening in Beijing on Jan. 5
HONG KONG – Producers of Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster will be transporting the film for clearance with mainland China’s censors on the morning of Jan. 5 – just hours before a scheduled press screening in Beijing in the afternoon.
According to Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, Wong is still working on the film’s post-production in Thailand today (Jan. 4) with his production designer William Chang Suk-ping.
The report stated that the film’s financiers and distributors, Sil-Metropole Organisation, will deliver copies of the film to the Film Bureau in Beijing to secure a screening license in the country. The film will also be submitted to the Communications Authority in Hong Kong for a film classification in the city.
The world premiere of The Grandmaster will take place in the Chinese capital on Sunday (Jan. 6), with Wong attending a press conference beforehand with stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen. The film will then be released on Jan. 8, and then subsequently opening in Hong Kong, Wong’s hometown, on Jan. 10.
The Grandmaster was originally slated for release in China and Hong Kong in December. While the cast has been doing publicity for more than a month already, Wong has yet to grant interviews to the press. His assistants have responded to media requests saying the filmmaker remains busy at work finishing the movie, which will open the Berlin Film Festival – where Wong will serve as head of the official competition jury – on Feb. 7.
Sil-Metropole has already put in a place a 300-strong team ready to deliver digital prints to theatres across China once the film is green-lit by the authorities, according to the Apple Daily report.
The Grandmaster will be the sole major production to be released in China next week, and is widely expected to have a clear run at the box office before Skyfall opens on Jan. 21. The performance of Wong’s film will challenge the successful runs of festive hits Lost in Thailand and CZ12. The former has already secured 1.1 billion yuan (US$176.5 million) at the box office and is now vying to become the highest-grossing film in Chinese history, a record presently held by Avatar (which took 1.38 billion yuan/US$221.4 million in the country).
Nearly a decade in the making, The Grandmaster is a fictionalized account of the early career of Ip Man, a real-life martial arts expert and the mentor of Bruce Lee. Details of the story have been scarce but the film is understood to revolve around the rivalry and romance between Ip (played by Leung) and specialists from other martial arts schools in northeastern China.
While boasting a stellar cast and action choreography from Yuen Woo-ping (who designed fight scenes for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Matrix trilogy), production of the film has been subjected to a few hiccups, with Leung having broken his arm while training for his role before shooting began.
True to style, Wong has also subsequently conducted additional filming after principal shooting has ended, while also requiring his actors to be on stand-by for possible extra contributions to the film. Interestingly, Chang has spent so much time in practice that he became a real athlete himself, winning a mainland martial arts competition earlier this year.
With his films securing regular critical garlands in the film festival circuit – a Best Cinematography title for Ashes of Time (1994) in Venice, a Best director prize for Happy Together (1997) in Cannes and a Best Non-European Film gong for 2046 (2004) at the European Film Awards – Wong remains one of the most well-known auteurs to come out of Hong Kong in recent years.
The 54-year-old has become such an art-house brand that festival directors have given him much leeway in exchange for his films to take a bow at their events. The most memorable incident took place in 2004, when Cannes announced the inclusion of Wong’s erstwhile untitled (and unfinished) film in its official competition. The festival had to cancel the first screening of the film because Wong was unable to finish the film in time, and reports stated that a copy of the film was transported straight from the processing labs to the Grand Theatre Lumiere in time for its world premiere.
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@4 months ago with 17 notes
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After five years of waiting and numerous delays, it looks like Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster (which is officially no longer plural) is finally going to be unleashed on the public. After it’s Hong Kong release date was pushed back from December 18 to January 8, the film is apparently now set to open just two days later on January 10. Moreover, it has just been announced as the opening film for the Berlin Film Festival. I doubt even an internationally-respected director like Kar Wai has the clout to pull a festival’s opening night film for tinkering, so at the absolute latest, we’ll get some reactions to the film by mid-February.
Once again, this is Kar Wai’s take on the legendary martial arts master Yip Man, played here by the incomparable Tony Leung Chiu Wai. The first trailer did make it look like a departure of sorts for the moody auteur, promising something like an all-out action movie with arty cinematography. Still, based on his previous forays into martial arts (Ashes of Time) and killer-for-hire (Fallen Angels) genres, I’m betting that time and unrequited love will somehow factor much more into this one than fighting. We’ll find out soon regardless.
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@5 months ago with 7 notes
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"Cinema has certain qualities, and it’s the image. Sometimes this image has its own breathing or tempo. It has to linger, and will linger because you want to have more. It is very instinctive. It is very instinctive when you’re shooting the shots in front of this video, the monitor, you know exactly, because sometimes it takes you more than 10 takes or 15 takes… Afterwards, the most enjoyable part is the final weeks. That means you put everything together, the sound, the images and everything to create a film… it’s beyond words… I think one of the reasons you keep making films is because you want to experience that part again and again."
@6 months ago with 53 notes
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Wong Kar-wai: “It was an unfulfilled wish. I wanted to put them together several years ago, in Days of Being Wild, but never got to. At first, I had wanted all the characters in this film to be played by Maggie and Tony, everyone down to the extras, but the concept was too ambitious… Maybe next time.”
Tony Leung: “I grew up with many neighbors, very much like you see in the film. The economy wasn’t so good and people worked hard; they couldn’t afford to live alone. We rented out rooms and I remember a lot of gossiping, a lot of quarreling. It’s different in Hong Kong these days—you don’t even know who lives next door.”
Maggie Cheung: “My strongest memories of the period are of my mother, which actually helped me with this film—the cheongsams, the shoes, the handbags, her visits to the hairdressers, the way she stood and walked and talked.”
Wong Kar-wai: “It’s a very challenging film for actors. These are the most boring parts they could get—normal people, thirtysomething, married, nothing colorful or heroic. They both went through a period of trying to do something to prove they were acting, but I kept telling them not to, because the whole point was to borrow something of theirs. I didn’t invent a character and look for an actor to play it. It wasn’t a case of casting the right person for the role. We already had the actors; everything was custom-made for them.”
Tony Leung: “I knew what to expect and what was needed—just don’t set any limits, no preparation required. I do research for other directors but not Kar-wai. I don’t even have to ask him very much; I usually have a good idea of what he wants.”
Maggie Cheung: “Kar-wai just kept wanting to know what we could give him. And I was holding back, because I was like, ‘If you’re not going to give me anything to do, I’m not going to do anything. Just watch me.’ Until finally, he wore me out so much that I didn’t care anymore, I went out and just did it. And that’s when it all came. It took me six months to actually open up to him. If I hadn’t, the shoot would have lasted forever. Him waiting for me, me waiting for him. We’d still be shooting now.”
In the Mood for Love
(Source: strangewood)
@7 months ago with 815 notes
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![“I worked with Maggie [Cheung] since my first film, so our careers literally started at the same time. She was Miss Hong Kong at that point, and considered much more of an idol than an actress. Over the years, she has become very serious about acting and life in general. She’s interested in much more than just being a movie star, and is a very interesting, curious woman.”
Wong Kar-wai
via [x]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_manvblVafd1qa6mixo1_400.jpg)
![“I worked with Maggie [Cheung] since my first film, so our careers literally started at the same time. She was Miss Hong Kong at that point, and considered much more of an idol than an actress. Over the years, she has become very serious about acting and life in general. She’s interested in much more than just being a movie star, and is a very interesting, curious woman.”
Wong Kar-wai
via [x]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_manvblVafd1qa6mixo1_250.jpg)
