Sina:
Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Wong Kar-wai and Zhang Jiajia yesterday attended the press conference to announce their new film titled ‘Bai Du Ren‘, translated as ‘Ferryman‘. The original writer Zhang Jiajia will direct the film and Wong Kar-wai will produce. The story is part of his 2014 best seller “I Belonged To You.” Zhang Jiajia thanked the team for its support and hoped that the first collaboration with Leung would set off a spark. Zhang even “expressed his feeling” to Leung and said that he was the only choice for the new film.
Tony Leung said “I took Ferryman because I want to play a romantic comedy.” He said that this time he took the role after reading only the synopsis, so far he still has not seen a script. He fully trusted his frequent collaborator Wong Kar-wai. After ten years without a romantic comedy he said that he had a lot of pressure with the performance.
Wong Kar-wai said that the script was being worked on. Wong was asked about only producing instead of directing and he listed five reasons for this. “This story is very influential, its director must be able to achieve five points, including that it must be like hot pot casserole, must be able to drink, must have a post 80 nostalgia, sounds like Wong Kar Wai but actually is Stephen Chow, and have the attention of a lot of women. Thus Zhang Jiajia is the most suitable.”
Financial backing is coming from Alibaba Pictures Group Limited. ‘Ferryman’ is the first movie project mainly run by Alibaba Pictures since it was established last year. The movie is expected to be released by the end of this year.
