The Great Wall

[TigerClaw]

Check out the trailer to The Great Wall, Its a new monster movie from Legendary and Universal Pictures, it's an american / chinese production that stars Matt Damon along with a huge Asian cast.
http://www.thegreatwallmovie.com



Synopsis

Matt Damon leads humanity’s greatest fight for survival in "The Great Wall" from Legendary and Universal Pictures.

When a mercenary warrior (Damon) is imprisoned within The Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of our world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront this unimaginable and seemingly unstoppable force.

Internationally renowned director Zhang Yimou assembles a filmmaking team and formidable cast that represents the best of East and West with a unique global production that delivers unmissable spectacle on the grandest scale.

[Allio]

Sounds good to me

[plastroncafe]

[AT-Man]

Not a Donald Trump movie, then?

[Candy Kappa]

Wow. That's so ridiculous, I love it. Not sure why they need a white guy being the main protagonist in a movie about the Chinese Wall, but this is on par with Gods of Egypt... Kinda don't care cause it's gonna be glorious trash

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

Wow. That's so ridiculous, I love it. Not sure why they need a white guy being the main protagonist in a movie about the Chinese Wall, but this is on par with Gods of Egypt... Kinda don't care cause it's gonna be glorious trash

Its a Hollywood production, but also done with a Chinese production, the script was written by American writers, Max Brooks who wrote World War Z came up with the story.
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/28...all-first-look)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is your first time working with a Hollywood studio, Universal. What has the experience been like? Does it feel like the biggest project you’ve ever worked on?
ZHANG YIMOU: Indeed, this is the biggest film I have worked on. Working with a Hollywood studio, I have learned a lot. Hollywood studios are very experienced in filmmaking and this is worth studying. However, there are also many differences between Hollywood and Chinese filmmaking. So in order to collaborate, good communication is important. All in all, this type of partnership allows both sides to have a deeper understanding of each other. It opens the door, creates more opportunities for the future, and builds a great foundation.

How do the film’s Hollywood elements blend with its Chinese elements?
First and foremost, this is an English-language film, and a Hollywood blockbuster. It was already very clear in the script phase. This is a Hollywood monster movie and needs to be made in that style. I don’t want to change that approach, and there’s no need to do that. What I really want is to bring Chinese color and cultural background to the worldwide audience through a film language that they are familiar with.

And so it’s beneficial to both sides?
It is synergistic filmmaking. There’s a saying in Chinese: 借水行船 Use the water to move the boat. In this case, we are using Hollywood filmmaking to introduce Chinese culture.

Can you talk about the tone and the time period of the film? How much does the science-fiction/fantasy element play a role?
Sure. The film takes place about 1,000 years ago. At its core, it is a period piece and an action film. The fantasy element does play a major role because of the monsters. But, what makes our film unique is that these are ancient Chinese monsters. Even though it’s a fantasy movie, we filmed it in a very realistic way. We want it to feel like the events actually happened. Other than the monster, all aspects of this film are backed by either scientific or historical research.

Do the characters have superpowers?
No, no one has superpowers in our film. I think there are too many superpowers in movies nowadays; people can level half a city with one finger, so any challenge feels too easy. For this movie, I really want to switch it up and do something as realistic as possible.

What was the most difficult sequence to shoot?
The biggest difficulty is the limited amount of time. In China, when I make a film of this scale, I would have five to five-and-a-half months. This time, we only had four-and-a-half months. And of course, we also had to take the weekends off. In China we wouldn’t do that. Of course, we do take breaks on Chinese films, but not this much. As for which specific sequence is the most difficult — I think filmmaking is the same throughout the world. If you want to do something great, nothing is easy.

The Great Wall is very different from your last film Coming Home. Did you feel a lot more pressure on this film than on your others?
Fortunately, I directed the 2008 Olympic Ceremonies. Perhaps there’s nothing grander than that. So the size of a production doesn’t make a difference to me. I didn’t feel any pressure. But there are major difference between Eastern and Western culture. And this is reflected in every little detail in our work.

Was it a big challenge to communicate in English.
I don’t understand English, so a lot of time is spent on communication. It takes three times longer to get anything done. When I mentioned before that time was an issue on this film, I wasn’t even counting the time it takes for translation.

How much did your own Chinese identity contribute to the development of the film?
A lot. This script was written by American screenwriters. So the story is really told from an American’s perspective. When I came onboard, I wanted to make sure everything Chinese in this film feels genuine.

What did you contribute?
I brought in many unique Chinese elements, such as the use of color, the design of weapons, the battle formations and strategy, the battle drums, as well as the design of the palace. Of course we also did a lot of work on making the Great Wall unique. I wanted it to feel like an aircraft carrier on land. To defeat it and cross it will be nearly impossible. Also, I really like having strong female characters in my film, so I especially created a unique unit of brave female warriors.

What can you say about working with these three big Western actors?
I am very fortunate to work with Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, and Willem Dafoe on this project. They are wonderful actors and helped me tremendously. Especially Matt, who won an Oscar for screenwriting at such a young age — he is very creative and smart and contributed so much to the dialog. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all three actors.

[ToTheNines]

[Allio]

*people moaning about matt damon
*meanwhile I'm excited for a Monster Movie (when was the last time we had this?) about chinese dragons.

Look, I love Ripley, but I won't deny that I watch the movies for the Alien itself

[Commenter 42]

This is a joke, yes?

[TigerClaw]

Its very real plus I love the premise, the Chinese built the great wall to keep out the monsters, and it'll be monsters from Chinese mythology I believe.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Its very real plus I love the premise, the Chinese built the great wall to keep out the monsters, and it'll be monsters from Chinese mythology I believe.

Matt Damon vs Chinese Kaiju

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

Wow. That's so ridiculous, I love it. Not sure why they need a white guy being the main protagonist in a movie about the Chinese Wall, but this is on par with Gods of Egypt... Kinda don't care cause it's gonna be glorious trash

No, possibly not trash. The Chinese being involved- and this being a co-production- means I'll at least give this thing a chance. Considering how strict they are on Portrayals of China and the Chinese in movies that are allowed in, I think China having a say in how they and their nation are portrayed makes this this possibly 'Not trash'. If it were just Hollywood, then forget it!

[drgon78]

Interesting.

[plastroncafe]

Originally Posted by Panda_Kahn_fan

No, possibly not trash. The Chinese being involved- and this being a co-production- means I'll at least give this thing a chance. Considering how strict they are on Portrayals of China and the Chinese in movies that are allowed in, I think China having a say in how they and their nation are portrayed makes this this possibly 'Not trash'. If it were just Hollywood, then forget it!

They turned the Mongol army into literal non-humans.
That's...charming.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Its very real plus I love the premise, the Chinese built the great wall to keep out the monsters, and it'll be monsters from Chinese mythology I believe.

Even you have to see how bad an idea this is. C'mon now.

[Andrew NDB]

So kind of a "Gods of Egypt" that takes itself slightly more seriously? Could be fun. Could be crap.

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

They turned the Mongol army into literal non-humans.
That's...charming.

No, they are not portraying the Mongols as non-humans. The great wall wasn't built to keep the mongols out all all. That came later in China's history. The great wall is actually a series of different walls from different time periods, the first of which was stated by the first emperor, Qin Shihaungdi, using conscripts and criminals to build it. The various sections of the wall were built to keep out the Hsing-nu (known to westerners as the Huns), the barbarians who originally threatened China from the North, and would eventually tire of being beaten back by the Chinese, and would migrate to Roman Empire-controlled Europe to become the Huns. The Han continued to maintain and expand the wall, but after The Hsing-Nu migration it was basically minimally manned, with parts of it crumbling into ruin.

I don't see how the wall being secretly built to keep demons out, while using the public excuse of being to keep out the tribes of the north, is in any way offensive. Besides, this movie is set one thousand years ago, around 1012. The chain of walls was re-built and re-fortified by the Ming dynasty in the 1400's, to keep the Mongols from re-conquering China; that's long after the events of this film. In the time of this movie, the Northern Song dynasty ruled China, and most of the barbarians of the north were either bought off by bribes and strategic diplomatic marriages, or were tributary vassal states to the Northern Song. At the time of this film the Great Wall was an aging Qin/Han dynasty relic from twelve centuries earlier, which might have been barely maintained at the time. So there are no northern barbarians to claim these monsters 'represent'.

The idea the great wall was a single wall built to keep a single group of people out, when it was actually a chain of walls, built at different times, to keep different people out at different times, is another example of Westerner misunderstanding.

[plastroncafe]

I stand corrected, historically speaking.
(especially seeing as I should have known Huns. Bad Cafe, no biscuit)

That said, still laughing at the premise of this movie at all.

[Andrew NDB]

It does remind me a little of that other big Chinese movie... "Empires of the Deep."

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I'm actually interested to see this. Looks like mindless fun with a good lead. Why not?