Tony Ching Siu-tung's moviemaking career started decades before CGI, but he has found new creativity with the advances of special effects in recent years.
You can see it in his latest film, 'The Sorcerer and the White Snake', which held its premiere at last month's Venice Film Festival and is now showing in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere.
Jet Li stars as a sorcerer roaming the world to rid it of evil spirits. One demon ─ a thousand-year-old white snake ─ falls in love with an unsuspecting mortal and transforms itself into a beautiful woman in order to experience human love, leading to a climactic battle against the sorcerer.
The snake, played by mainland actress Eva Huang, has the body of a woman and a tail that loops around trees and across the emerald landscape. 'The Sorcerer and the White Snake' is filled with other striking visual effects, such as an enchanted forest with talking animals, a village haunted by human-like bat demons and a threatening pagoda where evil spirits are held in captivity.
The film is based on a well-known Chinese fable that's been adapted numerous times over the years into movies, television and stage productions.
'We all have heard this story since we were very young,' says Mr. Ching, who turns 59 at the end of this month. 'This is a legend that is perfect for our type of production of action and special effects, mixed with a love story.'
With a budget of $30 million, the film is one of the costliest Chinese productions in recent years because of its heavy use of CGI, which Mr. Ching says was crucial to the film's dream-like nature. Its combination of special effects, martial arts, humor and melodrama is a mix that has served Mr. Ching well in his previous films, including his 1987 success 'A Chinese Ghost Story' and its two sequels. Like many Hong Kong directors, he now works extensively in mainland China as the film industry there grows.
Mr. Ching spoke with the Journal about mixing action with CGI, Hong Kong films and the next generation of Asian martial-arts stars.
As audiences in China become more sophisticated, how do you keep the martial-arts genre fresh?
You have to have a good story, big actors, good technology. You always have to come up with new ideas and do new things. I think it's interesting to blend Chinese martial arts with Western CGI in order to bring a new experience to China.
What's behind rising production costs in China?
Everything is getting more expensive ─ technicians, photographers, special effects ─ if you want the best level of quality. You can have it at less cost, but then you lose quality.
As the Hong Kong movie industry becomes further entwined with China, what makes a Hong Kong film unique?
It's about style, and I think it's also about growing up in Hong Kong ─ you want to do something very local. In 'The Sorcerer and the White Snake,' there are no borders and there's no specific locale. It's a traditional fairy tale.
Asia's biggest martial-arts stars ─ Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen ─ are well into middle age. Where will the new talent come from?
Obviously they have to come from China, because only in China do they have a chance to exercise kung fu. But beyond that you have to be an actor, so it's not such an easy thing.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
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