Across the Furious Sea is the much anticipated thriller comes from Cao Baoping, whose most notable works include Cock and Bull, The Equation of Love and Death and The Dead End. I’m also looking forward to watching The Perfect Blue, though with Fan Bingbing in the cast, I’m not sure when the film will be given the green light.
The film stars Huang Bo(Crazy Alien) as a father who is seeking revenge after his daughter died at the hands of her boyfriend, and Zhou Xun(Remain Silent) as the killer’s mother. Across the Furious Sea is scheduled for a Summer 2021 premiere.
Members of the women’s national volleyball team will be making an appearance in Chinese Women’s Volleyball, which stars Gong Li as coach Lang Ping. Costars include Wu Gang as the coach for the 1984 Olympics team and Huang Bo (with Peng Yuchang as the younger counterpart) as the coach for the 2004 Olympics team.
Three-billion-RMB trilogy Fengshen 封神 released its first trailer today. The Wu’ershan-directed project is China’s most expensive yet. What do you think, is it worth it?
Here’s our first look at Gong Li as legendary player and coach Lang Ping in Chinese Women’s Volleyball 中国女排 (lit.), an upcoming sports film directed by Peter Chan (Dearest, American Dreams in China). Wu Gang (The Thunder) and Huang Bo (Crazy Alien) costar as the coaches that led the team to victory at the 1984 and 2004 Olympics respectively. The film is scheduled for a 2020 Chinese New Year release.
Most leads for the films are newcomers who have trained for six months in horseback riding, martial arts, archery, drumming, ancient Chinese music and etiquette for the film.
Wu’ershan(Painted Skin 2)-directed fantasy epic trilogy Fengshen, loosely based on the Investiture of the Gods, has released the first set of character posters. Other than Chen Kun, the trilogy will star Huang Bo as Jiang Ziya, Li Xuejian as King Wen of Zhou, Xia Yu as Shen Gongbao, Kris Phillips as King Zhou of Shang, and introduces newcomers Hai Liang as King Yin Jiao and Yu Shi as King Wu of Zhou.
With 2000 crew members and a budget of over 3 billion RMB (445 USD), the trilogy is China’s biggest pre-budgeted film series yet.
The film’s meticulous aesthetic draws on Song dynasty landscape paintings, 16th-century Daoist art and elements from the Bronze Age Shang and Zhou eras. Elaborately carved screens and lintels, delicate jade bowls, chariots, leather armor and weaponry fill the studio’s soundstages and storage rooms.
“I wanted every piece to be museum-quality,” Wuershan says. “We developed everything ourselves via an analysis of Shang objects, so even though it looks very antique, it’s actually all original.”
Across the Furious Sea涉过愤怒的海 is the third film in director Cao Baoping’s Burning Hearts 灼心 series, and stars Huang Bo (Crazy Alien) as a fisherman who finds out his daughter was murdered while studying in Japan. Meanwhile Li Miaomiao, the victim’s boyfriend and biggest suspect, has avoided persecution by returning to China with the help of his parents.
In Laohuang’s original novel, the protagonist is a man determined to avenge his daughter, though the film will focus more on family, reconciliation and redemption. Zhou Xun(Last Letter) and Zu Feng(The Mask) costar.
Crazy Alienis an upcoming black comedy starring Huang Bo as Geng Hao, a monkey trainer whose act goes wrong after an alien crash lands on Earth and injures his monkey. Desperate to perform the act, he attempts to train the alien instead, though is punished after the alien regains his powers.
The alien’s plans to return home are complicated by American scientists searching for alien life and Dafei’s (Shen Teng) desire to make some traditional medicated liquor. Lei Jiayin costars as a policeman.
Ning Hao’s new film is scheduled for a February 5th release.
The Island 一出好戏 is Huang Bo’s directorial debut, and revolves around the protagonist’s (also played by Huang) attempts to leave the island with his fellow travellers Shu Qi, Wang Baoqiang, Zhang Yixing, Yu Hewei, Wang Xun, Li Qinqin and Li Youlin.
Out of the current crop of film actors, Zhou Xun and Huang Bo are two of the best. Cosmo has rightly pointed out that it’s partly because they know when to stop and hone their craft, which is extremely hard to do in an industry that constantly brings in new blood. Photos by Chen Man.
The four most bankable actresses (四小花旦) of the post-85 generation: Yang Mi, Angelababy, Ni Ni and Liu Shishi, as chosen by netizens and industry insiders.
