new martial-arts epic, touted as his most visually ambitious project yet.Five dozen extras in full Bronze Age regalia welcomed Zhang, director of such acclaimed films as ``Red Sorghum'' and ``Raise the Red Lantern,'' to Beijing for the debut of his new movie, ``Ying Xiong,'' or ``Hero.''
A yarn of intrigue, militarism, assassination and of course romance, ``Hero'' - scheduled for release Friday - is set in the era of ancient China when would-be emperor Qin Shihuang was fighting and scheming to unify the country. Spoiler: He succeeded.
``This is a part of Chinese history that people should know about,'' Zhang, 51, told a crowd of 400 journalists and guests in Beijing's hulking Great Hall of the People, site of the recent Communist Party congress that chose China's new leadership.
Flanking Zhang was his cast: martial-arts master Jet Li; Hong Kong's Maggie Cheung, sporting a dramatic Medusa hairdo; 2000 Cannes Film Festival best actor Tony Leung, also of Hong Kong; and two mainland stars, actress Zhang Ziyi and actor Chen Daoming.Though Zhang Yimou's reputation as a director-auteur is formidable, many of his movies unfold on smaller canvases - often rural dramas about the heaviness of life. Not so ``Hero,'' billed as his ``first martial-arts epic.''
It's also the first Zhang film with a star-studded cast of actors known beyond mainland China, and Zhang has said he wants to attract international audiences - both to his film and to Chinese history.
``This is a good opportunity to introduce the world to this topic,'' said Beijing-born Jet Li, asked how he expected ``Hero'' to play overseas.''
``Hero'' comes on the heels of Ang Lee's ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,'' which also co-starred Zhang Ziyi and generated new interest in martial-arts movies in the West. ``Hero'' cost US$31 million to make and was filmed in various Chinese locations including Inner Mongolia, western China's Sichuan province and southeastern Zhejiang province.``I got to understand the perspective of ancient China by going to these places and filming this movie,'' Leung said. ``This will help Chinese understand this part of their past.''
The legend of Qin Shihuang and his unification of the warring states feeds China's intense nationalism. It was he who launched the Great Wall's major construction phase, and the thousands of terra-cotta warriors that guard his tomb in the central city of Xi'an are world famous.
That ensures the movie popularity in China. Abroad, however, two things - the presence of Jet Li and the acrobatic martial arts - will help boost ``Hero'' beyond art houses. Christopher Doyle's color-drenched cinematography won't hurt, either.
Zhang grinned Saturday as the armored, shield-wielding extras, which promoters said were played by real soldiers, waved spears and chanted ``The wind! The wind! The great wind!'' - supposedly the cry of Qin Shihuang's ancient army.
Earlier, invited guests watched ``Hero'' with a caveat: Each had to check all possessions in a black garbage bag at the door to prevent anyone from taping the movie to make knockoffs. Millions of counterfeit movies are sold in China, which has promised to crack down on the practice.
Zhang's new epic isn't the first big-budget film treatment of the story of Qin Shihuang, who ruled from 221-210 B.C. Chen Kaige's ``The Emperor and the Assassin'' (1999), starring onetime Zhang Yimou leading lady Gong Li, also explored the theme.
For the ``Hero'' soundtrack, Zhang enlisted Chinese composer Tan Dun, who won an Oscar and a Grammy for his score to ``Crouching Tiger.'' Virtuoso Itzhak Perlman contributes violin performances.
On Saturday, an enormous sign in the Great Hall in Chinese characters invoked the movie's hopes: ``China's film industry - on forward! Cheer toward the Oscars!'' But Zhang, who bristled when someone called ``Hero'' a ``fighting movie,'' shrugged off questions about the Academy Awards.
``I simply wanted to make a movie that was fun to watch,'' he said. ``Critics can insult it or praise it. When the movie comes out, I'll wait for the people to review it.'' AP
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