Actor Hiroyuki Sanada was named as a main actor
in the new movie by a world-class Chinese director Chen Kaige, “WuJi -The
Promise”. It is a big project
gathering talent from all over Asia, including fellow actors such as Jang
Dong-Kun of Korea and the production stuff.
The production budget is $30 million.
It is another international work after “The Last Samurai” for Sanada,
and he is excited to “produce new taste of Asia, and distribute it to the
world.”
Director Chen Kaige is known for such
works as Cannes Film Festival Palm D’Or (top award) winner “Farewell to My
Concubine” and “The Emperor and The Assassin”. He is gathering an Asian dream team for “WuJi -The Promise”
to “let the world know the Asian culture.”
Sanada is asked to play a main role representing Japan. Kaige says, “Not only his acting is superb,
he also is equipped with both masculinity and intelligence. I have been thinking for a long time what
kind of acting I can draw out of him.” Sanada immediately accepted Kaige’s love call. He fell in love with the idea, which is
“full of energy to create a new style only possible in the 21st
century, and of many gems in the rough that are unknown but worth betting
on.”
His role is a
military general serving a king of a country.
The general gets pushed around by the book “WuJi”, on which his own
destiny is written. Various human
relationships with the mysterious slave, the queen with a dark past, love and betrayal
is depicted.
Action scenes are
also highlighted. Sanada boasts, “There
are some Japanese element and Chinese traditional martial arts in it as
well. I don’t want to make it cheesy
with too much computer graphics and wire actions.” He has been discussing with the action director Dion Lam (“Spiderman
2”), and has a high hope “to pursue the reality and its limit within a
framework of the drama.”
Lines are all in
Mandarin. Sanada says, “It is a big
challenge, so I will study as hard as possible” with a wry smile, but Director
Kaige is confident with “the most luxurious casting one can ever think of.” Shooting will start in mid March and will
continue for approximately half a year in various places in China. It is planned to be released on a schedule
to accommodate possible Cannes Festival participation in May next year. “I want to show the world a movie with so
much fantasy, that no one has ever seen but I always wanted to see,” says Hiro
Sanada with a confidence, and he will be “the face of Asia.”
