Director Chen kaige has Oscar 'Promise'
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-14 10:28

A contender for Oscar glory in 1994 with "Farewell My Concubine," Chen Kaige again is representing mainland China's hopes in the best foreign film race with "The Promise," a $35 million film that ranks as the biggest ever made in China. Chen recently spoke about his film and the future of Chinese cinema.

Director Chen Kaige is seen in Los Angeles, May 28, 2003. A contender for Oscar glory in 1994 with 'Farewell My Concubine,' Chen Kaige again is representing mainland China's hopes in the best foreign film race with 'The Promise.' [Reuters]

Chen Kaige: We have some important messages regarding love and freedom and destiny that we want to deliver to the audience. I know that everybody is working very hard, and that on many levels they feel tired. I hope that they can come into the cinema and sit there and forget everything for two hours, just enjoy it and feel like they had a spiritual shower and have hope for the future.

THR: HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO SHOOT "THE PROMISE?"

Chen: It took six months to finish the principal photography. It was like a long march. Most of the time we worked with about 1,000 extras, most of them soldiers, with 100 trucks and cars and this kind of thing. It was a huge company to move from Yunnan back to Beijing. We faced different kinds of difficulties every day. For example, we built a huge set in Shangri La. Afterward, we were told by a line producer that it might fall down. We made a very difficult decision to give up the set and move to Inner Mongolia. Sometimes you are in the middle of shooting and all of a sudden you are surrounded by peasants asking you to pay. Then you have to have to call the police to talk to them and have dinner with the leader of the peasants. But I don't complain. This is our job. We must do it.

THR: DOES IT MATTER TO YOU IF YOU WIN AN OSCAR?

Chen: Well, because the Chinese government submitted the film to the Academy (for consideration in the foreign-language category), of course I mind, but what can I say? What I'd do if I got that little statue is put it somewhere in my home and then forget it. The moment when I am most excited is always the moment when I find something during the shooting, rather than the moment I receive a prize.

THR: ARE YOU EVER GOING TO MAKE A SMALL-BUDGET FILM AGAIN?

Chen: Definitely. I am waiting for a better time. Your question reminds me of something from 20 years ago, when I was doing "Yellow Earth." The budget for that film sounds very ridiculous. It was something like $70,000. That's the money I had at the time, but everybody in my crew was very happy to do this movie because we delivered something to the audience from our hearts.

THR: WHAT DO YOU SAY TO CRITICS WHO SAY YOU IGNORE CHINA'S TASTES?

Chen: I don't care what people say about whether our films are made for the international and not the domestic audience. "Farewell My Concubine" was very well received by both.

THR: THAT FILM HAD TROUBLE WITH GOVERNMENT CENSORS, DIDN'T IT?

Chen: The film used to be banned and then we got permission to release the film in China at the Beijing Exhibition Hall in front of an audience of 2,000, including press from China and the West. I was very excited because I thought, "People here want to see real film." You know, my father was a film director working in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, but he wasn't able to do the films he really wanted to do. It's very important for us to have a chance to not only tell people what's really going on in the past, but also to do something that will represent what's going on in modern China, with the huge changes taking place in society.

THR: HOW DO YOU BALANCE COMMERCIAL PRESSURE WITH PRESSURE TO AVOID CROSSING THE CENSORS, WHOSE MOTIVATION IS IDEOLOGICAL?

Chen: I think this combination has resulted in a new kind of censorship. The filmmakers and producers have to self-censor first because they want their movie to be successful in the market, so they will never really step into the kind of dangerous area. There is not much we can do for the time being. The only thing we can do is have better communication with the people in charge of the film business here, to let them understand that what we are doing is what they also want to do.

THR: HAS FILMMAKING IN CHINA GOTTEN EASIER OR HARDER TODAY?

Chen: When we started to do films, we may have had one kind of pressure, which was having a different view from the officials. I don't want to use the word censorship as it's pretty sensitive here, but now we, including myself, feel a strong economic pressure, meaning that as a director you have to think about where you are going to raise money for your project and how you are going to try to get the money back after the movie is released.

THR: WHICH FILMS YOU ADMIRE FROM RECENT YEARS?

Chen: In the last two years I have hardly found time to see any films. One that I love a lot, which was a flop in the States was "Alexander the Great." I love that film, not because I know Oliver Stone pretty well but because no matter how this movie was received I think it's a very powerful movie done with great imagination. I love it. It's not about a simple pure hero, but a complicated character.

THR: WOULD IT BE TOUGH TO MAKE A FILM ON SOME CHINESE LEADERS?

Chen: I used to have a dream to make a movie about Chairman Mao, but I almost gave up the idea because it's so hard, politically. I mean, how can I portray this man as a real human being? Although he was a considered a god here in China, I still see him as a human being. I understand him. Because after he passed away, you can stand somewhere to look at what he has done in the past and have a clear idea of why he did this. He's a very complicated character.

Maybe in my generation, in the rest of my life, I may not be able to do a movie about Mao, but I like history and I like those people who create history. I understand their pains, their happiness. If the time comes, I wouldn't mind doing it.