Bale and Zhang shares tales of bonding and awkwardness.
As December finally comes, the long-silent The Flowers of War finally begins its promotions. The December issue of The Hollywood Reporter features an interview with director Zhang Yimou and actor Christian Bale. See some highlights below, and read the entire story, with an especially important discussion on Chinese – Hollywood crossovers, here.
Zhang talks about what attracted him to this story, and the process of making it.
“The story of the Rape of Nanking has been told before in films, and is a very political and serious subject,” Zhang says, “but what intrigued me about this story was that it’s actually told from the female perspective, so it’s more humane and has a personal touch.”
The movie’s original title was The Heroes of Nanking, but it was changed midstream to emphasize the female aspect of the storyline.
Zhang researched the Rape of Nanking for more than three years, and some of the film’s more graphic scenes were drawn from actual photographs, while the movie itself was based on Geling Yan’s novel The 13 Women of Nanjing.
The story also tells of how the two came to work together - Bale was recommended to Zhang Yimou by former Universal studio chief David Linde and director Steven Spielberg.
