Lady of the Dynasty

Lady of the Dynasty

Poster
Traditional 王朝女人·貴妃
Simplified 王朝女人·贵妃
Mandarin Wángcháo de Nǚrén Yáng Guìfēi
Cantonese Wong4ciu4 dik1 Neoi5jan4 Jeong4 Gwai3fei1
Directed by Shi Qing
Starring Fan Bingbing
Leon Lai
Wu Chun
Cinematography Hou Yong
Production
company
China Film Group Corporation
ESA Cultural Investment
Tristone Entertainment Inc.
Release date
  • July 30, 2015 (2015-07-30)
Country China
Language Mandarin
Budget $32 million[1]
Box office US$20.70 million[2]

Lady of the Dynasty is a Chinese epic romance war film directed by Shi Qing (writer of Codename Cougar) and featuring Fan Bingbing, Leon Lai and Wu Chun. The film also had a director group including Zhang Yimou and Tian Zhuangzhuang.[3] The film was released on 30 July 2015.[4]

Premise

A love story between Yang Guifei and Li Longji, also known as Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

Cast

Production

In March 2009, Yang Guifei officially announced, then the production companies included a British company. In April 2011, the film was renamed as Tang Crisis, but when the British production company withdrew its investment, the film turned into a Chinese-Japanese co-production, and confirmed Kwak Jae-yong as the director. In October 2011, at the Busan International Film Festival, it was reported that the film renamed as Yang Guife' and confirmed that stars Fan Bingbing and Leehom Wang.[5]

In January 2012, the film began to shoot. Japanese actor Shun Oguri played Yang Guifei's former husband in this film.[6] But the concepts between the director and the production company were different, the production company intended to replace the director Kwak Jae-yong, who resigned later. It was reported that the production company said Kwak refused to shoot the film according to its requirements which emphasized a traditional Chinese understanding of the Tang dynasty.[7]

In March 2012, Tian Zhuangzhuang participated in this film, but his position was unknown.[8] while Japanese investors announced the divestment.

In August 2013, after a year-long script modifications, the film planned to restart.[9] However, only Fan Bingbing remains on the casting list.[10] The film's launch event was held in Beijing on Sunday, September 1, 2013.[11][12] The shoot period lasted four months, ending on 31 December 2013, according to Fan's weibo.

July 22, 2015, at the press conference, Director Shi Qing revealed that Fan Bingbing was so involved in her role that she nearly lost her life once. In return, Bingbing merely admitted that the filming process was hard and did not utter a single complain although the movie took 6 years to finish. Instead, Bingbing said she felt lucky to play the leading role,"I played it 10 years ago in a TV drama. I thought at that time I would agree on any condition if I should have the opportunity to play it again in a movie in the future."[13]

Promotion

During the promotion, it was reported that there was a scene in the film where Yang Guifei (Fan Bingbing) has a tiff with Emperor Tang Xuanzong (Leon Lai) and runs off into the grasslands. The emperor then rides a horse and picks her up with her lying and struggling on the horseback. In the heat of the struggle, the emperor tears off more and more of her dress, revealing her uncensored breast and so on and so forth. Netizens enjoying the scene has termed it love-making on horseback.[14] But the scene was deleted from final cut.[15]

Reception

The film received negative reviews and was a failure at the box office. Derek Elley of Film Business Asia called it a "stunningly mounted but bloodlessly played drama".[16]

References

  1. "Mystery man reshapes 'Lady of the Dynasty' film". china.org.cn. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. "Daily Box Office > China 08/12/2015". entgroup.cn. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  3. ""杨贵妃"导演另有其人 张艺谋田壮壮只是友情协助". mtime.com. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  4. 王朝的女人·杨贵妃 (2014). movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  5. ""杨贵妃"亮相釜山". ent.qq.com. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  6. "Newly Married Shun Oguri Busy Working for "Yang Guifei"". chinesefilms.cn. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  7. "South Korean director fired by 'Yang Gui Fei'". cultural-china.com. March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  8. "片方称田壮壮接棒执导《杨贵妃》不太准确". ent.sina.com.cn. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  9. "范冰冰无需增肥 陈冲演贵妃". http://ent.sina.com.cn. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2013. External link in |newspaper= (help)
  10. "Film "Yang Guifei" to be Reshooted in September". chinatopix.com. August 28, 2013. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  11. "Zhang Yimou to co-direct "Lady Yang"". news.yahoo.com. September 4, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
  12. "Zhang Yimou on Board New Film 'Yang GuiFei'". cri.cn. September 4, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
  13. "Fan Bingbing nearly died filming Lady of the Dynasty". toggle.sg. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  14. "Fan Bingbing makes love on horseback with Leon Lai in Yang Guifei Lady of the Dynasty". sporela.com. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  15. "Scene Deleted from Final Cut of 'Lady of the Dynasty". yibada.com. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  16. Derek Elley (October 30, 2015). "Lady of the Dynasty". Film Business Asia. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.