CHEN KAIGE: The Hollywood Interview

[Chen Kaige directing the tied-up Cecilia Cheung on the set of THE PROMISE]

Chen Kaige Makes The Promise
by Terry Keefe

For fans of epic martial arts films fantasy films, we're in a renaissance period of sorts on the Asian front, with larger budgets than ever before and some interesting directors such as Zhang Yimou trying their hands at martial arts stories. The advances in CGI have made possible a level of spectacle that filmmakers from previous generations could have only dreamt of, with wire work now only one of a virtual toychest of effects tools available. Looming on the martial arts horizon for some time has been the long-awaited American release of The Promise, which is Chen Kaige's first stab at the genre, as well as being the most expensive Chinese film produced to date. Like Zhang with Hero, The Promise marks a significant cinematic departure from the previous work which made Chen an international star director.

It was 1984 when Chen first came to prominence with his feature Yellow Earth, which was about a Communist soldier sent to the countryside to collect traditional folk songs. Chen soon found himself the subject of much discussion in the film communities at home and abroad as a director at the forefront of a group of recent graduates of the Beijing Film Academy who became known as "the Fifth Generation." Marked by a desire to move away from propaganda and social-realism cinema, the Fifth Generation were the first in China to have been greatly influenced by Western movies and their films received worldwide acclaim as the beginning of a new age in Chinese filmmaking. Chen's true international breakthrough though, critically and commercially, came with Farewell, My Concubine, which was honored with the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 1993, the first time a Chinese film had won that prestigious award. In the years that followed, Chen directed Temptress Moon [1996], The Emperor and the Assassin [1999], and Together [2002]. He also helmed his first English-language feature in 2002 with Killing Me Softly, which starred Joseph Fiennes and Heather Graham.

The story of The Promise follows a beautiful Princess (Cecilia Cheung), who wins the hearts of three very different men: a General (Hiroyuki Sanada), a Slave (Jang Dong-Gun - see our interview with him here), and a Duke (Nicholas Tse). The fates of all four are intertwined, and sealed, due to a deal that the Princess struck with the Goddess Manshen (Chen Hong) as a young girl: she would receive great riches and beauty, but forever lose any man whom she fell in love with. Well, there was a way out of this bargain with the Goddess, but it seemed impossible, as the Goddess proclaimed, "Once you have accepted your destiny, nothing can alter it unless time flows backwards, snow falls in the spring, and the dead come back to life." The Princess seems content with this set of cards, until she falls in love, and meets the one man who might be able to meet all of the Goddess' terms for a dealbreaker: the Slave named Kunlun who can run so fast that he can travel back in time.

As it was for many of his generation in China, the Cultural Revolution of 1966 was a world-shattering event for Chen. Prior to the Revolution, he attended a good school in Beijing and lived a privileged life as the son of the famous film director Chen Huaikai. But he quickly found himself sent into the countryside for "re-education," where he was assigned to clear trees for a living. At the age of 15, he was inducted into the Red Guard and forced to publicly denounce his own father. A rescue of sorts came in 1978, when he became one of the first students to attend the newly reopened Beijing Film Academy.

In person, Chen Kaige is quite tall, and every bit a formidable presence, which is softened by an easy laugh and sense of humor.

Had you wished to work in the martial arts fantasy genre for a long time prior to the making of The Promise?

Chen Kaige: Not really. Because, you know, I wasn't a big fan of martial arts stories when I was young, because all the martial arts books had been banned at that time. So I didn't always have the idea that I wanted to do a martial arts film. But now, if the chance comes, I wouldn't mind doing another one in the future [laughs].

So what was it that sparked your interest in The Promise?

It was a couple of years ago. After I had done a film like Together, which was a small, contemporary piece, I was thinking that there was just more I could do. I wanted to try new styles. I knew that there was a risk, always, when you try to do something very new. But I was inspired by some of the interesting myths that existed in Chinese cultural history. I knew I would be able to use those materials to develop the characters.

Which myths did you pull from?

There is the one interesting story about a man who can run very fast, like the wind. And he has a big ambition, that one day, he can catch the sun. But obviously, his story ends up badly, with death, because he runs too close to the sun. It was an interesting and naive story, almost like a fairy tale. But I think it contained the original energy of what I envisioned. That story which I just mentioned was written some 3,000 years ago.

Let's talk about the process from when you started developing the script to when you wrapped production.

It was very difficult. If you look at a lot of the films which have come out internationally from China, most of them are dramas. So, when I was presenting the idea that I wanted to do a sort of magical fantasy combined with a love story, with martial arts, it was really a big challenge. I spent nearly a year, working closely with my co-writer, to make sure that the story would work on the big screen. Then I think we took slightly longer than 6 months for the shooting. In order to find the best locations, we were very ambitious, and sometimes we'd travel from one far place to the other. Literally, from the north to the south, back to the north again. So there was a lot of time spent just on the way to the locations. Visually, you can see that the film is beautiful and I wanted to find good locations. Otherwise, I was going to have to use visual effects.

Was CGI used to create any of the locations?

Yes, because some of the locations we were trying to find only existed in my mind or dreams [laughs]. Like in the beginning of the film, where we see the Young Girl speaking to the Goddess, that location I couldn't find, so I shot all of that in front of the green screen.

This is the most CGI which you've worked with. The Emperor and the Assassin had a big scope, but not nearly as many computer-generated effects.

The Assassin probably only had 5 or 6 shots which were involved with visual effects, but this time we have almost 1,000.

How did that change your directing mindset?

Well, I don't know, but I did continue to criticize myself for having too many shots like that. We should have had a more limited number of effects shots. It was kind of tough for me to have too many.

The stampede scene with the Slave running in front of the buffalo was one of the most memorable, and visually complicated, of the film. How was it created?

We had a lot of the Tibetan Buffalo, which we took down to the lower lands. They're used to living in very high altitudes, so they become safe when they're in lower altitudes. We did three or four shots with them, and then we sent them back, because we didn't want them to lose their lives. Then we had to animate almost everything with the computer. I also worked with 1,000 soldiers as extras on that scene, so combined with all the moves it was quite a difficult scene to shoot.

Was it only in the editing room, when everything was put together, that you had any idea if it worked at all?

Right. On the set, I had no idea. I just thought, "Oh my god, this is difficult." I was very nervous and anxious about how it would look visually at the end of the day, but I had no clue at all until we were totally done.

What other scenes stood out as your greatest challenges on the film?

The fight between the Snow Wolf (Liu Ye) and the Duke of the North was very difficult. Doing those shots with wires. Although, in the film, the shots last less than 10 seconds, they easily took 14-15 hours to do. And that's tough.

Had you worked with wires before?

No, this was my first time. It was really a big change. I have to say that if I do a martial arts film in the future, I don't know what I will do [in terms of wires]. It's a challenge.

You had movie star leads from Korea (Jang Don-Gun) and Japan (Hiroyuki Sanada), as well as China. Were the language and cultural barriers a significant challenge on the film?

It wasn't that difficult. It's always been my dream to work with the best talents from different countries in Asia. I don't mean that politically, but if you look at the history of these three countries, it's very complicated. I think at least that if we show we can work together as artists, when the politicians are fighting against each other, we'll show what we can do. We'll show our dream of a peaceful future for Asia. There were cultural differences, sure, when we were working. It was like the UN, with interpreters all around. But I think they all understood their characters very well, so the languages weren't a huge problem for me.

This is the most expensive film made in China to date. Did you feel the need to justify that expense on the screen or did you just try to block it out of your mind?

Of course there is pressure. But I was okay, and I tried very hard to just concentrate on shooting the film and not to pay too much attention to the market. Obviously, though, the pressure was there and I had to deal with it on a day-to-day business. But I think if you look at the film, you can understand why so much money was spent. Still, compared to American studio films, The Promise would be a lower-budgeted film. Around 30 million dollars. But by Chinese standards, that's considered very high.

My guess is that it would have cost 120 million or so here to shoot the equivalent of The Promise. This is the trimmed version being released here in the United States, which has lost almost 20 minutes. Do you think this version is stronger?

Well, I think I'm sort of losing my judgment, but I was told many times I should make a version simpler for North American audiences. I think that makes sense because there is always a culture difference between east and west. And if we can do something to help an audience understand the story better, why not?

There is a big theme in the film that life is partially predetermined by fate but through a lot of effort, fate can sometimes be changed. Is that a personal philosophy?

You can say that it's a personal philosophy, but you can also say that it's a part of Chinese culture. We're used to believing that there is a destiny above us that controls everything we do. I think that it's sort of believable, because even here in the west, you can't always get everything you want, although you may make a great effort towards that. And you don't know why. It's not logical. Basically, you should have your harvest if you work really hard in the field, but sometimes there are other things out of your control. This is sort of what's called destiny. But I think to believe in destiny means that you should encourage yourself more to continue to do the things you believe. And by continuing to do what you believe, you can challenge your destiny. Just like what we see in this film. The destiny for the Princess seems unchangeable, but through love and freedom, I think the two men help her to change her destiny.

Had you wanted to be a filmmaker prior to the Cultural Revolution, when you were forced to move to the countryside, or did that desire come much later?

I didn't want to be a filmmaker at all, at first, although my father was a famous filmmaker. I think the reason was that I didn't have any kind of concentration when I was a kid. I found it too boring to do a film, spending so much time on the set and all. And also, I was only a first-year student in middle school when the Cultural Revolution broke out. So I had no idea what was going on. So that's what happened. I think I confirmed that I wanted to be a film director only after I became a film student. Even before I went to the film school, I just said that I needed to be educated and I needed to find a way for myself to do something in the future. But it was after I saw so many classical movies from the west and from Japan and Russia, and some good films from China, that I decided I wanted to be a director.

What do you think of the term "Fifth Generation?" Does it mean something to you or is it just a label?

It means something. I think that the directors from my generation all shared the same backgrounds and experiences during the Cultural Revolution. Then eventually, we became a small group of people who wanted to try to do something completely different from the past. We wanted to touch on the very sensitive subject matter of the society and to also develop a style of the cinema language. So that's why this group of people were so different, and special, from other generations.

You've spoken about one day perhaps wanting to do a film about the Cultural Revolution.

I want to do that, not because I try to be political or anything, but because there are so many strong and beautiful stories about human nature from that period that need to be told. But we want to wait until the time comes when we can just do it, and I don't know how long that will be.