Only three days into shooting his mega chinese pic, “The Battle of Red Cliff”, and John Woo has already lost two of his leading men — first Tony Leung (”Infernal Affairs”), and now his longtime muse, Chow Yun Fat (”Replacement Killers”), reports Variety. So what happened, and what’s going on over there in China? The film’s producer, longtime Woo collaborator Terence Chan said: “We are replacing Chow Yun-fat since the bond company CineFinance would not approve his agreement.” Um, that doesn’t make sense. Read on…
Variety points out that, “Agency reports quoted a China Film Group source as saying that Chow had made “unreasonable demands” that exceeded industry standards. Chow is understood to have said that he only received a final script a few days ago and was not sure he would do justice to the character.”
The would-be 4-hour film was budgeted at $70 million, the most expensive Chinese movie ever. Based on the novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” by Guanzhong Luo, the film follows a decisive battle during the period of the Three Kingdoms in China. It took place in the winter of 208 C.E. between the allied forces of the southern warlords (Liu Bei and Sun Quan), and the northern warlord Cao Cao. Liu and Sun successfully frustrated Cao’s effort to conquer the land south of the Yangtze River and reunify China. It is also distinctive for being one of the most lethal battles in world history. – source
Chow Yun Fat, Tony Leung, and John Woo — BFF no more?
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