Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai said the 3D remake of his one-year-old movie "The Grandmaster" will be much closer to the hearts of audiences at the film's Beijing premiere on Monday.

Wong said he sees "The Grandmaster 3D" as a new film rather than as a 3D makeover since he used many previously-deleted scenes, recreated and readjusted the storyline, and spent a huge amount of money on making the film 3D – enough to make a whole new film.

"I felt that 'Titanic 3D' was the only meaningful makeover from 2D format to 3D before 'The Grandmaster 3D,'" he said. "I hope 'The Grandmaster 3D' can restore confidence in technology to China's 3D movies and use Western technology to show Chinese aesthetics, giving audiences the ultimate experience." He noted, for example, that 200 computer visual effects professionals manually transformed each of the 10,000 raindrops in the film's opening fight scene into 3D format.

Wong also pointed out that his vision for this film is totally different from his vision for the previous 2D version. This time, the story focuses on the life of Ip Man（played by Tony Leung）, Bruce Lee's mentor, and the friendship and love between him and Gong Er (played by Zhang Ziyi). The previous version focused on a whole era when all martial arts heroes were struggling, but the 3D version, which was based primarily on the film’s American version, tells the story more intimately and from an individual's perspective, making the film more relatable and speeding up the pace of the plot.

Wong and leading actors Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Zhang Jin and Wang Qingxiang all attended the Beijing premiere. Wong said the film reflects 7 years of his painstaking efforts, and he wanted to share every bit of this amazing work with audiences by drawing audiences back into the lost kung fu world.

Tony Leung added that the whole shooting process was unforgettable, while Zhang Ziyi said she gained more from the film than she had given. Zhang has received about 14 Best Actress awards from various film associations and festivals for her role in "The Grandmaster."

"The Grandmaster" raked in 281 million yuan (US$45.21 million) at Chinese mainland box offices in early 2013 and has received plenty of awards, including 12 Hong Kong Film Awards. The new 3D version will have a running time of 111 minutes. The previous Chinese 2D version was 130 minutes long, the Berlin International Film Festival version was 115 minutes long and the American version was 108 minutes long.

"The Grandmaster 3D" will be released in China by Bona Film Group Ltd. on Jan. 8, 2015.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)