Opera 'Turandot' to be adapted into Chinese film
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 23, 2018
A Chinese film adaptation of Giacomo Puccini's famous opera "Turandot" has recently started production, according to social media posts shared by cast and crew on Wednesday.
Actor Wang Xiaoyi published photos on Sina Weibo, a microblogging platform, of himself with other members of the cast and crew of the "Turandot" movie, including director Zheng Xiaolong, actor Hu Jun and French actress Sophie Marceau. He captioned the photos by saying "'Turandot' has started shooting, wish the film good luck!"
Screenwriter Wang Xiaoping, also the director's wife, shared photos on the platform as well. "After 18 whole years, from now on, the text of the script will become visual shots," Wang wrote, suggesting that the movie has been in the works for nearly two decades. "Our cameras have started rolling."
The film's helmsman, Zheng Xiaolong, is an acclaimed director and screenwriter in China known for hit TV series such as the country's first sitcom, "Stories from the Editorial Board" (1991), the first Chinese TV series shot in the USA, "A Native of Beijing in New York" (1992) and the adaptation of the novel "Red Sorghum" by Nobel laureate Mo Yan.
Most recently, Zheng directed two hugely popular historical sagas, "Empresses in the Palace" (2011) and "The Legend of Mi Yue" (2015).
The movie is based on the Italian opera, which is set in China and tells the story of Prince Calaf, who falls in love with the coldhearted Princess Turandot. The suitor must solve three riddles in order to marry her, with a single wrong answer punishable by death.
Though "Turandot" is well-known globally, it is still an exotic legend to audiences in China. In fact, the name "Turandot" is not Chinese in origin, but rather a Persian word meaning "the daughter of Turan," a former part of the Persian Empire.
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