#jiangwen

"The buzz within the Beijing film industry is that actor-director Jiang Wen’s latest feature has China’s best shot at securing a Cannes slot in 2025. The director’s black comedy war film Devils on the Doorstep won the Grand Prix back in 2000, losing out on the Palme D’or to Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark. Jiang’s last three films comprised what he called his “gangster Beiyang trilogy” — Let the Bullets Fly (2010), Gone With the Bullets (2014) and Hidden Man (2018) — all commercially successful in China but not picked up by international festivals. The limited story summary released for the new film suggests it’s a musical drama about the sacrifices made by a family so their son can ascend to the highest levels of classical piano performance. Jiang stars in the film with Ma Li, Ge You, Zhao Benshan, Lei Jiayin and others." 

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Among the films listed by Collider as the “10 Best Western Movies Made Outside America” is Jiang Wen’s Let the Bullets Fly from 2010.

“Jiang Wen is one of my favourite directors. I always wanted to work with him. I learnt so much from him on set. Prepping for the role, I had to transform myself for the role. It’s set at the time of the Republic of China, in the 1920s. It’s based on a novel. I read the book first and then went to audition with Jiang Wen. The main character needs to speak with a Beijing accent. It’s not the Beijing accent of today, it’s the Beijing accent of the 1920s. I had to spend a lot of time trying to get that accent. It’s not something I love to do. It’s a tough one because Jiang Wen is an actor himself. Then for the choreography, I spent two weeks with Jackie Chan’s stunt team. I had to train hard and then diet to achieve the physical transformation to become the character. Jiang is more like an artist; he treats his craft very seriously. On set, since he’s an actor himself, you can’t fool him. He can understand immediately if you’re in the zone or not. He will wait until you’re there, until you’re ready. If the weather isn’t good, he’s ready to wait a whole week for the sun to come out! We went to Baltimore to shoot part of the movie. We shot the entire movie with natural light, isn’t it crazy? You have to give credit to him. We live in this fast-paced world obsessed with making money, but some people are still able to do what they really love. That’s something that inspired me. I loved working with him.”

https://inf.news/en/entertainment/f94be42d8b30bef38062d996f7fff547.html

This is an interesting article that suggests, among other things, that Jiang Wen's respect for women in real life translates into the respect he shows women in the films he creates.