He's been called China's Guy Ritchie and likened to Quentin Tarantino, but his dream is to become the country's Steven Spielberg.
Ning Hao is best known as director of Crazy Stone (Fengkuang de Shitou), a black comedy and dark horse that galloped into 2006's domestic box office with resounding triumph.
The film about a precious jade piece, and those who want to protect, steal and rub it, was immensely popular. The 3-million-yuan ($490,000) production raked in 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) in revenue.
Crazy Stone made Ning - then an aspiring young director with only two independent films, and several music videos and TV ads, under his belt - a cinematic icon.
With 20 million yuan and support from the country's flagship movie producer China Film Group, the 32-year-old is again zipping down the black comedy track with Crazy Racer (Fengkuang de Saiche). The film he describes as "Stone 2.0" is set to hit theaters on Jan 20.
His latest flick is a bit more convoluted than Stone, featuring four groups and more than 10 characters. Major personalities include a silver medalist cyclist, a fraudulent sexual-enhancement medicine salesman and his more-than-100-kg wife, several gangs and two dimwitted murderers.
These characters find their lives interwoven with one another's - and with murder, suspense and humor - in convincing and comical ways. There are also a few touching moments thrown in for good measure.
"I ask myself a question before I make a movie: What I can learn from making this film?" Ning says.
"In this case, I thought of Moliere, who depicts various characters in one story, using an absurd style, and weaves their lives together. It seemed very challenging to me, so I tried it."
Multiple characters and intersecting storylines are nothing new to Western films, such as Pulp Fiction and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. But few Chinese directors have attempted this style, which requires a knack for managing the plot and characters.
It wasn't easy for Ning, either. He came up with the original storyline in late 2006, and spent eight months with eight writers drafting the script.
He was so demanding, he "sapped" at least six writers, who ran out of ideas.
"They sat there all day long, exhausted, and told me they had no inspiration at all," he recalls.
Writer Wang Yao even used an abacus to calculate the characters' intricate interrelations. He describes the writing process as solving a "calculus" formula.
Another writer drew a story map of the characters' relationships. But it was so complex, it confused even Ning.
The team was constantly revising the script until shooting started in 2007.
Taiwan actor Lu Kung-wei, who plays the salesman, says he received five drafts of the script in one month.
