Iris Chang's international bestseller, The Rape of Nanking, is coming to the silver screen with China having decided to team up with the US and the UK to produce the movie, sources with the Chinese investor in the film revealed yesterday, the eve of the 61st anniversary of Japan's surrender in WWII.
"We hope we can make the film a classic on a massacre of WWII just like Shrindler's List about the miserable experience of Jewish people during the war," said Gerald Green, the movie's American producer.
Shrindler's List, an Oscar winner, was an impressive artistic film as well as a huge worldwide box office success.
According to Dr. Li Xiangmin, chairman of the Chinese investor --Nanjing-based Jiangsu Cultural Industry Group in east China's Jiangsu Province, the film will require an estimated investment of more than 200 million yuan (US$25 million).
Under the accord signed by the Chinese company and a Hollywood entertainment firm, Viridian, the American investor will inject no less than US$20 million into the movie, while the Chinese will put up 50 million yuan (US$6.25 million), and the British US$2 million.
Dr. Li said the movie had obtained shooting licenses in the US and the UK and was waiting for the go-ahead from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Shooting will likely begin at the end of this year, Li added.
The film will be completed prior to September 1, 2007 and make its debut in China before December 13, 2007 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. It will go on the world market in the spring of 2008, Li said.
The Nanjing Massacre occurred in December 1937 when Japanese troops occupied Nanjing, which was then the capital of China. Over 300,000 Chinese were killed, one-third of the houses in the city were burned and more than 20,000 women were raped.
The movie will be based on The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by the late American-Chinese writer, Iris Chang. The book was the first, full-length English-language narrative of the atrocity to reach a wide audience. It remained on the New York Times bestseller list for several months, became a New York Times "Notable Book" and was cited by the Bookman Review Syndicate as one of the best books of 1997.
With the book as the source the movie will depict a story about a mother and a daughter involved in the events.
Investors will invite Zhang Ziyi, a Chinese film star who has risen to world fame to star in the production. The cast could also include Michelle Yeoh from Malaysia who played a major role in the Oscar winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The screenplay will be written by the famous American screenwriter William McDorald. He majored in international relationships at Georgetown University and studied world history.
McDorald, whose father was a soldier in WWII, read extensively on history but particularly the words of Iris Chang on the Nanjing Massacre before he visited the massacre museum in the city in March this year. "The visit shocked me," said McDorald.
He told Xinhua News Agency that he would merge the impression from the visit into the movie and take into account opinions and suggestions by some Chinese historians. He said, "Shooting the movie aims to let more people know the history of the Nanjing Massacre."
Some Japanese textbooks falsify this part of history and some rightists in Japan still try hard to deny the events.
McDorald said the movie would have scenes of "man slaying contests" among Japanese invaders in Nanjing. He hoped the film would be able to help more Westerners know the truth through personal and family tragedies depicted on screen.
Having read the movie's scenario, Prof. Zhang Xianwen, a historian with the Nanjing University, said, "Using the artistic skills of Hollywood blockbusters the movie will expose atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders in China and it's expected to impress the world deeply."
"The movie will not only reproduce bloody scenes of the true history but will also expound the understanding of peace based on humanity," said Meng Guoxiang, a researcher from the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences.
Quite a few Japanese have contacted the Jiangsu Cultural Industry Group and made some suggestions for the movie. Some of them hope to participate in the filming.
Chinese director, Luo Guanquan, who shot China's first film on the Nanjing Massacre in 1987, will serve as the art guide for the movie.
(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2006)
