It must be a good time for anyone making period-specific swords and costumes for films in China. Because the wave of historical battle epics doesn’t show any sign of retreating just yet.
Following on the armour-clad heels of Hero and House Of Flying Daggers is Ci Ma, which thanks to our extremely high tech translation system (we looked it up), means This Violent Land.
Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Jet “I promise I’m not doing anything more with fight scenes in it” Li (who will presumably be fighting with his giant, Pinocchio style nose) have all signed on to Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s film.
Already adapted from a Qing dynasty tale as 1973’s The Blood Brothers, the story follows three siblings as they try to deal with bloodshed, battles and brotherly deception. But don’t call it a remake. "We want to produce a new take on the story based on human nature. For many years, I've dreamt about making a war movie, and this is a new challenge for me. We're very excited and keen to get started," Chan tells Variety.
It’ll start shooting in Beijing next year.