The lead role for the upcoming big-budget biopic of Confucius or Kongzi (孔子) has just been announced and (drumroll) Dragonball's Master Roshi a.k.a. Chow Yun Fat has been cast as Confucius! Other cast members (as yet uncomfirmed) include a who's who of Mainland Chinese A-listers like Chen Dao Ming, Zhou Xun and Sun Hong Lei. To be directed by Chinese director Hu Mei, the script has already been revised 25 times since the film was first conceptualised two years ago. In preparation for this role of a lifetime, Chow has reportedly started growing a beard.
And one especially interesting news is that Confucius will not be portrayed as a scholarly, rather bookish elderly gentleman in the film but will instead be a lively, humorous guy who knows kungfu(???) and is an excellent archer and chariot driver. Hmmmm... this is really quite a shock to me as I just can't imagine Confucius as a martial arts expert... But on second thoughts, who's to say ancient thinkers and philosopers can't be fit and athletic?
More interesting details on this film can be found in my earlier post here.
Images from Wikipedia & YesAsia.com
Source: http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2009-03-09/11462407988.shtml, http://022net.com/2009/3-9/444437192458323.html, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/xin/20090305/ten-737-chow-yun-fat-plays-confucius-zho-3c1b9bc.html
Tags: Confucius, Kongzi, Chinese Movie, Chinese Film, Chow Yun Fat, Chen Dao Ming, Zhou Xun, Sun Hong Lei, upcoming movies, Dragonball.
March 8, 2009
Chow Yun Fat To Play Confucius
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1 comment:
Not surprising really....if you've read Confucius's works, he stresses the importance of archery as a skill that every "gentleman" must know. You have to understand that the times he lived in were filled with rampant violence and political disunity with many states vying for political supremacy so its actually not that surprising IMO
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