IHT: Terence Chang

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/29/arts/fmlede31.php

Terence Chang: A Hollywood producer turns back to Asia
By Alexandra A. Seno
Thursday, August 30, 2007

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/29/arts/fmlede31.php

HONG KONG: According to the producer Terence Chang Jia-tsun, casting John Travolta or Nicolas Cage is much easier than booking Chinese cinema's big names. Landing several top Asian talents for one project, as Chang recently did, requires the same logistical precision as the carefully choreographed signature action scenes of the director John Woo, his business partner.

The fruit of Chang's negotiating prowess is the all-star line-up in "Blood Brothers," a new Mandarin-language movie, shot in China, that marks the producer's first Asian project in 15 years. On Sept. 8, the $10 million production takes place of pride as the closing film of this year's Venice International Film Festival. A few days later, on Sept. 12, the movie, by the novice director Alexi Tan, makes its North American premiere with a prestigious Gala-section screening at the Toronto Film Festival.

"In Asia we have to schedule the film around the actors' schedules," Chang said in an interview. "In Hollywood when you make a film, you lock in the actors for however long. Here, they will give you 20 days this month, 10 days another month, you've got to work around it.

"When you're doing a film with just two stars, that's fine, but when you have an ensemble film, oh my God!," he continued. "Some actors are doing several things at the same time: another movie, a music video. Ahhhhh! They ask you for very specific dates - but what if it rains?"

And what if other producers suddenly appear on the set and decide to "kidnap" your talent? Chang, 58, said that he was shocked when at one point a "Brothers" star cut short the number of agreed shooting days and suddenly left with the makers of a television series.

Tan adapted "Brothers" to pre-war Shanghai, inspired by Woo's 1990 classic "Bullet in the Head." The 38-year-old director marveled at the amount of creative support that he received from Chang, whom he described as a "man of few words" and a great "mentor." "Most producers would have said: 'Stop, you already have Daniel [Wu] and Shu Qi,' " Tan said, referring to two of the film's stars. "But I wanted more. Terence just said: 'Let's go for it.' "

Chang personally worked the phones and pressed the flesh to get key people onboard. He was evidently pleased with the result: "I got the so-called 'next generation' of superstars," he said. "I've got them all." Some of the hottest young male actors working today in the Chinese film industry play the main characters, the "brothers": Wu, a Hong Kong-based Chinese-American actor; Liu Ye, from the mainland; and Chang Chen and Tony Yang Yu-ning from Taiwan.

The supporting cast and crew is also impressive. Sun Honglei, one of China's finest dramatic talents, delivers an inspired performance - and a memorable dance number - as a night club-owning crime boss. As his singer-girlfriend, the Taiwanese star Shu Qi radiates glamour and internal conflict. Tim Yip Kam-tim, who won the 2001 art direction Oscar for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," designed the costumes.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chang studied architecture at the University of Oregon in the late 1960s, then film at New York University. He returned home in the 1970s, eventually becoming a successful filmmaker. After producing Woo's iconic "Hard Boiled" in 1992, he moved back to the United States. Together they made "Hard Target," the 1993 hit that established Woo's reputation in Hollywood.

The duo operate Lion Rock Pictures, based in Los Angeles, and Chang still produces all of the action maestro's films. In 1997, they made the box office blockbuster "Face/Off" with Travolta and Cage. The year before that, there was "Broken Arrow," with Travolta; and in 2002, they had Cage again in "Windtalkers." Chang has produced about a dozen Hollywood movies with major stars like Jodie Foster ("Anna and the King," 1999) and Tom Cruise ("Mission: Impossible II," 2000).

In the last three years, however, Chang has shuttled between California and Beijing to put together "Red Cliff," an ambitious Mandarin-language historical war epic that Woo had dreamed of making for years. While the Lion Rock development portfolio is still primarily made up of English-language Hollywood movies, Chang is dabbling in comparatively small Chinese projects, Tan's picture being the first, as he spends time in Asia for "Red Cliff."

He describes the style of "Brothers" as "heightened reality, like an old-fashioned Hollywood film." Woo, who gets a producer credit, edited the movie himself. Chang said: "John really wanted to make this. Unlike his American films where he's just telling a story, this one is very personal."

Chang is also experimenting with something different in the mainland movie industry. "Everyone in China wants to win awards, so they make depressing movies about peasants and poor people," he said. "I love those films, but I don't know how to make them because I make commercial films." He added, "It is time to show the world that China can make good commercial films that is not people flying in the air," referring to the worldwide blockbusters "Crouching Tiger" and "Hero."

Chang said he enjoyed working with a beginner like Tan. "Alexi is new, I can give him advice," he said. "With John, there is only really so much I can do."

When he first got the script for "Red Cliff," Chang said, he immediately realized it would be a four-hour movie. To do it properly would cost much more than the initial $50 million budget. He gently suggested to Woo, who hasn't directed a Chinese film since 1992, that they cut one of the big battle scenes.

"He stared at me and just walked away," Chang said. "How was I supposed to make this work out?" The producer ended up in the hospital due to the tension with his friend Woo. After that, they had a "heart-to-heart" talk and the director was finally convinced to break it up into a two-part film.

Chang then went around again asking investors for more money. Woo finally started filming earlier this year at a location four hours from Beijing and they hope to finish shooting by the fall.

The first installment of "Red Cliff" opens next summer in China, weeks before the Olympics begin. As sometimes happens with movies that the government deems important, several major film distributors on the mainland have promised to hold off all other releases during this much-coveted slot to better showcase Woo and Chang's cinematic opus.

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