In short it's complicated, but I am encouraged by the lively discussion that is going on and that can only be good for entertainment long term. Luckily our jolly team of French/Chinese artisans got used to the little sketches and annotated photos I would do on my phone to make sure everything I said, even when translated twice, was straightforward and unambiguous.Ĭasting an international film is complicated because on one hand you have the whitewashing controversy in the West, but then Asian audiences have not yet embraced American born Asian actors, while audiences in the West are not aware of all the amazing mainland Chinese, actors many of whom - to complicate matters - also don't speak English. Working with a cast and crew from Europe, America and China was very complicated in terms of communication, which matters when you are trying to put together a period fantasy action adventure and every piece of direction needs to be spot on. What were some of the challenges of making an international film like this and filming in China? I always wanted to do a martial arts movie and love Asian cinema and felt that Luc was maybe the only European producer I could do that with. The film reminded me of the movies I grew up watching as a kid in the nineties like Karate Kid or The Last Starfighter. What about it made it something you were interested in? So he found a German with a yellow belt in ninjutsu, a childhood spent painting Warhammer figures, and a movie called Cockneys vs Zombies to his name. Luc Besson was looking for a European Director who could do comedy, action and visual effects. ScreenAnarchy: How did you get involved in the project? The film was written by Besson and long time collaborator Robert Mark Kamen ( Taken, The Fifth Element) and stars Dave Bautista, Sienna Guillory, Uriah Shelton, Mark Chao and Ni Ni. The two also partnered on Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets which is slatted to hit theatres this July. Zombies) to high concept project in the first place.Įnter the Warrior's Gate is a Chinese/French co-production between Luc Besson's EuropaCorp and Fundamental Film. The film is like The Last Starfighter re-imagined as an epic Chinese fantasy and that's exactly what drew director Mathias Hoene ( Cockneys vs. In Enter the Warrior's Gate, a teenager is magically transported to China where he learns to convert his video game skills into those of a Kung Fu warrior.
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