It seems the story behind John Woo's new big budget epic,
The Battle of Red Cliff, is as flexible as the movie
itself. Less than a week after it started shooting, it experienced
the drop-out of big star Chow Yun-fat. Now, another big star, Tony
Leung Chiu Wai, has returned.
Web portal sina.com quoted a source from the film producer,
Zhang Jiazheng, as saying that Tony Leung has agreed to return to
the movie. This time, the actor will star as Zhou Yu instead of the
role of Zhu Geliang, which he quit before.
Zhang said the return of Tony Leung made them excited. They are
now expecting him for the upcoming cooperation, though a formal
contract has not yet been signed. They assure the changes won't
affect the shooting of the film.
Chow Yun-Fat, who was invited to play Zhou Yu, was dropped from
the star-studded cast just one day after filming started. The
production team alleged Chow put forward "hundreds of unreasonable
demands" which they said "they are unable to tolerate." They also
alleged Chow Yun-Fat is "far beyond the age of his role in the
film" and they had received what they called "negative feedback
from the public on that point."
Earlier last month, Tony Leung announced he would step back from
his original role as Zhu Geliang. The star said he quit because of
the six-month-long shoot and his bad Mandarin.
Rumors had suggested the star was taking a break to concentrate
on his relationship with fellow actress Carina Lau.
In the wake of Leung's withdrawal, the production team had
confirmed heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro would take on the role of
Zhu Geliang.
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Shi Dongming from the entourage said the return of Leung wouldn't
affect the original decision.
Shi says that Zhou Yu and Zhu Geliang are the two eye-catching
characters in the movie. In the famous legend, Zhu Geliang was a
brilliant military strategist in the ancient Three Kingdoms period,
while Zhu Yu was an excellent general for his opponent. In the
screenplay, there are many plots to narrate their
relationship.
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(CRI.cn April 19, 2007)
