China has decided to team up with the US and Britain on putting Iris Chang's international bestseller, The Rape of Nanking, on the silver screen, sources with the Chinese investor in the movie revealed on Monday, on the eve of the 61st anniversary of Japan's surrender in the World War II.
"We hope we can make the film a classics on a massacre in the Second World War, just like the Shrindler's List about the miserable experience of Jewish people during the War," said Gerald Green, the American producer of the movie.
Shrindler's List was an Oscar winner and regarded as an impressive artistic film with a book-office success.
According to Dr. Li Xiangmin, chairman of the Chinese investor, Jiangsu Cultural Industry Group based in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, the film will take an estimated investment of more than 200 million yuan (US$25 million).
Under the accord signed by the Chinese company and a Hollywood entertainment firm, Viridian, the American investor will inject no less than US$20 million into the planned movie, the Chinese side will invest 50 million yuan (US$6.25 million), and the British side, US$2 million.
The movie will be completed before September 1, 2007 and make its debut in China before December 13, 2007 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. It will be put on the world market in the spring of 2008, said Dr. Li Xiangmin.
The Nanjing Massacre occurred in December 1937 when Japanese aggressor troops occupied Nanjing, the then capital of China. Over 300,000 Chinese were killed, one third of the houses in the city were burned and more than 20,000 women were raped.
The movie will be based on The Rape of Nanking-The Forgotten Holocaust of World World II by the late American Chinese writer, Iris Chang. The book was the first, full-length English-language narrative of the atrocity to reach a wide audience. It remained on the New York Times bestseller list for several months, became a New York Times Notable Book, and was cited by Bookman Review Syndicate as one of the best books of 1997.
Dr. Li said that the movie had obtained shooting licenses in the US and Britain and was waiting for go-ahead from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Shooting will likely begin in weeks to come, Li added.
Investors hope to invite Ziyi Zhang, a Chinese film star who has developed a world fame, to star the planned movie. Cast will hopefully also include Michelle Yeoh from Malaysia, who played a major role in the Oscar winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden dragon.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2006)
