Christian Bale's Period War Movie Starts Production Under New Title
Posted 01.12.11 by BrentJS
According to FilmBizAsia, production is now underway on director Zhang Yimou's (Hero) new period war drama, 13 Flowers of Nanjing (formerly Nanjing Heroes). The movie, which is based on Yan Geling's novel The 13 Women of Nanjing, takes place during the 1937 "Nanjing Massacre," in which hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were murdered and tens of thousands of Chinese women were raped by Japanese soldiers. The movie will be shot approximately 40 percent in English and the rest in Mandarin, with Christian Bale leading the English-speaking cast as an American Catholic priest who shelters a group of Chinese women from the Japanese soldiers.
Yimou's predominantly Chinese crew also includes some top talents from Western cinema, including Graciela Mazón (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) as Costume Designer and Joss Williams (Aliens, The Bourne Ultimatum) as Visual Effects Supervisor.