Audiences were happily surprised when Zhou Xun's studio released a poster and trailer for her short film entitled "Five Demon Traps" on the internet on December 23, chinesefilms.cn reports.
Based on the poster information, the movie was directed by the popular actress Zhou. Award-winning actor Tony Leung performs as the protagonist. Prior to the poster release, no reports indicated that the actress would make her directorial debut with the support of Leung.
Zhou explained to the media that she decided to make this zombie-themed film after watching the scene where Leung and Wu Gang conducted a magic battle in the soon-to-be-released movie "The Great Magician." Directed by Derek Yee, the movie features an all-star cast including Tony Leung, Zhou Xun, Lau Chingwan and Wu Gang.
"The scenes remind me of the zombie movies I saw when I was a child." Zhou said in an interview, "So I asked the director Derek Yee whether I could make a short film based on these scenes. He said 'sure'." After he saw the film, Yee said he can't wait to see Zhou doing a feature movie in the future.
The production company of "The Great Magician" confirmed that "Five Demon Traps" was independently directed by Zhou. There are several other important plot lines in "The Great Magician," and "Five Demon Traps" takes its inspiration from one of them. The movie will hit the national screens on January 12.