Chinese movie makers have vowed to trump Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible stunts when they begin shooting their big-budget film in the emirate Wednesday.
The cast and crew of ‘Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains’ have promised an action-packed thriller full of death-defying acts, flashy cars, expensive boats and scenes of Dubai.
It will be the first Chinese movie to be filmed internationally. In the past few weeks film fans worldwide have had a taste of Dubai with Hollywood star Cruise scaling the Burj Khalifa as in ‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’. Chinese director Sun Jianjun told a packed press conference at the Atlantis yesterday: “I first saw MI4 in Dubai. We won’t be showing camels and dust and sandstorms. We can do much better to present the best of this country.
“We will promote this country as it is. The film will probably have an audience of 400 million people.” Actors Andy Lau, Chiling Lin and rising star Jingchu Zhang landed in Dubai yesterday along with Jianjun and a crew of 200 to begin filming, armed with a budget of $20 million - less than a seventh of the reported $145 million spent on the Cruise film.
The movie, named after an ancient Chinese painting from the Yuan Dynasty, is being billed as a cross between a James Bond flick and Mission Impossible as the patriotic hero rushes to save priceless artwork. Jianjun said Dubai, with its fast cars, helicopters, speed boats, glitz and glamour, has “the style” to be the perfect backdrop for his movie.
The director added: “We thought of the dream, then came to the dreamland to shoot the dream film for China.” The Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, the Atlantis and Palm Jumeirah will all be in the film. ‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’ had its world premiere in Dubai last month. Cruise and a 400-strong team spent four weeks in Dubai filming scenes for the $145 million film.
Actress Chiling Lin will be plucked from a car off the streets of Dubai by a helicopter and flown over the city’s big landmarks. Filming in the emirate will be boosted by another 100 UAE residents who will be involved. Lin, who is co-starring with Asian superstar Andy Lau and newcomer Jingchu Zhang, said: “In the movie I am going to have a very dangerous scene. I will be sitting in a car and will be pulled up in the sky by a helicopter and will see the most significant buildings in Dubai.”
The movie will feature Dubai’s most famous landmarks and many of the scenes will be shot in and around the Atlantis Hotel, where the stars are staying. The similarities to ‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’, which saw Hollywood stars descend on Dubai have not been lost on the Chinese filmmakers. Sun Jianjun, who is co-directing with Robert Francis Brown, said: “Dubai is the only city that can provide a real dream for the movie, and the city’s wealth and luxury represent the extreme state of modern elements.
“I hope this production will refresh visual senses of Chinese movies. A movie is a space for dreams and it should allow people to go beyond the experience of their daily life. China’s ancient costume movies, though popular internationally, have difficulty in breaking through visually.”
He added: “Although ‘Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains’ is being created by an elite Hollywood team, it will not portray Dubai from a Hollywood adventure perspective. In my movie, Dubai is as beautiful as heaven and as precious as a pearl.”
The movie is being filmed in Chinese but there will be Arabic and English versions released internationally.
A likely release date for the movie is October 1, China’s National Day.