Someone from the film's Beijing production company (New Image ?) told Chinese Business View that HERO will be released in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei simultaneously on December 19th or 20th. He said the first proof had been completed and Zhang Yimou would soon go back to Australia for the second proof. It will be sent to Chinese Film Bureau by early September and the final approval is expected to come by mid September. He also said they were more interested in the film's box-office performance than getting any award, like the Oscar.

HERO's Beijing production company (New Image ?)'s distribution manager Yu Yuxi has been interviewed by Chinese Business View. He said releasing HERO overseas and bidding for the Oscar required approvals from Chinese Film Bureau and a few other departments.

Actually, I do not think Mr. Yu quite understand how the Oscar works. The Oscar is not a film festival and a movie will be eligible for competition automatically once certain conditions were met. According to the official Academy Awards (www.oscar.org):

All eligible motion pictures, unless otherwise noted (see Paragraph 9 below), must be:

a) feature length (defined as over 40 minutes),

b) publicly exhibited by means of 35mm or 70mm film, or in a 24-frame progressive scan digital format (minimum native resolution 1280 by 1024 pixels), delivered to the screen by an image and sound file format suitable for exhibition in existing commercial digital cinema sites,

c) for paid admission in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County,

d) for a run of at least seven consecutive days,

e) advertised and exploited during its Los Angeles run in a manner considered normal and customary to the industry, and

f) within the awards year deadlines specified in Rule Three (Note: December 31st, 2002).

And to be qualified for Best Foreign Film category:

1. The film must be first released in the country of origin between November 1, 2001 and October 31, 2002, and first publicly exhibited by means of 35mm or 70mm film for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial motion picture theater for the profit of the producer and exhibitor, advertised and exploited during its eligibility run in a manner considered normal and customary to the industry. The picture need not have been released in the United States.

2. The dialogue track must be predominantly in a language of the country of origin except when the story mandates that an additional non-English language be predominant. Accurate English subtitles are required.

3. The submitting country must certify that creative talent of that country exercised artistic control of the film.

4. The Academy has the right to make the final determination in questions of eligibility.

To be eligible for all categories of the Academy Awards, HERO must be released in China by October 25th, 2002 and in the United States by December 25th, 2002. Yu said, HERO will be sent to Chinese Film Bureau in early September. Therefore hope is still in the air.

Miramax is currently editing HERO, according to the film's Beijing based production company, Nanfang Daily reports.

Beijing's Star Daily reports a rough cut has been sent to Chinese Film Bureau about a month ago. The "judges" were reportedly deeply touched by the film and one of them even said he hadn't seen a film so moving for decades. According to Tianjin Daily, a 2-minute trailer has been shown to people from China Film Corp. and several from China's film cycle. Someone from China Film Corp. told the paper that just judging from the trailer, he could feel HERO was an epical and carefully crafted romantic wuxia masterpiece, which was filled with breathtaking images. And according to Taiwan's The Star, it is too late for HERO to be shown on this year's Venice International Film Festival, but it  will still be promoted in Venice during the festival.

Photos: UDN.Com

According to Chinese Business View, post production of HERO will be wrapped up in about two weeks. Upon a greenlight on the film from Chinese Film Bureau, it will have the first screen test, exclusively to the media, approximately one month from today. Release date in the Mainland China has been set as December 19.

The production companies are expecting HERO to compete at several festivals around the world, but no specific name has been mentioned yet.

Photos: Nanfang Daily

According to Hong Kong media, besides the two Hua Mulan projects pulled by Michelle Yeoh and director Stanley Tong, a third one is secretly in planning. This one wants to lure Zhang Ziyi in and Korean star Jang Dong-Gun is also wanted to be the male lead. I suspect it is from the same people made MUSA. But according to Information Times, Zhang Ziyi's brother, who is also her manager, said he was not aware of it and he had to read the script first. He also said there were four projects she could pick as her next, including the sequel of HERO (according to Zhang Yimou, the sequel will be a different story in a different time).

I say Zhang Ziyi is the best choice for Hua Mulan. After all, it is a story of how a young little girl disguised as a man and jointed the army to fight the intruders. But a Korean actor playing a Chinese warrior? Somehow I got discouraged. Michelle Yeoh might be more appropriate for the role, if she came out the idea ten years ago. She also wish Chow Yun-Fat to play General Li. Well, some wish. About Stanley Tong's MULAN, well, no one has been cast yet but he wants everyone in his movie to speak English. I smell cheesy!

About the directors, Peter Pau, who will work at Michelle Yeoh's camp, is more or less responsible for the sloppiness of THE TOUCH, even though I still believe he is a great cinematographer. Stanley Tong may be an experienced stunt coordinator, but he is not a good director. RUMBLE IN THE BRONX was good only because Jackie Chan was good.

Who will win? It's hard to tell. Each got something what the other two don't have but none of them is THE front running. However, Stanley Tong's version may kick off the first because shooting of his MULAN will likely start by the end of the year.

Photos: SINA.COM, THE TOUCH Official Site

Another production still with Maggie Cheung has been posted on the website of Hong Kong's Oriental Daily.

These are the larger version of two production stills we have already seen two days ago. Stay tone for more.

(Left) Jet Li as Wu Ming (No Name)

(Right) Maggie Cheung as Fei Xue (Flying Snow)

At the press conference, Zhan Yimou has dismissed some report suggesting HERO is catered for the West. He said, "I always put Chinese audiences at the first place when making movies." Zhang Yimou will go to Australia to finish the post-production.

According to Hong Kong's Ming Pao, there is a little twist of Zhang Ziyi's character in how the story of HERO will be unfolded.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! HIGHLIGHT TO READ!

After Wu Ming (Jet Li) killed the three assassins (Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen), he told the king (Chen Daoming) that Ru Yue (Zhang Ziyi) was unwillingly used by him to lead to the death of the three. Both Fei Xue (Maggie Cheung) and Ru Yue are in love with Can Jian (Leung Chiu-Wai). Can Jian was probably killed by Fei Xue. We do not know how Fei Xue and Chang Kong died, but in the end Ru Yue is the only one survived and the king eventually unified China.

SPOILERS NED

Photos: Ming Pao, Oriental Daily, Reuters

China's Xin Wen Wan Bo reports internationally acclaimed violinist Itzhak Perlman has performed a solo which will be featured in the HERO soundtrack composed by Tan Dun. Itzhak Perlman is best known for his unforgettable violin solo in SCHINDLER'S LIST. Tan Dun won an Oscar for his music in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Zhang Yimou has had an eye on Tan Dun since CROUCHING TIGER was out, and Tan has composed a piece of music for a series of short promo films for Beijing's 2008 Olympic bid, written and directed by Zhang Yimou.

Before Tan Dun went to Beijing to meet Zhang Yimou, he has already signed up to composed a new opera The First Emperor for New York based The Metropolitan Opera, scheduled for 2006. While in Beijing, Tan Dun persuaded Zhang Yimou to write and direct the project. This will be the first time Zhang Yimou directing an opera since the live stage performance of Turandot in Beijing three years ago.

In May, when Perlman's solo was recorded, Zhang Yimou was standing outside the recording room. He praised Perlman's music with a very wired review - intriguing and "ununderstandable". Tan Dun composed the solo, with some high tone borrowed from Qinqiang, a local opera originated from Shaanxi Province, where the kingdom of Qin used to be. It will probably be used as the background music of the desert scenes. Also included in the soundtrack, is a young drummer performance with Japanese drum taiko, which has strong Chinese root. Sound from danao, an ancient bronze bell-like music instrument will also be used. Unlike most movies, HERO will not have any song but some human voices performed by male basses and female tenors.

The first news conference of HERO was held this afternoon in Hong Kong. So far I only have four pictures taken by Jie Ge.

Looks like only two people showed up, director Zhang Yimou, of cause, and another gentleman (I suspect he is Bill Kong, producer of both HERO and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON).

The room was decorated like the king's palace and 40 oil lamps in the  shape of a kneeing man were put in front of the table.

The official logo with both Chinese and English title has been revealed for the first time.

In the last photo (bottom-right), Zhang Yimou was presenting, according to Sina.Com, a copy of HERO comic book to Bill Kong (?).

According to China's Information Times, the first press conference of HERO will be held in Hong Kong tomorrow.

(Left) Leung Chiu-wai

Another picture of Jet Li has been posted on his official site. We can see Jet Li is wearing a different black jacket and standing in front of the entrance of a city or a fortress.

Dayoo.Com has posted six production stills of HERO, three are never being seen before and the black and white version of the other three has been posted on July 13th.

The website also revealed how the story will be told:

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! HIGHLIGHT TO READ.

Among the seven kingdoms, Qin was the strongest. To stop its aggression, warriors from the other six countries were planning their own plans of assassinating the king of Qin (Chen Daoming). Among them, there were three heroes from the kingdom of Zhao, Can Jian (Leung Chiu-Wai), Fei Xue (Maggie Cheung) and Ru Yue (Zhang Ziyi). But they were killed by a mysterious swordsman who had no  name (Jet Li). (Note: earlier report including words from Zhang Ziyi herself suggest Ru Yue survived.) The king called the swordsman to his palace to thank him personally. When he finally approached the king up to a distance of ten steps, he started to tell the king a story, a very true story... Once the swordsman finished the story, he pulled out his sword...

SPOILERS END.

Yesterday, director Zhang Yimou was awarded with the 13th annual Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize. At the award ceremony, he said his films (including HERO) are influenced by Kurosawa Akira, the legendary Japanese director who made RASHOMON, THE SEVEN SAMURAI, THE SHADOW WARRIOR and RAN. He also highly praised the work of Emi Wada, the costume designer, who also worked in RAN. He said all fibers used to make the costumes were dyed by her own hands with dyes purchased from Britain and Japan. Onetime Zhang Yimou asked her for a kind of red color fiber, then within a month she made over 100 red colors for him to choose.

When being asked about HERO's odds of getting a few Oscars, Zhang Yimou said, "I like Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Generally speaking, he explored the overseas market for Chinese films. No doubt, HERO got financed because of him. Since the beginning of the shooting, HERO has drawn so much attention and has become an excellent combination of stars and backstage talents. For the commitment to the investors, I have to succeed. But whether (HERO) can make it to the Oscar, I am not sure, because CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON was a miracle (for getting four Oscars). History can never be repeated and I am not expecting another miracle either."

Zhang Yimou's latest film HAPPY TIMES has performed very well in the US. During the first week of release (started last Friday), it has managed to earn $34,575 with just six locales, averaging $5,763 per theater.

Another on-location photo of the fight scene with Jet Li and Maggie Cheung has been posted today. This scene was filmed last year in Dunhuang region of Gansu Province.

Chinese Business View reports HERO has been shown to people from Miramax a while ago and got a generally positive response. But somehow the production companies decided to make it "better", mainly on "time length of sequences and how to depict characters". According to an anonymous crewmember, such kind of modification is "normal" and everything should be done within a month. I say: to avoid Miramax chopping and HERO and reassembling it into a Frankenstein monster, you have to do something yourself.

Three HERO production photos have been posted on New Daily, an affiliate paper of Tianjin Daily's. These photos were given by one of the production companies, probably Beijing based New Picture. According to the paper, cinematographer Christopher Doyle called the movie "real images floating in colors" and composer Tan Dun called it an "eye candy". Also according to the paper, HERO cost US$30 million to make, not US$17 million as previously reported.

According to reports from various sources, Zhang Yimou just finished a rough cut of HERO, which is about two hour long. Southern City reports many people who saw the rough cut have thrown some very good words on itand said HERO was a new height of Zhang Yimou's career. Someone from Beijing based New Picture, one of the production companies of the film, told New Daily that, as a martial art movie, HERO had two major breakthroughs. The first breakthrough is the story is no long just about revenge but more about course of history and fate of nations; and the second breakthrough is that the movie is made with pure aestheticism, which is very close to the true spirit of wuxia. Zhang Yimou is artificially creating the beauty of gestures and movement when designing fight scenes.

Everyday, Zhang Yimou stays in Beijing and receives status reports of the post-production sent electronically from overseas. The post-production will be completed by September or October and Zhang Yimou will travel to this overseas country to make the final cut himself. HERO may be shown at the the 59th Venice International Film Festival, which will be held from August 29 to September 8, but it will not compete for any award because of time constrain. No word on whether HERO will make it to this year's Toronto International Film Festival, which will be held from September 5 to 14. Since the beginning, Hong Kong's Elite Films, which financed the film, has already had an eye on the Oscar.

According to New Picture, another HERO is indeed in planning, but it will not be a sequel, rather another story about heroes in the ancient time.

Photo: SINA.COM

Two photos are posted today. The one on Australia Site (click here) shows Jet Li fighting with someone  (looks like Leung Chiu-wai). The other photo posted on China Site (click here) is another portrait of Jet Li.

Two photos are posted today. The one on South Africa Site (click here) shows approximately one thousand solders forming a giant square in the desert. When they are filming in Dunhuang region last year, soldiers of an entire battalion from the Paramilitary Police Force were mobilized to play their predecessors from the 3rd Century B.C. The other photo posted on Taiwan Site (click here) is a very nicely shot portrait of Jet Li.

The same yardang ridges in Gansu Province's Dunhuang region were featured in both HERO and THE TOUCH. Yardang is a kind of  ridge formed by wind erosion and it was named after Yardang region of the former Yugoslavia. Dunhuang's Yardang ridges were called "Devil City" by the locals. The local government just opened the area as a tourist attraction. A cement road was built by the local government specifically for these two movies. On the official THE TOUCH website, Yardang is mistaken for name of the desert and the name is misspelled as Yadan (Yadan is Chinese pronunciation of Yardang).

Today's photo is a close-up shot of Jet Li.

Click here

Someone working very closely with director Zhang Yimou and prefers to remain anonymous told a reporter that the post-production of HERO would soon be wrapped up. He said editing has already completed ast month in Australia and dubbing as well as sound mixing will end in two months. This means HERO will have enough time to show up at this year's Toronto International Film Festival in September, if they indeed have such plan. Two years ago, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON had its North American début at the festival.

He also said under lobbying from the investor, Zhang Yimou's next project would be another martial art film. About ten days ago, several people from the art department have gone to Xinjiang in the northeast region of China to scout locations. Shooting of this untitled movie will start in the coming winter or spring. Hope this is not just another rumor.

Two pictures taken on locations of HERO have been posted today. The one posted on Japan site (click here) shows a stone dragon in front of the Hall of Unification of the king's palace compound inside Hengdian Film and TV City. The one posted on Russia site (click here) shows Jet Li playing his sword in front of a group of foot soldiers on location of Dunhuang region. The fourth photo on Russia site shows the Crescent Lake in Dunhuang, which was not used during the filming.

Today's shot shows director Zhang Yimou standing on one of many steps of the king's palace compound. It was taken in Hengdian Film & TV City.

Click here

Related report 

HERO News 61 - Rehearsal At The King's Palaces (Hengdian) April 19, 2002

Finally they showed another photo of the set. According to the official Jet Li site, it shows "a red chamber in the king's palace".

Click here to see the picture