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.
Photos:
