MCLC: Spielberg-Zhang collaboration

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Spielberg-Zhang collaboration
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Source: The Guardian (8/15/13):
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/aug/15/steven-spielberg-zhang-yimou-ch
ina-collaboration

Steven Spielberg aiming to make a film with Zhang Yimou in China
Renowned American director seeking to collaborate with respected Chinese
director on 'international film'
By Andrew Pulver 
Steven Spielberg is aiming to make a film in China in collaboration with
Zhang Yimou, one of China's best known directors, according to reports.

In an interview with the China Daily newspaper Spielberg said ""I made
'Empire of the Sun' in Shanghai in the 1980s and want to come back one day
to make a movie in China." Calling Zhang, the director of the opening and
closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his "dear friend",
Spielberg said: "We would work together on an international film that
could take place in China."

Spielberg was speaking ahead of the 20 August release in China of the 3D
version of Jurassic Park, which is going ahead despite the row over the
withholding of box office receipts due to Hollywood films. Payments have
now been promised after rules over a 2% tax were clarified.

It is not clear what, if any, projects have been earmarked for a
Spielberg-Zhang collaboration. Zhang is said to be moving ahead with a
Chinese film called Return
<http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/zhang-yimous-new-film-gets-govt-green-light>,
 based on Yan Geling's chronicle of several decades in the life of a
persecuted intellectual, The Criminal Lu Yanshi. Spielberg, meanwhile, is
looking at a number of projects after putting Robopocalypse on hold, with
American Sniper apparently the favoured candidate to follow Lincoln.

If Spielberg and Zhang do eventually work together, it will no doubt make
up for Spielberg's withdrawal from a consultancy role for the Bejing
Olympics as a protest against Chinese involvement in the Darfur conflict.