‘GoT’ director to tell story of Chinese immigrants

Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/6/20 16:53:40

Poster for Game of Thrones Photo: IC





Alan Taylor, who directed episodes of Game of Thrones, announced Tuesday at the ongoing Shanghai International Film Festival that his new film Gold Mountain would dig into US history and depict a piece of the story of early Chinese immigrants moving to the US during the late 1850s Gold Rush.

The new film is part of a gigantic film incubation project with Starlight Culture, a Hong Kong-listed Chinese film company. Shooting is scheduled to start and finish in 2020.

"History is my real interest," Taylor told the Xinhua News Agency, explaining how he found this "Chinese story." His wife is a Chinese-American and has always wanted to tell the story of the early Chinese immigrants' integration into the US.

Gold Mountain will tell the story of a shrewd widow who helped smuggle an unruly Chinese girl into the US to enter into a fiercely violent world dominated by male chauvinism. Facing their life battle together, the two women finally establish a profound relationship.

"You will be surprised when you open the history books of the United States. The history of those early Chinese immigrants in the Gold Rush who helped build the Pacific Railway is almost completely wiped out," said Taylor. "But even for me, the subject is too heavy to handle. It was not until I found these two women, so subtle and so real, that I convinced myself to do this movie."

He said the film is both "very American" and "very Chinese." It depicts the American West, with early Chinese immigrants as the lead characters. In addition, Chinese-Malaysian Hollywood movie star Michelle Yeoh will join this film as co-producer.

"History is grand. But fundamentally my film is only about human nature. It is not painful nor agonizing, but very uplifting when you see how people turn from 'tough' to 'soft' and make deep connections with their souls and hearts," he said.

As a TV and film director, Taylor is known for work in TV shows such as Game of Thrones. He has also directed films including Thor: The Dark World and Terminator: Genisys.

Starlight also announced Tuesday in Shanghai a package of China-US film incubation plans, which includes Roland Emmerich's Rebirth, Empress Wu from Robert Zemeckis and Bad Boys by Sylvester Stallone.

Starlight has developed its business in Hollywood in recent years. It has signed up with directors and has invested in and produced Hollywood mainstream productions such as Crazy Rich Asians.  



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