Playing the 'Outcast'

By Li Jingjing Source:Global Times Published: 2014-9-23 19:53:01

Director and cast talk about co-produced film


Promotional poster for Outcast Photo: Courtesy of Mountsea Pictures



Outcast, China's newest co-production directed by British director Nick Powell, the mind behind the action scenes in Braveheart, Gladiator and The Bourne Identity, held its red carpet world premiere in Beijing on Monday. 

Featuring American actor Nicolas Cage, Canadian actor Hayden Christensen, Chinese actress Liu Yifei and American-Chinese actor Andy On, and produced through the joint effort of teams from China, Canada and France, Outcast is poised to be an action film that can cross cultural boundaries.

The films tells the story of a young Chinese prince, the chosen heir to the throne, who is on the run from his older brother Shing (Andy On), who seeks to kill him. Together with his older sister Lian (Liu Yifei), who is determined to protect him, he encounters Jacob (Hayden Christensen), a war-weary crusader that has exiled himself to the Orient. Although suffering from his own post-war traumas, Jacob becomes determined to protect them. Fighting at his side is his mentor Gallain (Nicolas Cage), a crusader-turned-bandit.

New experiences

This is Powell's first feature film as a director. In an interview with the Global Times on Monday, he confessed that the project wasn't easy at all, especially considering it was a three-way co-production. "We had so many people to deal with," he said explaining that most of the cast and crew were from China, several crews including the co-production design teams and one of the main producers were from Canada, and individuals such as the composer, sound mixers and editors were from France.

"It's been an interesting ride. I had a very interesting journey with this movie."

Apparently it was no coincidence that his first stab at directing was a co-production with China.

He explained that he actually came to China four years ago to help make two Chinese movies. Although the films were never released, he pointed out that those experiences gave him "a long relationship doing Chinese movies."

An additional factor is his interest in the martial arts, which he has studied since childhood. He recalled that in late 1980s, he was part of a British martial arts team that earned second place at the European Championship. His martial arts coach was from Hebei Province.

His knowledge and experience led him to add some martial art moves to Mel Gibson's character in Braveheart.

 "The producer Jeremy Bolt, who had the script [for Outcast] at the time, knew I was a big fan of Chinese movies and that I did a lot of martial arts when I was young. He knew I had a very strong Chinese affinity for the Chinese side of these things," Powell said.

This led him to be appointed as the director of the film.

Another individual with an affinity for things Chinese is the film's lead actor Christensen. Besides being widely known for his character of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, he also appeared in the film New York, I Love You, which was directed by Chinese director Jiang Wen.

"One of the biggest motivators is getting to do a movie here [China], not just filming in China, but to do a real co-production," Christensen explained to the Global Times the reason he took the part.

Christensen plays a war-weary crusader, guilty about his actions in the past and addicted to opium, who decides to fight for the princess and prince.

"He's a very complicated, flawed character…but one of the interesting aspects of this movie is how war can affect a person." Christensen said that he believes the role he plays and the role On plays have a lot of similarities. On plays Shing, an ambitious prince who has been passed over for the throne despite having fought numerous wars for his father the emperor.

"They are looking for different things. My character is always looking for redemption, trying to right wrongs. He feels guilty, yet Andy's character is still in pursuit of power," Christensen noted.

Christensen also pointed out that cooperating with Nicolas Cage was an exciting experience for him. "I've always been a big fan of Nicolas Cage… He is super cool!"

 "The first day we met, he came to introduce himself, with the long hair…he is a big guy too…I don't usually get star-struck when I meet actors that I'm a fan of, but for some reason I got a little star-struck with him."

Lead actress Liu Yifei told the Global Times that she didn't run into any difficulty or problems during the production, instead she managed to find some common ground with the crew and other actors.

"Actors, no matter where they are from, they are all working at full sprint, we're all 'lunatics,' there are no regional differences when it comes to that."

Co-production woes

While co-productions are nothing new, in recent years many of them have suffered wide criticism.

"A lot of people are using the co-production model just to get financing, but are not really co-producing a project. What they are doing is just basically filming a bit in China, adding a Chinese star at some point, a small role," Powell said. "My idea is to get a real solid co-production where you take some Western actors and bring them to China and shoot the movie in China…you have very strong Chinese elements. I really want to make a Chinese co-production movie where it's a real co-production and works for the Chinese market."

He revealed that he is actually preparing to set up a company that will focus on producing China-Western co-produced films.



Posted in: Film

blog comments powered by Disqus