When he isn’t prepping the batsuit for Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises or getting frighteningly skinny for David O. Russell‘s The Fighter, Christian Bale stars in Chinese epics. THR is reporting the English star will play an American priest in Zhang Yimou‘s $90.2 million film about the Nanjing Massacre.
Titled Nanjing Heroes, the film will recreate the events in which “Japanese troops killed thousands of Chinese citizens in what was then the nation’s capital in 1937.” Bale will be in somewhat familiar territory, as he is joined by his Hollywood special effects team that worked on The Dark Knight, as well as Saving Private Ryan.
There is also another main character needing to be cast, John Rabe, “a German businessman who helped save hundreds of Chinese refugees.” Bale’s priest character is also named John and he “helps a great number of Chinese escape certain death.” The film will be 40% in English and that rest in Mandarin Chinese, with subtitles over here. When asked what attracted him to Bale, Zhang responded:
“I met Christian in America and was impressed with his serious book research for the role.” He adds, “It’s the overall strategy for Chinese cinema to approach the world and broaden its influence but casting Bale was a coincidence because the script happened to have an English-speaking part in the lead.”
Zhang most recently released A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop in the US, a remake of the Coens‘ Blood Simple. The director is most famous over here for his 2020 war film Hero with Jet Li. The film took in a staggering $54 million, quite impressive for a foreign release. House of Flying Daggers fared less, with only a $11m domestic take, as well as Curse of the Golden Flower, which made $6.5m in the states. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Zhang’s films, but I’ll certainly be intrigued with Bale at the lead.
Nanjing Heroes begins shooting January 10th in “a Republican Era replica church built near Nanjing.” Bale will then move on to The Dark Knight Rises, which hits theaters July 2012.
What do you think about this partnership? Are you excited for Bale to be trying something new?