Stephen Chow acts as Lu Xun's younger brother in "The Founding of a Republic", a must-see film in 09.

Stephen Chow plays Lu Xun's younger brother in "The Founding of a Republic"

Online viewing address: http://www.xxyl8.com/view/view237.html

This film, featuring 172 celebrity actors, has been finalized at a runtime of 140 minutes. Rumors had it that actor John Woo’s scenes were entirely cut due to time constraints, but ultimately he made a fleeting appearance. The news about Tang Wei being “unbanned” to appear in the movie turned out to be just rumors.

After the preview screening, what became most talked about within the industry was that Stephen Chow, who hadn’t appeared in films for a while, actually played Zhou Zuoren — Lu Xun's second younger brother — in "The Founding of a Republic." This unexpected revelation thrilled many in the film community, who joked that box office earnings of 200 million or even 300 million yuan would only be the "starting point" for this film. With so many big names involved, it might easily rewrite the record for Chinese film box office earnings upon its release on September 17th.

A star-studded opening

Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang — all excellent actors

According to the introduction, the story of "The Founding of a Republic" begins with the Chongqing negotiations and concludes on October 1st, 1949.

In the final scenes, the director team composed of Han Sanping, Huang Jianxin, Peter Chan, and Zhang Guoli used archival footage of the founding ceremony. At the beginning, the director arranged an impressive scene featuring actor Chen Kaige — during the Chongqing negotiations, patriotic general Feng Yuxiang led Zhou Enlai and others to Chongqing, where they encountered gangsters attacking students on the road.

"At this moment, Chen Kaige, playing Feng Yuxiang, fired a warning shot and then told the gangsters, 'No matter whose man you are, if you have the guts, come openly and don't be so despicable,'" an insider in the industry remarked to reporters, expressing surprise at how Chen Kaige turned out to be such a fine actor.

Equally surprising were these performances:

Jackie Chan played a journalist interviewing Li Jishen. It was his first time portraying an intellectual in a movie, delivering his few lines in Cantonese with quite incisive questions;

Jiang Wen played "Mao Renfeng" with more screen time than many expected. His portrayal of instructing Chen Daoming's "undercover agent" to assassinate Zhang Lan in the car exuded a thug-like demeanor. At the time, he directly berated his underlings. An insider commented, "No wonder he had more screen time! He acted so well!"

Feng Xiaogang portrayed Du Yuesheng with a sinister aura. He made his entrance dressed completely in "super black," sitting on a gold rickshaw, escorted by a group of bodyguards dressed in black as he strutted through Nanjing Road, evoking memories of the Axe Gang from the movie "Kung Fu." The only regret was that Feng Xiaogang's scenes were too few, with only a few lines.

The ending features so many stars that it dazzles the eyes

Audience didn't recognize Stephen Chow when he appeared

With 172 actors gathered in a 140-minute movie, on average, a celebrity actor appears every minute — "The Founding of a Republic" set a new record for China's film production in terms of star power. However, insiders revealed that not every minute in the movie featured a star.

"Some scenes were still a bit dull, but interestingly, whenever you felt bored, a cluster of stars would suddenly appear," an insider gave an example to the reporter, "For instance, during a war scene with intense gunfire, suddenly, a familiar face appeared — Guo Xiaodong; another example is when the camera focused on a soldier's back, wondering why it was given a close-up, the next shot revealed it was Wang Baoqiang; Ge You's appearance made the entire theater laugh. But the funniest was Fan Wei. In that scene, Chairman Mao met with the chef. The previous shot was Huang Xiaoming playing an extremely handsome 'guard,' and the next shot showed Fan Wei rushing into the frame. Moreover, he looked at Chairman Mao with admiration, appearing particularly endearing."

The last 10 minutes of the film were universally acknowledged as the most dazzling, telling the story of the political consultative conference inviting various democratic figures to discuss the details of establishing New China. At this point, familiar star faces like Zhang Ziyi, Zhao Wei, Nick Cheung, Donnie Yen, Deng Chao... flooded the screen.

"They played representatives from various sectors, each having one line and one shot. The 'main character' in the last 10 minutes was actually Andy Lau. The first shot shows Andy Lau playing 'Yu Jishi' ordering the Nationalist army to bomb Beijing by plane, the second shot shows 'Yu Jishi' informing Chiang Kai-shek that the U.S. military wouldn't allow the planes to refuel, leading Chiang to abandon the plan to bomb Beijing on October 1st."

Reporters also learned that due to the large number of stars in these 10 minutes, it wasn't until after the movie ended and discussions began that everyone realized there was also Stephen Chow among the cast. "I specifically confirmed with the production side, and it turned out to be true! Stephen Chow really did act, and he played Zhou Zuoren! Someone told me Stephen Chow only had one shot, and he thought he had seen wrong!"

Stephen Chow plays Lu Xun's younger brother in "The Founding of a Republic"

Online viewing address: http://www.xxyl8.com/view/view237.html