"Yu Liang" in "A Chinese Odyssey: The Secret of the Magic Crystal Box"
Director Jeff Lau's new film, "A Chinese Odyssey: The Secret of the Magic Crystal Box," might at first glance seem like a tribute to his classic "A Chinese Odyssey," but Lau himself emphasizes that "this is a movie with the essence of 'East Meets West'." After watching the wrap-up scene of "A Chinese Odyssey: The Secret of the Magic Crystal Box" on set in Yinchuan on August 19th, I truly felt that this film was actually poking fun at John Woo's epic "Red Cliff."
The main storyline of "A Chinese Odyssey: The Secret of the Magic Crystal Box" still follows the pattern of "A Chinese Odyssey," where Rose Fairy, played by Sun Li, claims that whoever can pull out her sword is her true emperor. Mistakenly believing that the bandit "Qing Yi Se" (played by Nicholas Tse) has pulled out her sword, Sun Li relentlessly chases after him. Unlike the "Moonlight Box," which helps two lovers reunite, the "Magic Crystal Box" assists the bandit in constantly escaping from the fairy's pursuit.
The most crucial time-travel destination for Nicholas Tse in the film is the Three Kingdoms period. Lau said he suddenly had this inspiration after watching John Woo's "Red Cliff." Thus, Lau expanded on the unintentional comedic elements created by Woo in "Red Cliff," such as the famous "dueling lutes" scene between Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, which was mocked by audiences for its underlying romantic tension. In "A Chinese Odyssey: The Secret of the Magic Crystal Box," the "dueling lutes" segment is preserved, but with Huang Bo playing the lute like a guitar and Eric Tsang rapping, culminating in a signature Bruce Lee pose. The horse named "Meng Meng" from "Red Cliff" wasn't spared either; Eric Tsang's version of Zhuge Liang, who says he "kinda knows" about midwifery, names the new foal at Xiao Qiao's house "Go Believe."
Some other comedic elements are the result of Lau's wild imagination. For instance, why is Guan Yu's face so red? Lau's explanation is: "Guan Yu loves reading books. Once, he read a book that made him blush, and since then, he has always been red-faced."
Lau's "parody" of "Red Cliff" is seen by all the actors as not disrespectful to Woo's original film. On the contrary, Lau is very certain that he will pay homage to Woo in the movie, "I will definitely release doves, and they will dive towards the camera like bombers."
Huang Bo's portrayal of Zhou Yu seems more rugged compared to Tony Leung's version.
Huang Bo: Imagining myself as the handsomest Zhou Yu
When the director told Huang Bo that he would play Zhou Yu, Huang Bo hesitated, "And the director told me, you have to play the handsomest Zhou Yu, at least in your heart, you should feel that you're the handsomest... I thought about it, but still felt unsure." What finally convinced Huang Bo was hearing that Eric Tsang would play Zhuge Liang. On set yesterday, Huang Bo was posing for the photographer while saying, "If I wear the armor and carry the two-meter-long sword, I'll look quite stylish." When asked if he mentally compared himself to Tony Leung's Zhou Yu, Huang Bo self-deprecatingly said, "That would be too cruel for Tony Leung."
Eric Tsang's portrayal of Zhuge Liang looks more like a local deity compared to Takeshi Kaneshiro's version in "Red Cliff."
Eric Tsang: A Zhuge Liang with an unlucky face
Challenging Takeshi Kaneshiro's Zhuge Liang, Eric Tsang expressed no pressure, "I was previously styled according to the characters in 'Red Cliff,' and the result looked too much like Takeshi Kaneshiro..." Seeing the reporters laughing, Tsang continued touching his mustache, "So after my styling, I took two strands of hair and stuck them on as a mustache. With such a mustache, of course, there had to be matching eyebrows... And the overall effect is that this person looks very unlucky."