‘Forever Young’ starring Zhang Ziyi scheduled to premiere next month
BEIJING: The mystery-laden epic Forever Young starring Zhang Ziyi is set to premiere next month, six years after it was conceptualised.
Apart from Zhang, those present on Wednesday to promote it were Huang Xiaoming, Leehom Wang, Chang Chen and Chen Chusheng. The film, written and directed by acclaimed writer-turned- director Li Fangfang, was originally planned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Tsinghua University in 2011.
The storyline encompasses four generations spanning a hundred years of modern Chinese history since World War II.
In previous interviews, both ZhangandHuanghadadmittedthat they had shed tears after reading the script. By the end of 2012, the filming had been completed, but the project remained in limbo.
Director Li commented in June 2014 that she is extremely meticulous about post-production and the film will be ready for release by the end of that year. However, that did not materialise.
Sun Zhonghuai, CEO of Penguin Pictures and Vice President at Tencent Holdings Ltd, one of the film’s producers, said the nearly six-year wait has made this production ‘a legend’ in Chinese film industry.
Huang added, “First I was attracted by the director’s good script, then I was moved by her sincere creative work ethic, as she had researched and studied tens of thousands of historical photos and documents to reenact the historical details in her production. I believe a good film is like a good wine, the longer it takes to make the better it will taste.”