Damon sees lots of lovin’ — but for ex-boy band singer
Star doesn’t mind being upstaged while promoting movie in China
Matt Damon, one of China’s favourite Hollywood stars, said Thursday he was overwhelmed at the fans turning up at his hotel in China — not for him, but for an exboy band singer who also appears in a Sino-Hollywood fantasy adventure movie.
The singer is Lu Han, 25, but with the face of a teenager, who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and dancer of Chinese-South Korean boy band Exo.
Lu was trailed by fans, said Damon. “I think the first night where we started shooting there was something like 400 flower arrangements came to the hotel and took up the entire hallway.”
Damon spoke in Beijing to publicize the movie The Great Wall. Damon, whose movies include Good Will Hunting and the Bourne action franchise, plays a battle-scarred mercenary in search of treasure. Pedro Pascal, of Game of Thrones, is his swordwielding partner. Lu plays a boy emperor.
In the film peppered with stars from both China and Hollywood, warriors use the Great Wall as a weapon to combat otherworldly creatures who threaten humanity. It is due for global release in November 2016.
It is the latest co-production between China and Hollywood as U.S. studios court China’s rapidly growing movie audience and Chinese producers look to improve their technological know-how.
It will be the first English-language movie by Zhang Yimou, the director of the romantic kung fu drama House of Flying Daggers, Hero and the opulent opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Willem Dafoe also stars and there are a host of Chinese actors in supporting roles, including Hong Kong ’s Andy Lau. Actress Jing Tian takes on the lead female role in her first English-language film.
Damon said the language barrier was not a problem when filming. “It’s the same discipline and it moves across cultures and languages pretty easily,” he said.
The Great Wall is an official coproduction. That means it will be treated as a domestic film and bypass China’s import restrictions that limit foreign movies and will get a bigger share of the Chinese box office.