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Wong Kar-Wai Next Adapting Zhang Jiajia's Story as 'Ferryman' Film

by Alex Billington
June 23, 2014
Source: Film Biz Asia

Another interesting project on the slate in 2015. The next project from filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai has been confirmed and kinda/sorta announced, with some actual specific information about what it is. The Chinese filmmaker last brought us the beautiful martial arts epic The Grandmaster, but he hasn't made much else since My Blueberry Nights in 2007. Now he's getting ready to direct another romance, to follow up many in his career (like 2046, In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express). This one is an adaptation of Zhang Jiajia's short story Ferryman, as this will be titled, from the collection I Belonged to You sold in China. Read on.

Last week news was reported that we would see Wong Kar-Wai's next movie in 2015, a romance. After many more years of waiting, I'm glad to finally hear he's at it again. But it was finally Film Business Asia (via The Film Stage) that landed confirmation, from Zhang Jiajia, that Wong Kar-Wai would be adapting the short story Ferryman into his next feature. The book is only out in Chinese now, so they explain what it's about:

Originally published on the internet as "bedtime stories", the book is divided into 38 chapters. It is described as a "cluttered" collection of love stories written in the style of a "friend narrating his tales to you in the middle of the night." Wong is adapting the chapter called 擺渡人 (literally Ferryman), about an affair between a girl and a married artist in Changchun. Rights for individual chapters of the book have reportedly been sold to other film companies, but Wong's adaptation is the first that has been officially announced by Zhang himself.

Sounds good to me. Not sure how it will turn out, but a new romance from Wong Kar-Wai is, I think, exactly what we need/should see from him. Last week, it was reported via The Standard in Hong Kong that his new film, shooting in 2015 in China, "[would] be a romantic movie and the main actor is someone 'all women are crazy about.'" Like our friends at SlashFilm joked, it could be 2018 until we even see this new film, if it's just beginning shooting in 2015, but you never know. Maybe it's hopeful to see it at Cannes 2016, two summers away. But that won't be too long of a wait if we're lucky, especially for another Wong Kar-Wai film. Stay tuned for additional updates from here on out, and check out The Grandmaster if you haven't seen it yet.

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