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Movie News: Chow Yun Fat Set To Play Abraham Lincoln
By Samantha Sue, Staff Writer
Jade Harvest studio has announced that they produced a new movie based on the life of American president, Abraham Lincoln. The movie, which is set to release next year in Hong Kong and then throughout Asia, before reaching international distribution, will be titled Liberator: The Abraham Lincoln Story. International star, Chow Yun Fat will be playing the role of Abraham Lincoln. The 6 foot 2, slender actor is said to be perfect for the role of the 16th American president. However, there has been rumor of complaints from American media groups of the choice of having a Chinese actor play a Western president.
Ringo Lam, producer of Liberator, said at a press conference, "Chow Yun Fat is incredibly popular in many Asian countries as well as gaining notoriety in the U.S. Everyone wishes for Chow Yun Fat to be the star. No one will watch the film if he is not in it. If he did not agree to do this, the movie will not have been made. Besides, we have the best makeup artists that made him look exactly like Abraham Lincoln."
Lam also continues to state that he is surprise that Americans have a problem of having an Asian actor play a Caucasian role since he has seen countless American films where White actors play the role of Asians. Lam mentioned movies, like The Good Earth, The King and I, and even the Broadway play, Miss Saigon, where a Caucasian with eye makeup is playing the role of an Asian.
Lam explains that the current script for Liberator is a totally revised version of an earlier screenplay. The earlier version calls for Chow Yun Fat to play the role of a Chinese immigrant who after landing on the shores of the U.S., travels the American frontier, and is suddenly engulfed in a battle during the Civil War. He ends up saving an entire Union calvary and is quickly enlisted in the American army and given the rank of sergeant. Within a three-year period, he learns to speak perfect English and is appointed the general of his own regimen. While marching his troops through the South, he falls in love with a rich plantation owner's daughter and marries her. Abraham Lincoln, after hearing of the success of this Chinese general, asks to meet him, awarding him the medal of honor for valor during a time of war. Having befriended Chow Yun Fat's character, the president appoints him as his personal advisor. From that moment, President Lincoln's life is told through Chow Yun Fat's eyes, as the Chinese Union general guides him through the emancipation of the slaves and the reconstruction of the South. The movie ends when President Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth and Chow Yun Fat's character chases after the killer and corners him, bringing him to justice.
However, protest developed from the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., when they heard of the script. They believe that the script desecrates the life of Abraham Lincoln by inserting a fictional Chinese character into the story when no such figure existed in real life. They further complained that for a film about the life of Abraham Lincoln, the president's role is reduced to a secondary figure head, giving more attention to Chow Yun Fat's character.
Due to the mounting pressure from the foundation and numerous disgruntle letters from Americans as well as the fear of negative press, affecting American distributors, Lam totally revised the script by writing a movie that more accurately follows the life of Abraham Lincoln with Chow Yun Fat playing the lead role as the president.
Lam expressed displeasure over the revision, preferring the original version over the current one. Lam remarked that it's only natural that Asian audience would like to see the life of the American president through the eyes of an Asian star. Lam mentioned that the movie, The Last Samurai, did such a thing by casting Tom Cruise as the star when the title role is inspired by the real Japanese samurai, Takamori Saigo. He said that Ken Watanabe's character is really the last samurai, based on the real life historical figure. He wondered why Cruise is placed in the starring role in a far-fetched part where Cruise masters the lifelong goal of being a samurai and becomes so skilled in a short period of time that he fights right along the side of the chief samurai which is all done entirely in a blink of an eye without Cruise aging a wrinkle.
At the press conference for Liberator, Chow Yun Fat describes the two-hour makeup procedure he had to endure each day while making the movie. He had a prosthetic nose and he had specialized pins which were placed under his skin near the corners of his eyes which stretched the skin apart, giving him a "rounded eye" Caucasian appearance. Chow remarked that the pins were excruciating painful, but they were well worth it because he was the spitting image of Abraham Lincoln when he looked in the mirror.
By Samantha Sue, Staff Writer
Jade Harvest studio has announced that they produced a new movie based on the life of American president, Abraham Lincoln. The movie, which is set to release next year in Hong Kong and then throughout Asia, before reaching international distribution, will be titled Liberator: The Abraham Lincoln Story. International star, Chow Yun Fat will be playing the role of Abraham Lincoln. The 6 foot 2, slender actor is said to be perfect for the role of the 16th American president. However, there has been rumor of complaints from American media groups of the choice of having a Chinese actor play a Western president.
Ringo Lam, producer of Liberator, said at a press conference, "Chow Yun Fat is incredibly popular in many Asian countries as well as gaining notoriety in the U.S. Everyone wishes for Chow Yun Fat to be the star. No one will watch the film if he is not in it. If he did not agree to do this, the movie will not have been made. Besides, we have the best makeup artists that made him look exactly like Abraham Lincoln."
Lam also continues to state that he is surprise that Americans have a problem of having an Asian actor play a Caucasian role since he has seen countless American films where White actors play the role of Asians. Lam mentioned movies, like The Good Earth, The King and I, and even the Broadway play, Miss Saigon, where a Caucasian with eye makeup is playing the role of an Asian.
Lam explains that the current script for Liberator is a totally revised version of an earlier screenplay. The earlier version calls for Chow Yun Fat to play the role of a Chinese immigrant who after landing on the shores of the U.S., travels the American frontier, and is suddenly engulfed in a battle during the Civil War. He ends up saving an entire Union calvary and is quickly enlisted in the American army and given the rank of sergeant. Within a three-year period, he learns to speak perfect English and is appointed the general of his own regimen. While marching his troops through the South, he falls in love with a rich plantation owner's daughter and marries her. Abraham Lincoln, after hearing of the success of this Chinese general, asks to meet him, awarding him the medal of honor for valor during a time of war. Having befriended Chow Yun Fat's character, the president appoints him as his personal advisor. From that moment, President Lincoln's life is told through Chow Yun Fat's eyes, as the Chinese Union general guides him through the emancipation of the slaves and the reconstruction of the South. The movie ends when President Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth and Chow Yun Fat's character chases after the killer and corners him, bringing him to justice.
However, protest developed from the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., when they heard of the script. They believe that the script desecrates the life of Abraham Lincoln by inserting a fictional Chinese character into the story when no such figure existed in real life. They further complained that for a film about the life of Abraham Lincoln, the president's role is reduced to a secondary figure head, giving more attention to Chow Yun Fat's character.
Due to the mounting pressure from the foundation and numerous disgruntle letters from Americans as well as the fear of negative press, affecting American distributors, Lam totally revised the script by writing a movie that more accurately follows the life of Abraham Lincoln with Chow Yun Fat playing the lead role as the president.
Lam expressed displeasure over the revision, preferring the original version over the current one. Lam remarked that it's only natural that Asian audience would like to see the life of the American president through the eyes of an Asian star. Lam mentioned that the movie, The Last Samurai, did such a thing by casting Tom Cruise as the star when the title role is inspired by the real Japanese samurai, Takamori Saigo. He said that Ken Watanabe's character is really the last samurai, based on the real life historical figure. He wondered why Cruise is placed in the starring role in a far-fetched part where Cruise masters the lifelong goal of being a samurai and becomes so skilled in a short period of time that he fights right along the side of the chief samurai which is all done entirely in a blink of an eye without Cruise aging a wrinkle.
At the press conference for Liberator, Chow Yun Fat describes the two-hour makeup procedure he had to endure each day while making the movie. He had a prosthetic nose and he had specialized pins which were placed under his skin near the corners of his eyes which stretched the skin apart, giving him a "rounded eye" Caucasian appearance. Chow remarked that the pins were excruciating painful, but they were well worth it because he was the spitting image of Abraham Lincoln when he looked in the mirror.
