EXCLUSIVE: Wild Bunch has acquired The Last Supper from City Of Life And Death director Lu Chuan.
The $15m project is an epic period piece produced by Beijing-based Stellar Mega Films. The cast includes Liu Ye, Daniel Wu and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s Chang Chen.
Principal photography started on March 9 with an expected finish date of August 31.
Wild Bunch is handling world sales, excluding Asia, on the story of two generals who fought for control of China at the end of the Qin Dynasty and started the Han Dynasty. The film recounts the legendary Feast at Hong Gate in 206 BC at which one general fatally betrayed the other.
City of Life and Death was one of China’s top-grossing films of 2009 with $26m at the local box office. It sold in multiple territories including the UK and the US and won the Golden Shell for Best Film at San Sebastian.
Speaking about The Last Supper, Lu said, “I strongly believe that if one was to go back two thousand years ago, to those times that surged forward like rolling waves, the marvellous spectacle would not be as it appears in the hundreds and thousands of so-called period films we have seen until now. It would be something completely different, a marvellous spectacle in the true sense of the word.”
Chinese producers Stella Mega currently have Peter Chan’s Wu Xia screening out of competition in the Cannes Official Selection.
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