Can a kung fu movie about Peking opera save Chinese souls?

An hour’s drive from downtown Shanghai is Songjiang Sheng Qiang movie studio, a sprawling and slightly haunting movie complex with building facades for just about any movie you could write a script for.

If you were there in December 2010, you would've seen a strange scene, even for this movie lot: a long-haired Chinese man in a military jacket screaming at people though a megaphone, dashing from one end to the other of a 1920s Shanghai Nanjing Lu set.

In the rare moments he stops moving, he's quickly surrounded by costumed Peking opera singers.

Not a Chinese reality TV show, this is the set of "My Kingdom" (大武生), and the man with the megaphone is the godfather of contemporary Chinese folk music, Gao Xiaosong. In this kung fu film with a Peking opera backdrop, Gao is attempting to do the unthinkable: bring soul back into modern Chinese life.

Chinese opera represents Chinese faith

A joint production by Celestial Pictures, Skyland Films and DW Films, “My Kingdom” has a total budget of RMB 70 million (US$10.5 million) and is set to be released in the second half of 2011.

Although scheduled to debut this year, the film has been a long time in the making -- Gao drafted the first version of the story almost seven years ago.

With the support of Hollywood-based entertainment group Ruddy Morgan Organization, Gao teamed up with Zou Jingzhi, one of China’s best-known screenwriters, to adapt “My Kingdom” into a film script.

Set in Shanghai in the 1920s, the story follows Guan Yilong (played by Wu Chun) and Meng Erkui (played by Han Geng), two popular da wu sheng actors (male kung fu action heroes in Peking opera), on their journey from northern China to Shanghai to exact revenge upon and challenge Yue Jiangtian, the Wu Sheng authority at the time.

In their journey to confront Yue, they find themselves emotionally and physically confronted by Xi Mulan (played by Barbie Hsu), the Yue's female disciple.

Celestial Pictures is promoting the film as a way to revive Peking opera among Chinese, a dying art that was recently inscribed into the UNESCO Heritage List.

Gao disagrees, seeing an even deeper mission for the film.

Gao explains that he doesn’t feel an obligation to save Peking opera. Not exactly a fan of the traditional art, he admits to only ever seeing three shows. 

The Peking opera background for a classic Chinese love story is used only in service of a broader message, according to Gao. It's there to showcase the da wu sheng’s heroism and spirit, showing modern audiences how important these classic characteristics remain for people today.

Nowadays, most people mistake desire for faith. Desire is not faith or a dream. ‘I want a house’ is not faith.-- Gao Xiaosong, "My Kingdom" director

“Da wu sheng are only heroes on stage," says Gao, citing as examples the roles of Yue Fei, Mao Chao and Wusong. "They act as heroes all their life. The message that [da] wu sheng shifu passes down to his disciples is to be real heroes in life."

“Nowadays, most people mistake desire for faith," continues the music producer-cum-director. "Desire is not faith or a dream. ‘I want a house’ is not faith.”

Gao summarizes da wu sheng’ beliefs as “using yourself to act as a hero on stage and using heroes to act as yourself in real life.”

This is also why he insists on using two real da wu sheng -- Yuen Biao and Yu Rongguang -- to open the movie.

“Even today, da wu sheng still have a glow of heroism. It’s very moving,” says the 41-year-old director.

Graceful kung fu

In addition to its overarching message, “My Kingdom” also takes on action choreography that has never before been tried.

Instead of traditional kung fu moves seen in just about every Hong Kong martial arts flick, "My Kingdom" audiences will see how kung fu-trained Peking opera singers use their skills on and off the stage.

This is also part of the reason that Sammo Hung, a da wu sheng action director, chose to work with “My Kingdom.” Over the 18-month prep period for the film, he created a new style of self-titled “graceful kung fu,” by combining traditional martial arts routines with Peking opera singers’ theatrical kung fu movements.

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“The movements of da wu sheng in the film's Peking opera are the result of progressive improvements by generations and generations of Peking opera masters," says Gao. "Combined with Hung’s 40 years of kung fu experience, the results are interesting, stunning and graceful.”

Andre Morgan, the veteran American producer of “My Kingdom,” also admits that one of the things that drew him to the project was how it portrays da wu sheng and traditional kung fu in a new light.

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Make movies that young people like

Andre Morgan has been working on film in Hong Kong since the 1970s, producing well-known movies such as “Enter the Dragon” and “Game of Death” with Bruce Lee, as well as “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Cannonball Run” and “Warlords.”

Morgan, like Gao, stresses that “My Kingdom” is not only a movie about Peking opera, nor is it simply a kung fu movie.

It is a “love story drama with action,” he says.

He believes the success of a movie lies in the hands of young audiences who are interested in entertainment, not cultural lessons.

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“The truth is, if young audiences in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and in overseas Chinese communities are going to keep going to the theater for Chinese movies, as opposed to Hollywood movies, then it’s important that we make Chinese movies that are relevant to those audiences, not just cultural movies,” says Morgan.

In the eyes of this Hollywood-based producer, the story of "My Kingdom," filled with love, lust, revenge and betrayal, is classic bait for young Chinese-speaking audiences around the world, not just within China's borders.

Additionally, Morgan sees the film as an update of traditional Peking opera, making it more entertaining to modern audiences.

“Beijing opera doesn't have to be boring, but somehow the films that have been made about Beijing opera are quite boring, especially for young audiences,” says Morgan.

"I certainly hope "My Kingdom" will give people in China another way of looking at Beijing opera, and another way of looking at Beijing opera performers -- they are not antiques."

We don’t find Beijing opera has to be boring, but somehow the films that have been made about Beijing opera are quite boring, especially for young audiences.-- Andre Morgan

Plot and box offices

When asked about the expected box offices returns for “My Kingdom,” Morgan is confident that the film will bring in between RMB 120 million and RMB 150 million (around US$20 million) from Chinese cinemas alone.

Although director Gao Xiaosong and producer Andre Morgan have talked much about the general goals of the film and their expectations for it, the plot details are still closely guarded secrets.

One plot clue that has leaked out comes from actress Barbie Hsu.

“The Peking opera industry has a rule: male and female singers cannot fall in love, especially if they’re a shifu and disciple. That’s why this is an immoral relationship,” says Hsu.

Although details are scarce, it's clear that Gao, Morgan and Hsu will be offering much more than a simple Peking opera storyline, with da wu shengs falling in love with the same opera singer who is in a relationship with her shifu, who later commits suicide. 

And that, it seems, is just the opening reel.