9:10 am HKT May 30, 2014
One of China’s most prolific writers, blogger Han Han will soon put his directorial debut to the big screen.
“Hou Hui Wuqi (Never to Meet Again),” a movie about a cross-country road trip by a group of young people that Mr. Han started working on earlier this year, is expected to hit Chinese theaters on July 24. The film features a slate of popular actors from mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as an appearance by Chinese director Jia Zhangke.
Mr. Han, who Time magazine dubbed China’s literary bad boy, enjoys nearly 38 million followers on Weibo. His popularity helped the film’s trailer garner more than 1.5 million views in just five hours after it was released Thursday morning. The film has also ranked among the most trending topics on Weibo for the past two days.
Han Han poses during a Peugeot sport car promotional event in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Associated Press
“Directing a film was on my to-do list after I turned 30 years old,” the 31-year-old said at a media event in Beijing on Thursday. “Now I love making films.
Film poster Laurel Films/ Guomai Culture Media/Bona Film Group.
“This is a road comedy, but it is not that clamorous or that in-you-face,” he said. “I don’t like screaming in front of camera.”
Though vague on other details about the film, he hints that it will showcase his rebellious side, as he usually does on his blog and in his novel.
“My favorite line in the movie is ‘shut up,’ ” said Mr. Han, who is originally from Shanghai and is also an award-winning race car driver. “I dislike those ‘Chicken-Soup-for-the-Soul’ kind of things and I think we already have enough movies lecturing on life values. “
China’s box office has been swept by a number of young directors in the past two years, including Vicky Zhao’s “So Young” and Xu Zheng’s “Lost In Thailand.” The two installments of “Tiny Times,” a romantic-comedy by another well-known writer-turned-director, Guo Jinming, both ranked among last year’s highest-grossing films, though they have been controversial among film critics.
Mr. Han gave credit to the crop of young filmmakers for helping to pave his way to the screen. “I’m very grateful to all these young directors,” said Mr. Han, who also wrote his film’s script. “Because of their box-office miracle, I had more freedom regarding investment and expectations.”
Like all directors in China, Mr. Han must deal with China’s notoriously harsh censorship, but he remains optimistic.
“I hope that censorship can loosen up in the next few years,” Mr. Han told The Wall Street Journal. “We have been restricted by it for a very long time and I expect this issue will get better.”
From :http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/05/30/chinese-blogger-han-han-takes-his-writing-to-the-big-screen/