Legendary Amazons (AKA Lady Generals of the Yang Family) directed by Frankie Chan and produced by Jackie Chan has released a series of stills and a poster.
Showing posts with label Lady Generals of the Yang Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lady Generals of the Yang Family. Show all posts
1
The movie is produced by Jackie.
SOURCE: CHINESEFILMS.CN
First Stills Released for Generals of the Yang Family
Frankie Chan-directed historical film, "The Lady Generals of the Yang Family" released several photo stills featuring Chen Zihan. In the film, she portrays a female general alongside Pei-pei Cheng, Liu Xiaoqing, Cecilia Cheung, Jin Qiaoqiao, Yukari Oshima, Kathy Chow and Yu Na
The movie is produced by Jackie.
SOURCE: CHINESEFILMS.CN
0
SOURCE: WU-JING.ORG
Lady Warriors/Generals of Yang Family Press Conference
Press conference for 《杨门女将之军令如山》 Lady Warriors/Generals of Yang Family: Military Order Stands Absolute was held on October 28. Produced by Jackie Chan and directed by Frankie Chan, the film stars Cheng Pei Pei, Liu Xiao Qing, Cecilia Chueng, Liu Dong, Richie Ren, Yu Na, Jin Qiao Qiao, Chen Zi Han, Zhao Qian Yu, Sheng Jun, etc.
Director Frankie Chan announces that Cheng Pei Pei is playing Lady She, Liu Xiao Qing is playing Princess Chai, while Cecilia Cheung, who reportedly pockets 10 to 15m yuan, plays Mu Gui Ting, "Mu Fui Ying resembles her character very much, Mu Gui Ying was a brigand, after marrrying Yang Zong Bao (Richie Ren), becoming part of the Yang Family, she fulfils her duty as a wife, and raises her son. Be it strength or beauty, they must be handled just right.
"She was very earnest during the fitting session 2 days ago, she had to put on the armour, ride a horse and carry a spear, I was afraid that she would find it very heavy, but she told me it's lighter than her kids, and she had been doing dumbell lifting too. "
Cecilia Cheung, who apart from carrying her kids, has been lifting dumbells at home, says, "This is my first period film since my comeback, brother Jackie Chan who is producing, gave me a lot of encouragements. I also like this character very much, for in real life, I'm one who dares to display my feelings, whether it is love and hate, and I also have great maternal instincts, I hope to inject modern feel into this lady from the past. Modern day women not only cook at home, but can be valiant too, I want to let my sons' generation see the brave side of girls."
Frankie Chan reveals that it took him as long as 10 years to prepare the script, which is based on 12 Widows' Expedition to the West from Yang Family Generals, and the cast were painstakingly picked. The budget is 100m yuan, and apart from building the Asia's biggest soundstage in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, it will recreate battlefields on a 1:1 scale. And also he has been training the cast, made up of a number of newcomers, like Liu Dong, to prepare for this film.
Jackie Chan, who turns up specially to lend his support, says that he likes the script very much, "Initially, Frankie Chan wanted me to play Yang Zong Bao, Jaycee Fong to play my son Yang Wen Guang, but I turned him down, because I don't like playing opposite my own son, but I didn't want to give up the script, because Lin Feng-Jiao shed tears when reading the script, so I agreed to be the executive producer."
Frankie Chan divulges that Jackie Chan had been clamouring to play Lady She if he couldn't find a suitable actress. Jackie Chan smiles, "I felt that Lady She requires someone with weight, and if I cross-dressed, it would be a big surprise to everyone. As an actor, I would like to try out different roles. But, eventually the director found Cheng Pei Pei, I have no objection at all to her playing this role."
Lady Warriors of Yang Family will commence production officially in Hengdian on November 6, and would subsequently move location to Ordos. Shooting would take around three months.
Plot
During the Song Dynasty, Renzong's reign: Emperor Renzong leads of life a debauchery, neglecting the court. Evil and corrupt mandarins prevail, while wars erupt constantly at the outskirts, people are living in turmoils. Xixia, with is very mighty military forces, is invading Central Plains, intending to conquer Song.
With all Yang generals dead, only Yang Zong Bao remains stationed at the pass, but the corrupt grand vizier Pang, would not send aids and reinforcements to the borders, resulting in Yang Zong Bao losing his life eventually. It's now up to Yang Zong Bao's wife, Mu Gui Ying, the former brigand, to take up the onus of defending the land by leading the Yang widows to the West...
SOURCE: WU-JING.ORG
0
Background Information on Yang Family Movie
I thought this was very interesting information on the historical background to the movie Jackie is producing (Directed by Frankie Chan)
SOURCE: WOMEN OF CHINA
Mu Guiying: Chinese Woman Warrior
(This is the role played by Cecilia Cheung)
“Her swinging sword flashes like nine falling suns shot by Yet the legendary bowman; she moves with the force of a team of Dragons driven by the gods through the sky; her strokes and attacks are like those of terrible thunder; and when she stops all is still as water reflecting the clear moonlight.”
— Tu Fu, “Viewing a Student of Madame Kung Sun”
The army of the Song dynasty was in the heat of a seesaw battle with the invading armies of a militant nomad state - the Great Liao from China's north. The Great Liao recruited a Song army advisor, Lu Zhong who knew how to deploy what he claimed to be an invincible battle array: the Heavenly Gate of Seventy-Two Moves, or simply the Array of Heavenly Gate ("Tianmen Zhen" in Chinese), and challenged the Song army to defeat it within a hundred days. Otherwise, they had to surrender their recently unified motherland to the Great Liao. In the Song army, there was a family of generals named Yang, who fought hard and victoriously in many a battle against the invading enemy. However, they were either sabotaged by the capitulation wing of the Song Court or distrusted by the Song Emperor. Eventually, the Yang army was defeated by the Liao with tremendous losses: all but three of the eight brother generals perished. One of the survived quit fighting and became a monk; another was captured by the enemy and became the Liao's first son-in-law. Yang Yanzhao was the only survivor who became the Commander-in-Chief. Except for the couple's very young sons, the positions of the generals missing in action were now filled by all the women of the family: Yanzhao's mother, his wife, his two sisters, and three of his brothers' widows. Together, they are known to the Chinese as the "Women Generals of the Yang Family.
They fought courageously and ferociously, but still failed to break the Seventy-Two Moves. As the hundredth day deadline was drawing near, an advisor remembered and recommended Mu Guiying, a young and beautiful greenwood chieftain in the nearby mountains, whose father had been a friend of the Great Liao's army advisor, Lu Zhong, and had been the only person on earth who knew how to break the Seventy-Two Moves formation. With her father's death, she became the only person who knew that secret. Her talent and skills soon made their due impression on friends and foes in her first battle. For the first time, the Song army had made a break-through against the formidable Seventy-Two Moves! The Commander-in-Chief thus decided to entrust his authority to Guiying.
Mu Guiying assumed the command without hesitation. Like a veteran general, she was composed and confident, calling the muster roll of officers and assigning them to different tasks. She taught and then ordered them to break the different moves of the formation one by one by the counter measures she knew. She did not forget to send a surprise detachment to cut off the enemy’s supply line by burning all their food and fodder to ashes. Lack of fodder, the Liao cavalry, the major component of their army, would be rendered useless. Without food, an army of tens of thousands strong could not sustain a protracted war out of its base. As for the base, the City of Youzhou lost to the Great Liao in a previous battle, she ordered a third army to recapture it and thereby ridding the Liao of its bridgehead to invade Song.
Then the Song army engaged the enemy in the final battle and won. Guiying, with her talent and gallantry, also won the hearts of her elders and her peers. Upon their triumphant return, the emperor greeted Guiying as well as the courageous men and women of the Yang Family in person, and conferred titles they well deserved. His majesty also gave Zongbao and Guiying a grand wedding.
The story has been told and retold in fictions and operas alike and known to the Chinese old and young. Of the many episodes the most popular have been “Mu Guiying Assuming Command” and “Yanzhao to Execute His Son.”
SOURCE: WOMEN OF CHINA
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
