"Call of Heroes" director Benny Chan (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese director Benny Chan explains his inspiration for "Call of Heroes" in an interview prior to the official release of the epic martial arts movie on Friday.
Featuring superstars Sean Lau Ching-wan, Wu Jing, Louis Koo, and Eddie Peng, the "Call of Heroes" is set in 1914 after the end of the Qing dynasty, Asian Movie Pulse revealed.
The "Call of Heroes" follows the story of a group of villagers who proceed on a quest to administer justice and put an end to the tyrannical reign of a cruel young warlord.
Talking to China Daily, the film's helmer Benny Chan revealed where he got the inspiration for the epic film which showcases his love for martial arts.
"As a child, I always hid inside a blanket and used a flashlight (at night) to read martial arts books by Louis Cha," said Chan during a press conference held in Beijing recently.
The 55-year-old Hong Kong-based film director worked alongside Hong Kong action director Sammo Hung to create a film that would showcase how justice can be served despite apparent dangers in upholding it.
"The biggest crisis in that place is not the intrusion of a notorious criminal but the change of attitudes among the local people. They don't trust one another anymore, which shows the ugly side of humanity," Chan explains, referring to the conflict of the movie.
Because most of the villagers are not sure how to exact justice for the three people including one child that were slaughtered by the cruel warlord, the fate of the town is laid down in the hands of only a few people: a wandering swordsman portrayed by Peng, a local sheriff played by Lau, and a couple of others.
The film which had a budget of 200 million yuan or about $30 million was shot in a 20,000-square-meter area in Shaoxing located in the eastern province of Zhejiang where the "town" was built.
"It took the crew five months to build the sets. But we had to smash them as the story was developed in that way," Chan revealed.
