Tiger-Mountain.jpg (Photo : Wikimedia)
"The Taking of Tiger Mountain," an upcoming war and action film in 3D directed by Tsui Hark based on the popular novel "Tracks in the Snowy Forest" by Qu Bo written in 1957, will debut in China's theaters on Dec. 24, 2014.
Qu Bo's "Tracks in the Snow," a thriller tale about a small group of selected soldiers who went into the snowy mountains searching and fighting dangerous hidden bandits and brigands, has already been translated into English, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Norwegian and Arabic.
About 1,560,000 copies of the bestseller have been printed during between 1957 and 1964 in three editions. A Beijing opera version of the book has also been a hit during the 1970s.
Tsui Hark's film adaptation of Qu Bo's novel about a real-life event tells the story of a communist soldier who went deep undercover among a gang of remote bandits in order to take them down from within.
Produced by Huang Jianxin, "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" will be distributed by the Bona Film Group. The film stars Zhang Han Yu, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Lin Gengxin, Han Geng, Tony Liya, Yu Nan, and Chen Xiao.
Director Tsui Hark, producer Huang Jianxin, with stars Zhang Han Yu and Tony Leung Ka-fai were at a press conference in Beijing on Nov. 25 to promote their upcoming 3D epic, Xinhua reported.
Bona Film Group released the first teaser trailer for the film in August which can be accessed on Youtube and other video-hosting sites.
Tsui Hark is recognized for his work on such hit films like "A Better Tomorrow," "A Chinese Ghost Story," "Once Upon a Time in China," "Seven Swords," "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" and "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate."
In Oct. 2011, the Vietnam-born director received the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award at the 16th Busan International Film Festival for his contributions to Hong Kong cinema.
In an interview with Beyond Hollywood, Tsui Hark described "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" as a movie "based on a novel written in the '50s about a troop of 36 people fighting with 20 thousand bandits in an unfathomable depth of snowy mountains in northern China."
