After Gordon Chan Ka-Seung went through two funny comedies, "Undercover Hidden Dragon" (2006) (co-directed by Dante Lam Chiu Yin) and "Mr. 3 Minutes" (2006), as well as "A-1 Headline" (2004) co-directed with Chung Kai-Cheung, he finally felt proud and elated with "Painted Skin" in 2008. The film was released in Mainland China, in the first six days, there more than 100 million yuan at the box office, making Gordon Chan join Zhang Yimou, Peter Chan Ho-Sun and Feng Xiaogang to enter the 100 million yuan director club in Mainland China, and Hong Kong directors added another seat. Although the film performed well at the box office in Mainland China, the film was not actually made very well. This may be related to the adaptation of classical Chinese novel "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" and the appeal of horror themes, plus the charm of the two actresses Zhou Xun and Zhao Wei. It's related to the promotion of big production style.
In order to "cooperate" with the approval requirements of Mainland China, the film turns the ghost in the original book into a demon. Therefore, Xiao Wei (played by Zhou Xun) is a fox demon with a human skin shell and thousands of years of practice, relying on eating human's hearts to maintain magic power. As for the character Wang Sheng played by Chen Kun also changed from a scholar to a general, in order to match the action elements of the film. Gordon Chan even recruited Donnie Yen Ji-Dan to play the former general Pang Yong with high martial arts, in order to make the film have horror, action, romance and other elements to meet the different requirements of the audience.
Gordon Chan recruited Abe Kwong Man-Wai from "Visible Secret" (2001) (directed by Ann Hui On-Wah) to write the screenplay for "Painted Skin". He used his usual style of describing human feelings through ghosts to write demons. Xiao Wei finally saved his beloved Wang Sheng and died because of her, played by Zhao Wei, the general's wife Pei Rong and Pang Yong didn't hesitate to sacrifice thousands of years of cultivation, and "Painted Skin" is a breakthrough in the pattern of the opposition between good and evil in the human world and demons. Although the film has a big production pattern, Gordon Chan lived up to his trust and succeeded in taking the position.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)
In order to "cooperate" with the approval requirements of Mainland China, the film turns the ghost in the original book into a demon. Therefore, Xiao Wei (played by Zhou Xun) is a fox demon with a human skin shell and thousands of years of practice, relying on eating human's hearts to maintain magic power. As for the character Wang Sheng played by Chen Kun also changed from a scholar to a general, in order to match the action elements of the film. Gordon Chan even recruited Donnie Yen Ji-Dan to play the former general Pang Yong with high martial arts, in order to make the film have horror, action, romance and other elements to meet the different requirements of the audience.
Gordon Chan recruited Abe Kwong Man-Wai from "Visible Secret" (2001) (directed by Ann Hui On-Wah) to write the screenplay for "Painted Skin". He used his usual style of describing human feelings through ghosts to write demons. Xiao Wei finally saved his beloved Wang Sheng and died because of her, played by Zhao Wei, the general's wife Pei Rong and Pang Yong didn't hesitate to sacrifice thousands of years of cultivation, and "Painted Skin" is a breakthrough in the pattern of the opposition between good and evil in the human world and demons. Although the film has a big production pattern, Gordon Chan lived up to his trust and succeeded in taking the position.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)