More than half of the scenes featuring Hong Kong star Chow
Yun-fat in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's
End?have been cut for its Chinese mainland release on
June 12, including his recitation of a poem in Cantonese, Youth
Daily reported today.
Chow plays the role as Captain Sao Feng, a Singapore's pirate,
who saves Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the world of the
dead.
Chow's performance lasts for 20 to 30 minutes in the version
released around the world but in the domestic version, it has been
cut to at most 10 minutes.
In the Hollywood version, the captain recites a poem by Tang
dynasty poet Li Bai (701-762), the greatest of the romantic poets
of ancient China, in one scene in which he appears with co-star
Keira Knightly.
The poem Guan Shan Yue (The Moon Shining over the
Mountain on the Border) tells of the lonely life of an expat,
which accords with the mood of the captain who is wandering far
from his hometown.
Chow recites the poem in Cantonese while the words are seen in
English. The scene impressed the audience when the movie was shown
at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
But this scene was cut from the domestic version, a reporter
based in Beijing who saw the movie's media screening told the
newspaper.
Chow plays as a key figure in two scenes in the original
version.
The domestic version has cut the first one which reveals the
background of Captain Sao Feng.
The sudden debut of the captain confused the audience at the
Beijing screening. The captain is quickly killed and the loss of
the introduction weakens the role, the report said.
Another scene with huge Chinese constructions at the beginning
of the movie has also been cut.
China's film watchdog had said earlier that the cut scenes
involved too much violence and horror, the report said.
?
(
Shanghai Daily June 8, 2007)
