Last year's bestseller in China, Wolf Totem, by Jiang Rong is to be made into a motion picture soon.
Internationally famed director Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings, has agreed to supervise the filming of Wolf Totem. The special effects crew of Lord of the Rings will be used for the Chinese film, which is looking to winning an Oscar.
The use of special effects will make this film the most expensive film in Chinese history, surpassing the film Hero by Chinese director Zhang Yimo.
Although there's no main female role in the original book, the film will put in a heroin role to make the film more attractive to international audience.
The book Wolf Totem, which has taken writer Jiang Rong's 30 years to complete, is an in-depth book describing how and why the Mongolian people in north China worship the wolf. It tells many stories of encounters between Mongolian herdsmen and wolves on the grasslands.
Still, audiences will have to be patient because the film will take three years to shoot and produce and is set to be released some time before the opening of the 2008 Olympics.
(CRI June 9, 2005)
