Despite the success of Chinese language films in the global market in the past few years, action star Jet Li's latest movie The Warlords would not be one that particularly caters to foreigners' taste, the director of the movie said on Wednesday.
"The film is not vying for a global market and will not be a typical Chinese film in foreigners' eyes," said director Peter Chan, adding that it would involve less "martial arts features" but more depiction of the characters.
Chan's comments on the film was echoed by Li, who said that the film mainly targeted the Chinese-language audience, and Europe and Northern American markets would come second.
The Warlords, a war epic based on a Qing Dynasty story, is due to release in Chinese mainland on December 13.
Nearly half of the $40 million budget for the movie went to the cast and Li is set to rake in 100 million yuan ($13 million) for the film, a record for an actor in a Chinese-language film, Chan said on an earlier occasion.
The film, also starring Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Beijing-based actress and director Xu Jinglei, is slated for release in North America next March.
Ang Lee's martial arts tale Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the Chinese films that won international acclaim in recent years. It featured sword-fighting and wire acrobatics.
Li, 44, a former national kung fu champion on the Chinese mainland, made his name in Hong Kong films in the 1990s with movies such as The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk series before moving on to Hollywood.
(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2007)
