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| courtesy of on.cc |
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| courtesy of mingpao.com |
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| courtesy of takungpao.com |
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, the film 1911 came to life. The film not only described key figure and Father of the Nation Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, Revolutionary martyrs Huang Xing and Xu Zonghan's romance gave the audience further understanding of love in a revolution. Jackie Chan and Li Bingbing played these historical figures for the first time and both admitted that they suffered. Bingbing had to shoot in the battle trenches that were made from coal pits and had her fill of sandstorm. Jackie Chan even said that the shoot made his urine turn black. He joked that if the shoot kept going he would have died from inhaling too much coal.
1911's three leads Jackie Chan, Li Bingbing and Winston Chao (Chiu Man Suen) earlier came to promote the film in Hong Kong. Li Bingbing in the film played female revolutionary martyr Xu Zonghan, a heroine at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Bingbing honestly said that she did not have much understanding of this character but knew that Xu back then was married to someone else. Later she fell in love with Huang Xing and developed her revolutionary career, she could be considered ahead of her time. Bingbing said, "Xu came from a wealthy family and was a lady. She spent her family's money on the women liberation movement, she was a new school heroine of the Xinhai Revolution!"
In history, Xu Zonghan participated in the Revolution as a nurse. Bingbing in the film did not need to play pretty. Most of the time she had no make up. On the other hand her battle trench scene was bitter beyond words. She said, "Although this time most were ensemble scenes, I had many scenes and suffered too!" She revealed that because they shot in a Shenyang coal pit, she had to wear a nurse hat in a two meter wide battle trench during an explosion scene. With all the shrapnel and the dust, the wind machine covered her entire body with coal. When she opened her mouth to breathe all she got was sand. However, her co-star Big Brother Jackie Chan in the film also had to be in the battle trench. Big Brother who has been through many fight scenes did not have an easy time either. He said, "I worked until my urine was black too. At the time if I kept going I would've died very soon, because all the coal would have turned into stones in the lung. In addition the location had a lot of dust and explosion everywhere!"
Big Brother admitted that this was the first time that he played a historical figure. He joked that playing a general was a lot of fun. "Under Huang Xing were all young men between the ages of 16 to 24, during the character I was in character too! Xu Zonghan was a widow and had to carry bullets to help out, these few were the people who brought an end to the Qing Dynasty!" Bingbing also said that the Huang Xing and Xu Zonghan romance was very romantic. She said, "Xu Zongha spent her life taking care of and supporting Huang Xing. She also took him to Hong Kong's Queen Mary Hospital to treat his finger, which told that this person aside from the Revolution also had humanity and real feelings." Jackie Chan revealed that to be even more in character, he thought about gaining weight to be closer to the real Huang Xing. He said, "During the shoot I only gained three pounds. I once planned to add a belly, but because later I would
have to work on CHINESE ZODIAC I didn't dare to."
In addition, Li Bingbing stressed that this film absolutely had the strength to break 200 million RMB at the Mainland box office. She said, "Now the times are changing. FOUNDING OF A REPUBLIC made several hundred million, so 1911 can make 200 million!" Big Brother also felt that this year happened to be the Xinhai Revolution's 100th anniversary, breaking the 200 million RMB box office in the Mainland should not be a big problem.
