EVERYTHING about Cloud Atlas in China: With The Wachowskis, Tom Tykwer, Hugo Weaving, Zhou Xun, and guest appearance by Keanu Reeves
When beginning to write this article, I was a bit overwhelmed by the things I wanted to talk about. Some thoughts included: Cloud Atlas Beijing Premier, Andy Wachowski reveals lots of action in Jupiter Ascending, Interviews with Hugo Weaving, Watching V for Vendetta and loving the performances, Watching Run Lola Run, and China Cloud Atlas box office outperforms North American box office.
There were so many things on my mind that I couldn’t write anything. Then I remembered the words of Andy and Lana Wachowski during the Cloud Atlas promotion. They said don’t try to understand everything, just watch the movie and let it come to you. This is when I just started to write.
What is Cloud Atlas?
Cloud Atlas is a 2004 novel written by David Mitchell adapted and directed by Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, and Tom Tykwer into a film set across six different times in six different worlds, spanning six different generations and six different embodiments of everlasting souls.
On face it can sound like a complex movie and if you go into theaters with pre-conceived notions or a mindset to tackle every single plot point, then you will watch the movie feeling overwhelmed. Let go. Once you give up any attempt to work out the logical connections between the segments, stories and characters can you begin to enjoy the movie. And so I feel it is with life and with this article.
In attendance at the Beijing Premier for Cloud Atlas were Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Hugo Weaving, Zhou Xun, Zhu Zhu, and the American side and China side producers.
There were a few days worth of interviews. One of the central themes of discussion was around the difficulties and intricacies with having 6 different story lines and how each main actor played multiples roles. In fact each actor plays multiple roles that cross gender, time, and race. My response to the Cloud Atlas racism claims – is that after spending a few full days with the directors and cast the I can say with reasonable confidence that a central message of this film is a call to break barriers on race and gender– and not to entrench them. If all you see is an actor made to play an “Asian” character, and you are whining why an “authentic” Asian wasn’t cast in that role, then you are COMPLETELY missing the point. And it’s not because of poor direction that you are missing the point; you are missing the point because you are not opening your eyes.
The vibe and energy of the Wachowskis was that they truly wanted to make a new film; they wanted to push boundaries that had not been pushed; and they wanted to share a message they believed in. From the interviews they said that after Tom Hanks read the script he was so supportive of it that without waiting for the studios or funding, he proactively would just get on the plane and start making things happen – wether it be shooting or script discussions, etc.
Though the story telling was not a simple task, the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer chose to push forward despite funding difficulties and despite doubts because as they said in the interview — They wanted to make something different, unlike Skyfall where you knew what was going to happen. They didn’t go the commercial route — thus the international investment from so many countries — and thus making this the largest scale independent film ever.
Cloud Atlas China Box Office Surpasses US Box Office – and What This Means.
Cloud Atlas had taken in $26.8 million with a few days left in its run in China, nearing its overall North American total of $27.1 million. Since opening on Oct. 26, it has grossed $113 million worldwide, $86 million of that coming from foreign markets. Cloud Atlas opened to less than $10 million in the US.
What this means is exactly what you would think it means– more and more eyes will be looking towards the east. This essentially makes China the most lucrative movie market in the rest of the world. We will be seeing more and more co-productions and more movies geared toward Chinese audiences. The trend is only growing, but we will see more American and European actors playing roles in Chinese language films. There will no doubt be some interesting new forms of cooperation between filmmakers around the world and with China, but no doubt there will also be a learning curve on both ends. Most likely there will be less “psuedo” co-productions – which used to mean Hollywood movies would have 1 scene in China for a few days and then call it a co-production. The Chinese government is making it more and more difficult to qualify as an official co-production so there will need to be deeper story lines where the east is interwoven into the plot — and not merely an afterthought.
Quick blurb about Stephen Chow and the Wachowskis – As we were having some downtime in-between interviews, Stephen Chow’s people connected with the Cloud Atlas team so that Stephen Chow and the Wachowskis could meet up. They met up and got a chance to talk about their recent projects. They were very respectful and praised each other’s works, but the meeting was brief and they all had to continue to get back to work.
This meeting is an example of east meets west and a mutual desire to share with one another. Stephen Chow also recently directed and released his latest movie Journey to the West (2013), which has met with critical success in China.
A Day Full of Interviews with Hugo Weaving
As a bilingual Chinese-American working in Beijing I sometimes use my powers for good over evil. In this case, I translated for Hugo Weaving during his full day of interviews. My main remarks on Hugo’s personality is that despite playing some notable “villains”, his vibe is very gentle and compassionate. By the end of an entire day of translating, since so many interview questions were the same, he joked that I should pretty much just answer the questions before he even responds.
Here are some of the questions he was asked throughout the day.
Q: In “Cloud Atlas” all the actors in the movie play multiple roles, including different genders and different identities, what did it feel like for you playing all those roles?
Hugo Weaving: When we were filming V for Vendetta seven years ago, the Wachowski siblings and I both read the novel Cloud Atlas. [Actress Natalie Portman introduced them to it.] When I got the screenplay, I’d already read the original version twice, so I understood what the basic story was. For me, the most fun thing reading the script was that the story structure was completely new and original. The novel’s narrative style is somewhat like a Russian Doll, each story is half told chronologically, then the second halves in reverse-chronology. The screenplay tells the six stories all in one go as a mosaic. So I was fascinated by the structure of the film.
Q: In real life you’re a gentle man and a good person but in Wachowski movies, you are always cast as the bad guy. How do you feel about that?
Hugo Weaving: The character’s I play do not perceive themselves as pure villains, nor do I portray them deliberately as “the bad guys”; I like to play contradictory roles. For instance Agent Smith or the characters I play in Cloud Atlas. Many are agents against change invested in the maintenance of a system. They are fighting to keep things the way they are. On The Matrix, when I read the script, I found the character of Smith to be very funny; that character always made me laugh. The Wachowskis also thought Smith was very funny. So I guess they knew I could take on these sorts of roles because we’ve always seen things very much on the same level and of course we’re good friends in real life.
Q: Which role did you enjoy the most?
Hugo Weaving: I enjoyed each of them, but my favorite is the role of the old Georgie, who only exists in Tom Hanks’ character Zachry’s imagination. He’s a manifestation of his fear, and I really like to play this aspect of human imagination.
Q: What about Nurse Noakes?
Hugo Weaving: She’s the mean nurse in [the Timothy Cavendish plotline]; she’s simply a monster. I always wanted to laugh when playing her. Her character makeup was the most ambitious and challenging; it took four hours to apply. I had to get used to wearing the heavy costume. It wasn’t easy, but I really enjoyed the process.
The Wachowskis have a new film in the works – Jupiter Ascending.
When Andy and I were briefly talking about action and the Yuen-Wo Ping stunt team, he mentioned that there would be LOTS of ACTION in Jupiter Ascending.
Plot: In a universe where humans are near the bottom of the evolutionary ladder, a young destitute human woman is targeted for assassination by the Queen of the Universe because her very existence threatens to end the Queen’s reign.
Dinner and Guest Appearance feat. Keanu Reeves
At the end of the press tour we had a nice dinner and Keanu Reeves came by to support. He was also in town working on post-production for his latest China-US co-production Man of Tai Chi.
