One of the leading figures of the Hong Kong New Wave, Yim Ho burst onto the Hong Kong film scene in 1984 with the critically acclaimed Homecoming. He has since directed award-winning films such as The Day the Sun Turned Cold and The Sun has Ears. His last movie, A West Lake Moment, was released in 2005.
Yim is working on the script of Nanjing Xmas: 1937, inspired by the late Chinese-American writer Iris Chang's famous book, The Rape of Nanking. He has secured financial commitments for the reported 200 million yuan (HK$226.57 million) budget.
What's happening with your Nanking project? It has been put on hold for now. The script has been approved by the mainland film bureau, but we need to find a better moment to launch this project because of the sensitivities attached to the subject matter. So I'm now working on a new project with Chris Lee, who was the producer of Jerry Maguire, As Good as It Gets and the latest Tom Cruise film, Valkyrie.
What is your collaboration with Chris Lee about?
The working title is None Shall Sleep: The True Story of Puccini. It explores three story lines: the life story of [Italian composer Giacomo] Puccini and the reasons behind his writing of the opera Turandot; the staging of Turandot; and an expansion of the Turandot story into a Chinese story. We've just completed the script. I've been working with a young American writer and now we're casting for the part of Puccini. It's quite hard, because it has to be someone of Italian heritage. We've made an offer to an A-list star but I can't say anything more for now. If all goes well, we'll start shooting in Italy and on the mainland around April and the film will be released in 2010.
Is it another big budget film?
I would say [its budget is] medium-sized. It's co-produced by Lee, my partner Richard Kwang and myself, and is co-financed by the mainland and the US.