Epic film about Xiao Hong tested both the director and leading lady

Laughter fills the air when Hong Kong cinema doyen Ann Hui On-wah talks about her latest film, The Golden Era. It is as if, having completed the piece - scripting of which began "in 2007, the moment after The Post-Modern Life of My Aunt was finished" - a burden has been lifted from the veteran filmmaker's shoulders.

There is more laughter when she talks of having failed to find a Marlon Brando-like actor for her new period epic.

Another burst follows when she describes the drama's three leading cast members as "quite sexy", and more as Hui sees my reaction to news that The Golden Era is three hours long.

But all this joviality is in stark contrast to the film, which is based on Chinese literary figure Zhang Naiying, better known by her pen name Xiao Hong. Born in Manchuria - like Hui - in 1911, she led an itinerant, somewhat tragic, life until her death in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong in 1942.

"The film is based a lot on Xiao Hong's own writings. Almost all of Xiao Hong's life is covered in her novels - one is about her childhood, and one is about her life with her first lover," says Hui.

"Then there's another one - a short story - about her friendship with her mentor, Lu Xun. Some of the film's story is based on her letters and those of her friends, mostly writers who told stories about different episodes of her life."