Will Wong Kar-wai’s first TV series Blossoms Shanghai go ahead? What to know about the Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love director’s latest project after the death of Amazon’s Tong Wars

Jan 4 , 2021

Chinese actor Hu Ge has been cast as the leading man in Wong Kar-wai’s upcoming TV drama Blossoms Shanghai. Photo: Getty Images

With Covid-19 putting the film Blossoms, also drawn from Jin Yucheng’s novel, on hold, the Hong Kong director has made half the films of Hollywood’s Martin Scorsese or David Fincher in 20 years

Wong Kar-wai’s projects rarely have an easy genesis. The Hong Kong director’s idiosyncratic style of filmmaking means he has only completed three films in the last 20 years – successful Hollywood directors like Martin Scorsese and David Fincher have made more than double that number in the same time.

Wong’s filmography is littered with discarded storylines. Famous actors signed on for big roles only to end up with brief cameos in the final cut – remember how Tony Leung Chiu-wai only appears in the end credits for Days of Being Wild? Just about the only film that Wong has made quickly was his mid-90s hit Chungking Express , and even that only came about because Wong needed a break from the difficult editing of his wuxia tale Ashes of Time.

And so it is with his latest project, Blossoms Shanghai. Here’s what you need to know about the maestro’s latest chequered production.

Blossoms Shanghai is not Blossoms

First off, Blossoms Shanghai is a TV series – it is not the film Wong had planned under the name Blossoms. The latter has been put on hold due to the pandemic but has not been cancelled. Both works are influenced, however, by the same source – author Jin Yucheng’s award-winning novel Blossoms.

The series is set in 1990s Shanghai

That doesn’t mean that both productions will be the same, though. Set in Shanghai, Jin’s novel focused on two separate time periods – one from the 1960s through to the 1970s and the Cultural Revolution, the other from the 1980s into the 21st century. Wong’s two works will be set in different periods. The TV show is reportedly set in the 1990s, the film in the 1960s.

Wong’s previous TV series pitch has been cancelled

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