South China Morning Post

Mulan rides again

The legendary warrior maid is once again the focus of a fierce battle for supremacy, this time between four filmmakers...

by Winnie Chung
June 19, 2003

SHE WAS A soldier's daughter who grew up on a humble farm, more at home with the gentle clicks of her loom than the ugly clanging of sword against sword and the miserable cries of men felled in battle. Yet, when the time came, she disguised herself as a man and went off to war in her father's place, risking life and virtue for her family and her country.

So went the legendary tale of Mulan, a woman who for centuries had been - and continues to be - a source of inspiration for many Chinese. She has been the figure behind operas and films, not the least of which are the Shaw Brothers classic Lady General Hua Mulan (1964) and Walt Disney's 1998 animated feature Mulan.

And Mulan is again being resurrected, this time against the backdrop of a battle for supremacy between four cinema production groups. As US powerhouse Disney plans a sequel, Mulan II, for 2004, there are three versions in development in China, with release due in 2004 and 2005.

Budgeted at US$30 million (HK$234 million), Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng's Hua Mulan looks set to be the biggest of the three Chinese productions. The film, expected to go into production this winter, will reunite her with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon co-star Chow Yun-fat, with Oscar-winning cinematographer Peter Pau Tak-hei at the helm.

Stanley Tong Kwai-lai, Yeoh's director in Supercop, is planning the US$25 million The Legend Of Mulan, which he hopes to get into production some time next year, after he finishes directing another Jackie Chan actioner, Time Breaker (previously Titanium Rain).

The late starter out of the gate is Mulan, a mainland Chinese-Korean production budgeted at US$8 million which is expected to star My Sassy Girlfriend actress Jeon Ji-hyun and Taiwanese R&B singer Jay Chou Jie-lun or Jerry Yan, a member of Taiwanese boy band F4.

Producers for each project know of their rivals' existence and, while it is moot who first started on the project, all three are still determined to make it to the battleground.

"For country, for family - that will be the backbone of the story," says Thomas Chung Choi-sze who is co-producing Hua Mulan with Yeoh. "The challenge for anyone embarking on this journey is how to make the script more absorbing. Am I concerned (that there is more than one version)? No. I think the elements we have attached are enough to guarantee distribution."

Hua Mulan is written by Wang Huiling, who also wrote the script for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. "We wanted a prolific female writer in order to get the sensibility from a softer angle," Chung says.

Tong also sees no problems with having three versions of the story . "We are all looking for a Chinese topic that will have international appeal and there aren't that many. One of them is Emperor Qin, of whom many films have been done. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing because we'll all have different styles and be aiming at different markets," he says.

With names like Yeoh and Chow attached, Hua Mulan - likely to be shot in Putonghua - is certainly aimed at a worldwide release. Tong says his targets for The Legend Of Mulan are more modest: North America and parts of Europe, which is why he will be shooting in English.

Mulan - spearheaded by Shanghai-based SFS Digi-media - is evidently aimed at a younger Asian market with idols such as Jeon and Chou or Yan involved. "For us, the pairing of Jeon and Chou is the perfect combination for the Asian market," SFS Digi-media head Zhuo Wu said in a recent interview. "Naturally, we're hoping we can break into the North American market as well."

This tale of a legendary woman warrior has captured so much attention in recent years, thanks in part to Maxine Hong Kingston's mention of Mulan in her book The Woman Warrior: Memoirs Of A Girlhood Among Ghosts (1976) and Disney's animated version.

The original poem of Mulan was written by a woman named Tzu Yeh in the 5th century. Ironically, there is no historical evidence whether Mulan really existed or whether she was a product of Tzu's imagination - and wishful thinking.

The story of Mulan - which translates into "magnolia" in Chinese - was developed into a novel during the late Ming dynasty (AD 1368-1644) but it was not until much later, after a play by Xu Wei, that Mulan received her last name, Hua, which means "flower" in Chinese.

Generally, it is believed that if she did live at all, it was during the 5th century when China was threatened by the marauding Turks in the western regions. Here was a woman who embodied filial piety, loyalty, patriotism and a strong capacity to love. Often called the "Chinese Joan of Arc", the story of Mulan travels easily across racial and cultural boundaries - essential in these days when film financing and distribution is being handled on an increasingly international scale.

Those qualities were what drew Tong to the character about two years ago when he started work on the project. "What appealed to me was the idea of such a strong female character emerging during an era when men and women were on such unequal footing. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for her to be willing to sacrifice her life for her father," says Tong.

Tong has refused to say who his Mulan will be, although there have been strong rumours that Ally McBeal and Charlie's Angels star Lucy Liu will be signing on the dotted line.

Many versions portrayed Mulan as a bit of a tomboy, used to having her own way and yet maintaining her feminine values. For Chung, the reason for embarking on Hua Mulan was more personal. "It was during a discussion with Michelle (Yeoh) one day in December 2000 that it struck me how much her mannerisms and way of speaking were like Mulan. From there came the concept and now the project," he says.

But whatever the motivation, both Tong and Chung agree that having Disney's version pave the way is something that will help in the sales and distribution of their films.

"From a commercial aspect, Hua Mulan is certainly not a name that's hard to market any more because people all over the world know about her already," says Chung. "But it is definitely an epic topic with a Chinese essence that is worth capturing in live action. It should not just leave its legacy in an American animation."