Weinstein Has High Hopes For ‘Shanghai’

It’s no secret that the Weinstein brothers Bob and Harvey
have lost a bit of their golden sheen following their divorce from the House of
Mouse, leaving behind their baby Miramax. With a string of critical and
commercial failures including Grindhouse, Factory Girl, Miss Potter, and the
like one has to question just how much solvency The Weinstein Company has in
the current cinema landscape. With new media and adventurous production models
coming to the fore, can an antiquated production house with an old-school
studio head find any traction? The brothers W are certainly trying… all that’s
missing is a signature picture that can represent the studio in the same way
Pulp Fiction or The English Patient did for their old shingle. With Shanghai they just may
have that movie.

Directed by Mikael Hafstrom (1408) and written by Oscar-nominee
Hossein Amini (The Wings of the Dove), Shanghai has been kicking around town
for the better part of 8 years, at one point with Johnny Depp set to star. The
film was developed by Phoenix Pictures‘ Mike Medevoy (Zodiac), himself born in Shanghai in 1941, as a
deeply personal project recounting the experiences of his youth during a time
of great unrest. Fashioned as a classical international intrigue yarn in the
vain of The Third Man and Casablanca, the picture tells the story of an American
expat (John Cusack) who returns to Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months prior
to the attack on Pearl Harbor to discover his his friend has been killed. While
investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding the incident, he falls
in love (of course) and stumbles upon a government-level conspiracy.

The project is truly an international effort with Asian
superstars Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) and Gong Li (2046) both playing
major roles. The $50 million film is financed through the much-publicized Asian
Fund setup by TWC, a $285 million kitty for the financing of Asian-themed
films over the next six years. Last month’s Jet Li/ Jackie Chan fantasy pic The
Forbidden Kingdom was the first film released through the fund.

The film ran into a bit of controversy earlier this year
when the Chinese government halted production weeks before lensing was set to
begin, with $3 dollars worth of sets scraped as a result. Avoiding any further delays,
the production swiftly moved to London and Thailand. A
December 28 release date has been tentatively announced in hopes to get it out
for the all-important awards season.