Bale opens "Flowers of War" in Beijing
At 94 million (U.S.) dollars, it's China's most expensive movie ever made.
And the makers of "The Flowers of War" are pulling out all the stops for a coveted Academy Award.
The highly-anticipated movie sees one of Hollywood's biggest actors Christian Bale in the lead role.
He plays a mortician who gets caught up in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.
His job is to save a group of school girls from the clutches of the Japanese army.
"The Flowers of War" is also being billed as the first Chinese movie to star a major Western actor.
But Bale said that wasn't the selling point for him, director Zhang Yimou was.
SOUNDBITE: Lead Actor Christian Bale, saying (English):
"I didn't realise when I signed on to it that had not happened before. I don't feel like a pioneer, I just feel like an actor who liked Yimou and wanted to work with him" and it felt like it would be very interesting and something of an adventure."
The movie holds little back in its graphic depiction of the massacre, a story everyone in China knows well.
It's also heavy on the nationalism, something critics have said could further inflame negative sentiments of mainland Chinese audiences.
But Zhang dismissed that idea, saying the issue is much more complex than that.
SOUNDBITE: Film Director Zhang Yimou Saying (Mandarin):
"I don't believe that everyone who watches a movie would be so narrow-minded as to hate a particular people. I'd say that I don't believe Americans would hate Germans after having watched a movie - it's not that simple."
Zhang has already snagged Golden Lion and Golden Bear awards from the Venice and Berlin film festivals.
Now he's hoping to add Oscar gold to that collection.
"The Flowers of War" will hit Chinese screens on Friday (December 16) followed by a limited release in the United States next week.
Cindy Martin, Reuters
And the makers of "The Flowers of War" are pulling out all the stops for a coveted Academy Award.
The highly-anticipated movie sees one of Hollywood's biggest actors Christian Bale in the lead role.
He plays a mortician who gets caught up in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.
His job is to save a group of school girls from the clutches of the Japanese army.
"The Flowers of War" is also being billed as the first Chinese movie to star a major Western actor.
But Bale said that wasn't the selling point for him, director Zhang Yimou was.
SOUNDBITE: Lead Actor Christian Bale, saying (English):
"I didn't realise when I signed on to it that had not happened before. I don't feel like a pioneer, I just feel like an actor who liked Yimou and wanted to work with him" and it felt like it would be very interesting and something of an adventure."
The movie holds little back in its graphic depiction of the massacre, a story everyone in China knows well.
It's also heavy on the nationalism, something critics have said could further inflame negative sentiments of mainland Chinese audiences.
But Zhang dismissed that idea, saying the issue is much more complex than that.
SOUNDBITE: Film Director Zhang Yimou Saying (Mandarin):
"I don't believe that everyone who watches a movie would be so narrow-minded as to hate a particular people. I'd say that I don't believe Americans would hate Germans after having watched a movie - it's not that simple."
Zhang has already snagged Golden Lion and Golden Bear awards from the Venice and Berlin film festivals.
Now he's hoping to add Oscar gold to that collection.
"The Flowers of War" will hit Chinese screens on Friday (December 16) followed by a limited release in the United States next week.
Cindy Martin, Reuters