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Matt Glasby

There is a telling scene halfway through Rian Johnson’s 2012 time-travel thriller, Looper. Assassin Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) tells his boss, Abe (Jeff Daniels), that he is saving his pay so he can one day run off to France. But Abe is having none of it. “I’m from the future,” he barks. “You should go to China.”
Frankly, this exchange could have come straight from a script meeting. Thanks to some similarly forthright financial advice, Looper became one of the first major Hollywood films to be granted Chinese co-production status, opening up all kinds of fiscal possibilities for itself and other movies.
But it almost didn’t happen at all.
The film is set in the year 2044, where Joe works as a “looper” – a gangland executioner whose victims are sent back from the future. One day he is sent a future version of himself (Bruce Willis) to kill – a process known as “closing the loop”. A 30-year montage then shows Young Joe following Abe’s advice.


He moves to Shanghai, gradually morphs into Old Joe and marries a local woman (Summer Qing). She is killed by gangsters, he is sent back to be killed by Young Joe, but this time he escapes, setting off a Terminator-style change-the-past/save-the-future narrative that is much easier to sit through than it is to explain.
What’s most remarkable is not that the idea that Gordon-Levitt could ever turn into Willis, but that, to begin with, the script made no mention of China at all.
Warcraft the most successful video game adaptation ever thanks to China
“Originally, that whole sequence was going to be set in Paris and she [Joe’s wife] was gonna be French,” Johnson told We Got This Covered. “It was when DMG Entertainment, our Chinese distributor, said we can actually bring you to Shanghai to shoot this that we set it there instead, and I was so relieved because we were looking at having to fake Paris in New Orleans.”
Former DMG president Chris Fenton put it even more bluntly in his book Feeding the Dragon. “The original script had no China relevancy whatsoever in the film. Absolutely none. No Chinese characters, no Chinese locations, no Chinese references, no Chinese anything …
“With great persistence, we eventually convinced the filmmakers to change every one of Looper’s plot points involving France to China … And in the process, we also brought China into the financing, development, production, marketing, and distribution of the film.”

Although co-production status brought all kinds of financial benefits, and Shanghai is perfectly cast as a city of the future, the move caused as many problems as it solved.
With two divergent leading men, multiple timelines, and a third act devoted to new characters Sara (Emily Blunt) and her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon), Looper already feels overstuffed with ideas, not all of them new. So it’s no wonder a lot of superfluous scenes, including those shot in China, had to be cut.
Rather than risking angering its paymaster, DMG suggested a then-unprecedented move: they would release two versions – one with the Chinese scenes intact, for a Chinese audience; the other running shorter and leaner for the American market.

“I didn’t see any harm in it,” said Johnson. “But the American cut is, in my mind, the stronger one.”
Fenton saw it slightly differently. “Making money in one of the largest film markets was the initial and most prioritised goal,” he wrote. “That was all anyone cared about. No one in Looper’s village really gave a s*** about China. And for sure, deep down, China couldn’t really give a s*** about us. Diplomatic altruism was simply a beneficial shrapnel of capitalism.”
The irony is that such a mercenary move opened up a whole new market for Hollywood, although no co-productions as impressive as Looper have yet emerged. Perhaps future filmmakers should take heed of Abe’s advice too. As he tells Joe: “The movies you’re dressing like were copying other movies. Goddamn 20th-century affectations, do something new! Be new!”

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American cinema

How 2012 time-travel thriller Looper rewrote the future of Chinese-American co-productions

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a still from Looper.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a scene from Looper. The movie was one of the first major Hollywood films to be granted Chinese co-production status.

Summer Qing (left) and Bruce Willis in a still from Looper.

Emily Blunt in a still from Looper.

Director Rian Johnson (left) speaks to Gordon-Levitt on the set of Looper.

Simu Liu on being Marvel’s first Asian superhero in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and how it can build a bridge between cultures

“In my entire life, I’d wondered why there were no superheroes out there that looked like me,” Simu Liu says. Photo: Marvel Studios.

Simu Liu arrives at the premiere of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, the US. Photo: AP

Liu in a scene from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Photo: Marvel Studios

(From left) Tony Leung, Meng’er Zhang, Simu Liu and Awkwafina in a still from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Photo: Marvel Studios

Awkwafina (left) and Liu in a still from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Photo: Marvel Studios

(From left) Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Liu, Sandra Oh and director Destin Daniel Cretton on the red carpet for the premiere of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, in London. Photo: AP

Awkwafina (left) and Liu in a scene from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Photo: Marvel Studios

Liu in a still from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Photo: Marvel Studios

Keanu Reeves’ martial arts movie Man of Tai Chi marked a high point for China-US co-productions – yet bombed at the box office

Keanu Reeves in a still from Man of Tai Chi (2013).

Tiger Chen stars in Man of Tai Chi, a 2013 film directed by Keanu Reeves.

Tiger Chen (right) and Yu Hai in a still from Man of Tai Chi.

Keanu Reeves in a still from Man of Tai Chi.

Zhang Yimou’s fantasy movie The Great Wall with Matt Damon – a great fail for the China-US co-production model

Matt Damon in a still from The Great Wall.

Director Zhang Yimou (centre) and his main cast members on the set of The Great Wall.

Andy Lau in a still from The Great Wall.

Matt Damon in a scene from The Great Wall. The most expensive film ever shot on Chinese soil, it lost US$75 million worldwide.

How giant shark movie The Meg, starring Li Bingbing and Jason Statham, became the highest grossing China-US co-production in history

Li Bingbing and Jason Statham in a scene from The Meg (2018).

Li Bingbing and Ruby Rose in a still from The Meg.

Rain Wilson and Winston Chow in a still from The Meg.

Li Bingbing (third, left) and Jason Statham (centre) lead an international cast in The Meg (2018). Despite negative reviews, the film made US$530 million worldwide to be the highest-grossing Chinese-American co-production of all time.

How legendary Hong Kong action film director Ringo Lam broke into Hollywood but reserved his best for home

Film director Ringo Lam in 1999. Photo: SCMP.

Chow Yun-fat (left) and Danny Lee in a still from City on Fire, Ringo Lam's classic 1987 film.

Jean-Claude Van Damme in a still from Replicant (2001), directed by Ringo Lam.

(From left) Louis Koo, Shawn Yue and Tong Liya in a still from Wild City (2015).

Filmmaker Ringo Lam in 1990. Photo: SCMP.

Hong Kong film director Ringo Lam in 2016. Photo: Edmond So

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Arts

Culture

Film & TV

East meets West

How Chinese movie fans made Warcraft the most successful video game adaptation of all time

A still from Warcraft: The Beginning (2016).

A still from Warcraft: The Beginning (2016). Despite flopping badly in the US, the film made a massive US$156 million in its first five days on release in China.

Travis Fimmel (left) in a scene from Warcraft: The Beginning.

Fimmel (left) and director Duncan Jones on the set of Warcraft: The Beginning.

A still from Warcraft: The Beginning.

US-China co-production Transformers: Age of Extinction, with its Hong Kong scenes and Chinese character, made more money in China than in the US

Mark Wahlberg in a still fromTransformers: Age of Extinction.  

Optimus Prime and a Dinobot in a still from Transformers: Age of Extinction. The fourth instalment in the Transformers series took more money at the Chinese box office than in the US.

 Mark Wahlberg at the world premiere of Transformers: Age of Extinction, at the Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, in 2014. Photo: Felix Wong

Stanley Tucci and Li Bingbing in a still from Transformers: Age of Extinction.

A model of the Transformers character Bumblebee in front of Qianmen Gate in central Beijing in 2014. Photo: Jason Lee/Reuters

Why China – not Jackie Chan, nor even Jaden Smith – is the real star of 2010 co-production The Karate Kid

Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith in a still from The Karate Kid (2010).

Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, co-stars of The Karate Kid. The real star of the 2010 co-production is arguably China, where the film was shot in locations including the Forbidden City, Great Wall and Wudang mountains. Photo: AP

Jaden Smith in a still from The Karate Kid.

Jackie Chan as Mr. Han and Jaden Smith as Dre Parker in a still from The Karate Kid.

How Marvel’s Iron Man 3 tried but failed to please Chinese viewers, from Fan Bingbing’s pointless cameo to brazen product placement

Robert Downey Jr. in a still from Marvel’s Iron Man 3 (2013). A special cut of the movie made for Chinese audiences included four minutes of extra footage. 

Ben Kingsley plays a version of The Mandarin in Iron Man 3.

Fan Bingbing in a still from the Chinese version of Iron Man 3.

Performers at a promotional event before the release of Iron Man 3 in China. Photo: Reuters

Why Jackie Chan’s 2017 movie The Foreigner, a UK-China co-production, was that rare project to offer the best of both worlds

Jackie Chan in a still from The Foreigner. Photo: Christopher Raphael

Jackie Chan and Rory Fleck Byrne in a still from The Foreigner, directed by Martin Campbell. Photo: Christopher Raphael

Jackie Chan and Katie Leung in a still from The Foreigner. Photo: Christopher Raphael

Pierce Brosnan in a still from The Foreigner.

Jackie Chan (centre) at the China premiere screening of The Foreigner.

How The Last Emperor opened doors for more China co-productions and offered a balanced view of its complicated past

Tao Wu and Joan Chen in a still from The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

John Lone as Puyi in a scene from Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987). The film opened doors for future co-productions with China.

A still from The Last Emperor.

Film director Bernardo Bertolucci (right) in Beijing, in 1985, with The Last Emperor adviser Pujie, brother of Puyi, the last emperor of China’s Qing dynasty.

How Furious 7 left the competition behind in China, unlike most China-US co-productions

Paul Walker in a scene from Furious 7. When the China-US co-production was released in China in 2015, it broke just about every record going.

A still from Furious 7.

Director James Wan and Vin Diesel on the set of Furious 7.

How 2012 movie The Expendables 2 short-changed Chinese viewers and everyone else, too – but still made US$315 million

Sylvester Stallone in a still from The Expendables 2.

(From left:) Yu Nan, Terry Crews, Sylvester Stallone, Randy Couture and Dolph Lundgren in a still from The Expendables 2.

Jet Li in a still from The Expendables 2.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a still from The Expendables 2.

Sylvester Stallone (left) and Yu Nan in a still from The Expendables 2.

How US-China co-production The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), co-starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, buried a billion-dollar franchise

Jet Li in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Jet Li as the vicious Han Emperor in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).

Maria Bello (left) and Brendan Fraser in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Luke Ford (left) and Isabella Leong in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Michelle Yeoh in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Despite starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, The Forbidden Kingdom, a US-China co-production, ended up as ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for kids’

Jet Li (left) and Jackie Chan in a still from The Forbidden Kingdom. Photo: Online


From left: Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano and Liu Yifei in a still from The Forbidden Kingdom (2008). Photo: SCMPost

Jet Li (left) and Jackie Chan in a still from The Forbidden Kingdom. Photo: Online

Jet Li (left) and Jackie Chan arrive for the world premiere of The Forbidden Kingdom in Beijing, China in 2008. Photo: AP

Jet Li and Liu Yifei in a still from The Forbidden Kingdom (2008).

Steven Spielberg’s China-set Empire of the Sun – the first American film to be shot in Shanghai since the 1940s – forgot one important element: the Chinese

Christian Bale (left) in a still from Empire of the Sun.

Christian Bale in a still from Empire of the Sun.

The crowded streets of Shanghai in a still from Empire of the Sun. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

A still from Empire of the Sun.

How The Dark Knight’s makers tried in vain to court China by shooting scenes for Christopher Nolan’s superhero masterpiece in Hong Kong

The Dark Night was partly filmed in Hong Kong.

Batman swoops over Hong Kong’s Central district in a scene from The Dark Knight, which failed to impress China despite its makers’ intentions. Photo: Warner Brothers

Christopher Nolan (right) on the set of The Dark Knight in Hong Kong.

Crowds mob Christian Bale during shooting in Hong Kong in 2007. Photo: SCMP

 Chin Han plays corrupt businessman Lau (right), with Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, in a still from The Dark Knight (2008).

Bad guys changed from Chinese to North Korean in Red Dawn remake at the height of Hollywood appeasing China in 2012 – but it still flopped

Chris Hemsworth in a still from Red Dawn (2012).

(From left) Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson and Chris Hemsworth in a still from Red Dawn. Photo: Ron Phillips/2009 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

‘North Korea’ in a still from Red Dawn.

Chris Hemsworth and cast in a still from Red Dawn.

Will Yun Lee in a still from Red Dawn.

Did China ruin actor Richard Gere’s career after 1997 film Red Corner?

FOR USE WITH FEATURE PACKAGE FOR SUNDAY NOV. 2 --Chinese actress Bai Ling begs Richard Gere not to run in a scene from the movie “Red Corner,” being released Friday, Oct. 31.  “Red Corner,” an account of an American executive framed for murder and railroaded by the Chinese judicial system, is one of five films being released that deal with Chinese oppression.  The fresh batch of China-related films is motivated by genuine concern about international human rights and the film business’ unique position to advocate for change. (AP Photo/Richard Foreman Jr., HO)

Richard Gere in the 1997 film Red Corner, which was highly critical of China. Photo: UPPA

Bai Ling (centre) in a still from Red Corner. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

Richard Gere in a still from Red Corner. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

Richard Gere (centre) and Bai Ling (right) in a still from Red Corner. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

Is Dwayne Johnson action movie Skyscraper a blueprint for US-China co-production despite being a box-office flop in America?

Dwayne Johnson attends a Skyscraper press conference in Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

Dwayne Johnson (left) and Chin Han in a still from Skyscraper, a film which courted the Chinese market it wanted to break into with respect. 

Neve Campbell (left) and Dwayne Johnson in a still from Skyscraper.

Johnson with Chin Han (left) and Campbell (right) at the Skyscraper press conference in West Kowloon, Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

Dwayne Johnson in a still from Skyscraper.

Why this dragon didn’t roar: starring Sam Neill, first Chinese-Australian film co-production The Dragon Pearl was a flop

Sam Neill in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

A still from The Dragon Pearl (2011). In order to appease China and get approval for the film, the character of the dragon was changed and the script rewritten weeks before filming began. 

Li Linjin as Ling (left) and Jordan Chan as Wu Dong in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Sam Neill as Chris Chase (left) and Robert Mammone as Philip Dukas in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Louis Corbett and Li Linjin in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Why Milla Jovovich movie Ultraviolet, a US film shot in China, went so horribly wrong

Milla Jovovich in a still from the 2006 movie Ultraviolet, a US-China co-production that rips off sci-fi standards such as Total Recall, The Matrix and Minority Report.

Milla Jovovich (left) and Cameron Bright in a still from Ultraviolet.

Milla Jovovich in a still from Ultraviolet.

(From left) Ultraviolet director Kurt Wimmer, Charles Wang of producer Salon Films, and John Tsang, then Hong Kong secretary of commerce, industry and technology, in 2004. Photo: SCMP

Why Brad Pitt was banned from China after 1997 movie Seven Years in Tibet

Brad Pitt as mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in a still from Seven Years in Tibet (1997), directed by Jean-Jacque Annaud. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo.

Brad Pitt in a still from Seven Years in Tibet (1997), directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Seven Years in Tibet director Jean-Jacques Annaud (left) and star Brad Pitt (centre), and members of the Tibetan Association of Southern California, at the film’s premiere in Los Angeles on October 6, 1997. Photo: Reuters

Brad Pitt (right) as Heinrich Harrer receives a blessing from Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk as the Dalai Lama in a still from Seven Years in Tibet. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo

Brad Pitt (left) as Heinrich Harrer and David Thewlis as fellow Austrian mountaineer Peter Aufschnaiter in a still from Seven Years in Tibet. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo

Brad Pitt poses for a selfie with Chinese fans as he arrives at a premiere of the film Allied in Shanghai, China on November 14, 2016. Photo: AP

Was Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, a US-Mexico co-production set in Hong Kong, really a show of Hollywood power?

A still from a scene in Hong Kong in Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim”. The film, inspired by Godzilla movies, was criticised by some in China for its geopolitical undertones, but the director argued that it was simply popcorn entertainment. Photo: Warner Bros

Charlie Hunnam (left) and Rinko Kikuchi in a still from “Pacific Rim”. Photo: Warner Bros

A still from “Pacific Rim”. Photo: Warner Bros

Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro signs posters from “Pacific Rim” in Los Angeles, California, in 2013. Photo: EPA/Michael Nelson

How US-China co-production The 355, starring Penélope Cruz, Jessica Chastain and Fan Bingbing, failed on all fronts

Jessica Chastain as Mason “Mace” Brown in a still from “The 355”, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg.

(From left) Diane Kruger as Marie, Jessica Chastain as Mason “Mace” Brown and Lupita Nyong’o as Khadijah in a still from “The 355”, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg. The US-China co-production, which also featured Fan Bingbing, was a box office flop.

Co-writer/director Simon Kinberg (left) and Jessica Chastain on the set of The 355.

Fan Bingbing as Lin Mi Sheng in a still from The 355, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg.

(From left) Penélope Cruz, Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o and Diane Kruger in a still from The 355.

How Jackie Chan vehicle Skiptrace, a 2016 US-China co-production by Hollywood director Renny Harlin, put the clash in culture clash

Jackie Chan as Benny Chan and Johnny Knoxville as US gambler Connor Watts in a still from US-China co-production Skiptrace (2016). Photo: Intercontinental Film Distributors

Fan Bingbing as Samantha (left), the daughter of Jackie Chan’s partner, and Johnny Knoxville as American gambler Connor Watts (right) in a still from “Skiptrace”.

Film director Renny Harlin in Hong Kong in 2019. Photo: Edmond So

Jackie Chan as Hong Kong detective Benny Chan in a still from “Skiptrace”.

Fan Bingbing in a still from “Skiptrace”.

How Bait 3D, an Australia-Singapore shark movie co-production, became a monster hit at the Chinese box office

A still from “Bait 3D”.

Sharni Vinson (left) and Xavier Samuel in a still from “Bait 3D” (2012), which took the Chinese box office by storm.

“Bait 3D” has “the requisite mix of gore, bad CGI and ‘Jaws’ jokes”. 

Adrian Pang as Jessup in a still from “Bait 3D”.

Clean up on aisle three: a great white shark menaces shoppers in a still from “Bait 3D”.

How Disney got kicked out of China over Martin Scorsese’s Kundun, a 1997 movie that ripped a hole in US-China relations

Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin is bowed to in a scene from the film &apos;Kundun&apos;, 1997. (Photo by Buena Vista/Getty Images)

A scene from Martin Scorsese’s 1997 movie Kundun, about the early life of the Dalai Lama, which left a scar on US-China relations and saw Disney kicked out of China. Photo: Getty Images

A scene from Kundun. Photo: Walt Disney Studios

Martin Scorsese at a press conference on Kundun in Rome on March 9, 1998. Photo: AP

Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin (front) in a scene from Kundun. Photo: Getty Images

How Hong Kong setting gave Chris Evans superhero movie Push a real feel a world away from the Marvel films he would go on to star in as Captain America

Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning in a still from “Push”. Photo: Hirotake Okazaki/Summit Entertainment.

Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning in a still from “Push”. The movie harnessed the energy of Hong Kong, where it was set, to make for a superhero that feels more real than those of the Marvel films Evans would go on to star in. Photo: Hirotake Okazaki/Summit Entertainment.

Li Xiaolu as triad watcher Pop Girl in a still from “Push”. Photo: Summit Entertainment