Wong Kar-Wai Sets ‘Blossoms Shanghai’ As His First TV Series
Back in 2015,Wong Kar-waibegan development on the feature filmBlossoms, based on the short stories by Jin Yucheng, intended to be his follow-up to his 2013 filmThe Grandmaster. But as the years passed, and Wong flirted with heading over to television with the now-dead Amazon seriesTong Wars,Blossomshas bloomed intoBlossoms Shanghai, a TV drama project that is set to be Wong’s television debut.
The filmmaker of Hong Kong arthouse classics such asIn the Mood for LoveandChungking Expressis making his TV debut withBlossoms Shanghai, Deadline reports. But it was a long and unpredictable road for Wong’s TV project, which initially wasn’t set to be his TV debut at all. Wong’s first TV project, Amazon’sTong Wars, was axed earlier this year, while the early version ofBlossoms, a feature film that had beenin the works since 2015, was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the movie is still in the works, Wong is keeping the project alive with a TV series adaptation of the epic novel by Jin Yucheng.
Written by award-winning Shanghainese screenwriter Qin Wen and shot byCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragoncinematographer Peter Pau,Blossoms Shanghaiis set to starHu Ge(2019 Cannes darlingThe Wild Goose Lake) as an “enigmatic, self-made millionaire, Mr. Bao,” on “his journey of reinvention from a young opportunist with a troubled past to the heights of the gilded city of Shanghai. Set against the backdrop of massive economic growth in 1990’s Shanghai, the series unveils the glamour that follows his dazzling wealth and his entanglement with four fabulous women that represent the pursuits of his life: adventure, honor, love and innocence.”
Wong created and producedBlossoms Shanghaiin homage to his birthplace, in a portrait of the city’s massive economic growth in the ’90s. Wong will also direct the pilot episode.
“Jin Yucheng’s landmark novelBlossomshas been the perfect backdrop to visualize and share my love for my birth city,” said Wong in a statement. “With the series, I would like to invite the audience to immerse in the intrigues of Shanghai and its inhabitants in the early 1990s, an exciting time that paved the way for the prosperity of modern Shanghai.”
Blossoms Shanghaiwill shoot in Shanghai. Wong’s Jet Tone is set to produce. Tencent Penguin Pictures has acquired the rights for China. Block 2 Distribution is handling international sales.
There is no word on whether this series adaptation ofBlossomswill affect Wong’s planned feature film, but the filmmaker is hoping to return to the feature realm to save the Hong Kong industry, as one of the leading filmmakers working on a $33.5 million plan to boost the region’s filmmaking.
