Red Cliff (Chinese: 赤壁), alternatively known as The Battle of Red Cliff, is a two-part Chinese epic film based on the Battle of Red Cliffs and events during the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China. Both parts are expected to be released in 2008. The film is directed by John Woo and stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chang Chen, Lin Chi-ling, Zhao Wei, Zhang Fengyi and You Yong. With an estimated budget of US$80 million, Red Cliff is the most expensive Asian-financed film to date.

According to Han Sanping, veteran producer and the CEO of China Film Group, one of the chief investors in the film, Red Cliff currently has too much material to include in a single feature. It will therefore be divided into two episodes, with the first to be released before the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the second only at the end of 2008. Producer Terence Chang confirmed this, saying that the Chinese government views the film as a showcase of Chinese history and wants it released before the Olympic Games.

The Cast 
• Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Zhou Yu, the chief strategist and Supreme Commander of the Kingdom of Wu
• Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang, the chief strategist and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Shu
• Chang Chen as Sun Quan, first emperor of the Kingdom of Wu
• Lin Chi-ling as Xiao Qiao, the wife of Zhou Yu
• Zhao Wei as Sun Shangxiang, the younger sister of Sun Quan who married Liu Bei
• Zhang Fengyi as Cao Cao, the last Chancellor of Eastern Han Dynasty and the pioneer of the Kingdom of Wei
• You Yong as Liu Bei, first emperor of the Kingdom of Shu
• Hu Jun as Zhao Yun, a top general of the Kingdom of Shu
• Nakamura Shido as Wa Long, a military general who is trusted by Zhou Yu

Historial Background
The Battle of Red Cliffs, otherwise known as the Battle of Chibi, (traditional Chinese: 赤壁之戰; pinyin: chìbì zhī zhàn) was a decisive battle immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in China in the northern winter of 208 CE between the allied forces of the southern warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao. Liu Bei and Sun Quan successfully frustrated Cao Cao’s effort to conquer the land south of the Yangtze River and reunite the territory of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The allied victory at Red Cliffs ensured the survival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, gave them control of the Yangtze (de Crespigny 2004:273), and provided a line of defence that was the basis for the later creation of the two southern kingdoms of Shu Han (蜀) and Eastern Wu (吳). For these reasons, it is considered a decisive battle in Chinese history.

Descriptions of the battle differ widely on details; in fact, even the location of battle is still fiercely debated (de Crespigny 2004:256 78n). Although its precise location remains uncertain, the majority of academic conjectures place it on the south bank of the Yangtze River at some location southwest of present-day Wuhan and northeast of Baqiu (modern Yueyang city in Hunan province). The most detailed account of the battle comes from the biography of Zhou Yu in the 3rd-century historical text Records of Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Zhi). An exaggerated and romanticised account is also a central event in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.

Go take a peek now : http://redcliff.big.com.hk/

Share This

Last Modified : May 13th, 2008 Filed under : -Red Cliff (2008) Navigate : Previous post / Next post