Benny Chan promotes "Shaolin" with star-studded cast at Shanghai Festival

By Siewaun
Reference: english.cri.cn

On Monday, director Benny Chan led a star-studded cast of the "Shaolin" kungfu movie, comprising of Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse, Fan Bingbing, Wu Jing, Yu Shaoqun and Bai Bing to the Shanghai International Film Festival. Andy Lau, however was absent.

At the press conference, announcement was made that the movie will be released at the end of this year during the New Year movie season, which is the Chinese box office's busiest season.

After releasing the trailer at the press conference, Benny Chan said that though the movie will be in line with the classic 1982 "The Shaolin Temple," which propelled Jet Li into stardom, the new movie is not a remake. He said, "Jet Li has acted in the best film about Shaolin. But I want to do a different story, my own story."

Benny Chan's version of "Shaolin" is set in the 1920s and about a warlord Hou Jie (Andy Lau), who is betrayed by his ex-friend Cao Man (Nicholas Tse), and gains a new understanding of life with the help of a Shaolin monk (Jackie Chan).

The movie has advantages over other Shaolin Temple themed movie, as shooting will be held in the Shaolin Temple which is located in Songshan, Central China's Henan Province, the first time shooting is allowed inside the temple since Jet Li's starred 1982 "The Shaolin Temple".