Ratpack Films Present A Lion Rock Production Directed by Su Chao-Pin Co-directed by John Woo Produced by John Woo & Terence Chang Running time: 117 minutes Certificate: 15 Opens at UK cinemas on 15th February 2013 Press Contacts Sarah Wharton – [email protected] Lisa DeBell – [email protected] Almar Haflidason – [email protected] For hi-res images/production notes and more, go to – www.fetch.fm CAST MICHELLE YEOH - Zeng Jing JUNG WOO-SUNG - Jiang Ah-Sheng WANG XUEQI - The Wheel King BARBIE HSU - Turquoise SHAWN YUE - Lei Bin KELLY LIN - Drizzle GUO XIAODONG - Zhang Renfeng JIANG YIYAN - Tian Qingtong LEON DAI - The Magician PAW HEE CHING - Mrs. Cai MATT WU - Killer Bear JIN SHIJIE - Doctor Li PACE WU - Kongdong Teal Sword CALVIN LI - Wisdom ANGELES WOO - Eater Bear CREW Directed by SU CHAO-PIN and JOHN WOO Produced by JOHN WOO and TERENCE CHANG Screenplay by SU CHAO-PIN Action Director STEPHEN TUNG Director of Photography HORACE WONG Art Director YANG BAIGUI Costume Designer EMI WADA Composer PETER KAM Editor CHEUNG KA-FAI INTRODUCTION Directed by Su Chao-pin (SILK), co-directed by internationally acclaimed director John Woo, and produced by Terence Chang and John Woo, REIGN OF ASSASSINS is a wuxia style-martial arts actioner. Filmed and choreographed similar in style to CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, but packed with suspense, romance and revenge, it offers up a story that is a combination of FACE/OFF and MR. AND MRS. SMITH set in ancient China. The project began when producer Terence Chang was looking for an action vehicle for international star and heroine Michelle Yeoh. After several meetings with Su Chao- pin, Chang came up with the idea of a wuxia film to revive the Chinese swordplay genre and showcase Yeoh’s prodigious talents as a martial arts star as well as a dramatic actress and graceful femme fatale. Set during China’s Ming Dynasty, the film features a stellar international Asian cast from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea. Yeoh stars as a high level assassin, atoning for her past and trying to live a normal life. Korean superstar Jung Woo-Sung portrays her seemingly naive husband. Terence Chang and his team worked tirelessly to pull together the rest of the pan-Asian cast, which also includes Barbie Hsu and Kelly Lin from Taiwan, Wang Xueqi from China, and Shawn Yue from Hong Kong. Also featured in the cast and making her screen debut as a ruthless assassin is Angeles Woo, director John Woo’s daughter. After reading the script, John Woo was so impressed that he teamed up with Su, assuming the role of co-director. Woo stayed with the crew during the entire production and worked closely with Su to advise and guide him on the set-up and choreography and filming of the action sequences. Terence Chang assembled a team of top experts to work closely with his two co- directors to plan and execute the production. All very experienced and renowned in their respective fields, action director Stephen Tung-Wai, composer Peter Kam, costume designer Emi Wada and director of photography Horace Wong were brought on to bring the story to life with the stunning visuals, action, and music expected of an international production. SHORT SYNOPSIS In ancient China, in a time of non-stop inter-clan warfare, Drizzle is the top assassin of a gang known as The Dark Stone. After a career of robbing and killing, she decides she wants to start a new life. As a gesture of atonement, she returns the remains of a mystical Buddhist monk to his tomb. It is rumoured that the remains contain the secret to obtaining absolute power and whoever possesses them can control the martial arts world. In order to escape from The Dark Stone and rid her life of violence and bloodshed, Drizzle decides to undergo a drastic procedure to alter her appearance, to change her name to Zeng Jing (Michelle Yeoh), and to move to the Capital. Keeping a low profile as a shopkeeper, she falls in love with and marries a messenger named Jiang Ah- Sheng (Jung Woo-Sung). However, their peaceful life is soon disrupted when Zeng’s identity as Drizzle is unveiled in a dramatic fight and confrontation with her old gang, The Dark Stone. Amidst all the chaos and fighting, Jiang, her husband, reveals his true identity to her - he is the son of a government official that she murdered when she was still a member of The Dark Stone. Once both their identities are exposed, a lethal triangle in which allegiances are made and broken emerges between Zeng, Jiang, and The Dark Stone, who will stop at nothing in their efforts to obtain the monk’s remains and rule the martial arts world. SYNOPSIS In 428AD, Bodhi, the Prince of Southern India, becomes a Buddhist monk and sets off for China, earning a hallowed reputation as a mystical martial artist. Shortly after his death, his remains mysteriously disappear. It is rumored that his remains contain the secret to obtaining limitless power and ruling the martial arts world. Centuries later, a team of deadly assassins known as The Dark Stone emerges as the most ruthless gang in the land. Their best assassin is the cunning, skilled, ruthless and invincible Drizzle (Kelly Lin). On her latest mission, Drizzle takes out Zhang Haiduan, a high-ranking court official. His son, Zhang Renfeng (Guo Xiaodong), while mourning his father’s death, is also attacked and seemingly killed by Drizzle and her fellow assassins. Drizzle’s life changes when she kills Wisdom (Calvin Li), a monk with whom she has unintentionally fallen in love. Wisdom, who loves Drizzle as well, attempts to persuade her to repent and quit The Dark Stone. To save Drizzle’s soul, he allows himself to be killed in battle, achieving a pyrrhic victory by succeeding only in death. The pain of losing someone who she cares so much about prompts Drizzle to leave her old life behind. After returning Bodhi’s remains to their rightful resting place at Yunhe Temple, Drizzle decides to leave The Dark Stone and to go into hiding. But to escape she must do something drastic, otherwise The Dark Stone will pursue her to the end of the earth. In order to find peace and a new life, she seeks out the legendary Doctor Li who can give her a new face and a new identity… and so she becomes Zeng Jing (Michelle Yeoh). She packs up her old life and moves to the Capital and embraces a new way of existence; a peaceful life as a shopkeeper. Eventually Zeng Jing meets and falls in love with Jiang Ah-Sheng (Jung Woo-Sung), a humble messenger, and soon they are married. But the past comes back to haunt her as The Dark Stone offers an enormous reward for Bodhi’s remains and Drizzle’s capture, driving everyone in the martial world to search for her. A confrontation in the Capital unveils Zeng’s identity, and she knows that The Dark Stone, as well as her past, have finally caught up with her when one morning, she finds three Dark Stone assassins standing outside of her door. The merciless head of The Dark Stone, the Wheel King (Wang Xueqi), had assigned a trio of his top assassins, Lei Bin (Shawn Yue), Turquoise (Barbie Hsu), and The Magician (Leon Dai), to kill those around Zeng as a warning and to offer her a choice: hand over Bodhi’s remains and walk away, or die. When Zeng Jing decides to hand over the remains, the Wheel King reneges on his offer and tries to kill her. Barely escaping the Wheel King, she runs home in a vain attempt to flee with her husband Jiang. Unable to fend off The Dark Stone any further, Zeng collapses, but is then saved by her husband, who reveals his true identity as Zhang Renfeng, the son of the last official that Drizzle had killed before she assumed her new identity! He defeats The Dark Stone assassins and then tracks down and challenges the Wheel King to take revenge for his father’s murder. Once both of their identities have been exposed, this leads to a lethal triangle and a fight to the death between Zeng (Drizzle), Jiang (Zhang Renfeng), and the Wheel King (The Dark Stone). Only one question remains: who will be the last one standing to uncover the secret of Bodhi’s remains? DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT By Su Chao-Pin The original Chinese title of REIGN OF ASSASSINS was “Jianyu Jianghu,” which literally translates to “swords and rain, rivers and lakes.” After I completed the screenplay for “Jianyu” and was having it translated into English, I struggled for a long time yet still could not find an English phrase that would adequately express the meaning of “jianghu,” which literally translates to “rivers and lakes.” For the Chinese, the two characters of “jianghu” hardly ever need explanation. If you say, “When one is in the jianghu, one is not himself,” just about everyone would know what you are talking about. (However, if you were to ask a Chinese person to explain the meaning of “jianghu,” he probably would not be able to do so.) That’s when I realized that “jianghu” is a noun that only exists in Chinese culture, one that refers to a very special imaginary world. Holding a place similar to that of martial arts films among movie genres, “jianghu” is in its own unique class. Just like every other boy who grew up reading martial arts novels and watching martial arts films, I believe that making a film that reflects the martial arts world of my own imagination is a director’s (especially a male director’s) dream.