Chinese in Focus

Painted skin

 

The Chinese vampire film "Painted Skin (画皮 huà pí) " has a sequel in production with most cast members returning to the film.

 

Elements of the new film are moving forward. It features a different story unrelated to the original. Only Zhou Xun（周迅) will reprise her role as the vampire-like woman, Xiao Wei（小唯).

In the sequel, Wang Sheng（王生）(originally by Chen Kun（陈坤）) and Wang Ying（王英）, son of Wang Sheng and Pei Rong（佩蓉）(originally by Zhao Wei（赵薇）) travel westward to explore and reencounter the fox spirit Xiao Wei along the way.

 

It's no doubt why people are so keen on producing film sequels considering the massive fan bases and well-warmed potential markets. "Painted Skin" directed by Gordon Chan mustered about 200 million yuan (US$30.5 million) at the box office within 19 days in 2008.

This time, Uershan, director of the film "Dao Jian Xiao（刀见笑）", or "The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman", has taken over the directorial reins from Gordon Chan with Chen Kuo-fu as executive producer.

"Painted Skin" is adapted from the ancient novel "Liaozhai Zhiyi（聊斋志异）", or "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", written by Pu Songling（蒲松龄） in the Qing Dynasty.

 

KEY WORDS：

画皮（huà pí）：Painted Skin.

聊斋志异(liáo zhāi zhì yì): One of the most famous collections of Chinese stories about the supernatural and spooky, written by Pu Songling in the Qing Dynasty.