Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai (“In The Mood For Love”) moves secretly and at his own pace, often taking several years between projects. And per usual, the road to his latest film has been circuitous and perhaps filled with twists and turns and misinformation—perhaps some of it lost in translation or some of it warped from the notoriously controlling Chinese government, who knows. But the story of Wong Kar Wai’s latest project “Blossoms” goes a little something like this: following 2013’s “The Grandmaster,” lots of talk of projects that never come to fruition, an Amazon series called, “Tong Wars,” an 18-part online series which may or may not be the same project, a Gucci fashion/family dynasty story produced by Annapurna’s Megan Ellison, and then something called, “Blossoms.” First it’s a film, then a TV series that leads up to a film, and it’s reportedly part of the trilogy that includes “In The Mood For Love” and its loose spiritual sequel, “2046.”
Years pass and we get drips and drabs of information and then earlier this year, Feb 2020, it’s reported that production has been nixed on the project, but then months later, maybe coming back to life. It’s unclear this entire time if the director is just producing the project or directing the entire thing or what.
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Some clarity arrives via Variety today. Now titled “Blossoms Shanghai,” the project is confirmed and moving forward. Based on Jin Yucheng’s award-winning Shanghai-set novel, “Blossoms,” the series also marks a return for Wong’s Shanghai birthplace and he will direct at least the pilot episode.
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Chinese star Hu Ge (“The Wild Goose Lake,” “The Climbers”) will lead the series and play a young opportunist with a troubled past, as he ventures to the gilded city of Shanghai.
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“Set against the backdrop of massive economic growth in 1990s 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,” Jet Tone Films, Wong Kar Wai’s production company, said 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” Wong Kar Wai said in a statement. Rumored connections to “In The Mood For Love” and “2046” were not confirmed, nor is the apparently connected movie that Wong Kar Wai would direct after the series.
Academy Award-winning cinematographer, Peter Pau (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Forbidden Kingdom”) is lensing the series and award-winning Shanghainese screenwriter, Qin Wen is writing it. It’s unclear when “Blossoms Shanghai” will shoot, when it will premiere or who else is directing episodes.
Some new images and posters of the “Blossoms Shanghai” series have been released and you can see them below.