MONGOL, a sweeping, action-filled historical account of the early years of Genghis Khan’s life has wowed audiences in Russia, nabbed an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and is now headed to the U.S. courtesy of Picturehouse, a new distributor formed by HBO and New Line Cinema.
Japanese star Tadanobu Asano (ZATOICHI, GOHATTO) portrays the legendary 13th-century warlord in a $20 million Russian-Asian co-production with Sergei Bodrov at the helm.
Veteran of over a dozen feature films, Bodrov is riding high on a growing wave of new Russian filmmaking. His previous work, NOMAD, was another large-scale, historical epic with an international cast and crew that was distributed by The Weinstein Co. in the U.S.
Bodrov, along with producers Sergei Selyanov and Andrei Melnikov have high hopes that MONGOL will match the international success of titles like HERO and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. They are putting part of this hope into the film’s elaborate action sequences which have come about from efforts of an international team. Variety states that Hong Kong producer Philip Lee, who was connected with both wuxia films, was also involved in MONGOL.
The men directly behind the fighting action are South Korea’s Jeong Doo-hong and Russia’s Dzhaidarbek Kunguzhinov, who most recently got to show off his action directing skills in a number of impressive period fighting scenes in Timur Bekmambetov’s sci-fi actioner DAY WATCH. For modern Asian action fans, Jeong should be no stranger. This Taekwondo master is considered by many to be South Korea’s top action director at the moment with high-profile titles like MUSA, FIGHTER IN THE WIND and THE CITY OF VIOLENCE on his resume. This film marks his first foray into the international market, a goal he has long striven for. This could be a stepping stone for Jeong to move into Hollywood action filmmaking.
While early reviews of MONGOL suggest that the film delivers plenty of bloody action to appease genre fans amid grandiose production design, not everyone has been satisfied. Early in its development, the film was panned by Mongolian academics who accused the filmmakers of “profaning and humiliating the national pride of the Mongolian people.”
While the historical accuracy of MONGOL and its depiction of Mongolia’s beloved Genghis Khan may be in question, nothing compares with Hollywood’s 1956 version. Behold John Wayne in… THE CONQUEROR.
Source: Variety
Related Topics:Genghis Khan • Picturehouse • Russia
