Bale to play American priest
By IANSThursday, December 23, 2010
LONDON - Hollywood actor Christian Bale has been chosen to play an American priest in the movie “Nanjing Heroes” based on the Nanjing massacre in China.
The “Batman Begins” actor will play a priest named John, who helped a number of Chinese citizens escape death during the country’s Nanjing massacre, when Japanese troops killed thousands in 1937, reports contactmusic.com.
The $90.2 million film is being directed by Zhang Yimou, who insists he didn’t choose the actor for his popularity.
“I met Christian in America and was impressed with his serious book research for the role. It’s the overall strategy for Chinese cinema to approach the world and broaden its influence, but casting Bale was a coincidence because the script happened to have an English-speaking part in the lead,” said Yimou.
The movie will be filmed in English and Mandarin, and shooting will start Jan 10, 2011 in a Republican Era (1911-1949) replica church built near Nanjing.
