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Bale, the priest
Hollywood actor Christian Bale has been chosen to play an American priest in the movie Nanjing Heroes based on the Nanjing massacre in China.
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 January 10, 2011 in a Republican Era (1911-1949) replica church built near Nanjing.
