February 19, 2007 | 2007年2月19日

一转眼《刺马》北京部分的戏就快拍完了，要开始转景了。

记得几个月前，在美国有个记者问我一个问题，我从来没有认真想过，当他问我的时候我也愣住了。

这个问题是说：近七八年中国所谓大制作的电影，为什么里面的主演都要死，每一个故事似乎都是悲剧。想想还真是，从《卧虎藏龙》，周润发死了，章子怡死了。到后来的《英雄》，全都死光了，除了皇帝。再后来的《十面埋伏》、《夜宴》、《无极》，再加上《黄金甲》，也又死一大片。如今的《刺马》也是，一个不能不少全都死掉。

这个外国记者就问我，是不是中国能称得上大片的就是主角全都得死光？挺好玩的问题。再说下去就说这是不是东西方文化的差异？是不是只有悲剧才能卖钱，大家喜欢看悲剧？大片喜剧比较少。

谁能回答这个问题啊？我也得琢磨。拍了27年电影，以前都是好汉，不死。这几年部部死，对了还有《霍元甲》，也死了。从2000年《卧虎藏龙》到现在都 2007年了，怎么所有电影里主角都要死呢？是不是因为不死就不够感动？不够英雄呢？不知道！谁能给我一个答案？希望大家给我点意见，看看今后怎么办？

In the blink of an eye we have finished filming the Beijing portion of "Ci Ma". Now we are going to move to the South.

I remember a few months ago when I was in the United States doing an interview for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on behalf of Fearless, a reporter asked me a question that I’ve never encountered. At the time, I didn’t know how to best respond.

She asked, "In the last 7 or 8 years, all of the big Chinese films have featured main characters that eventually died. Why are all your stories so tragic?" I thought about it and realized she was right! Starting from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Chow Yun Fat’s character died, Zhang ZiYi’s character died. Then we have "Hero", all the main characters save the emperor died in that film. That film was followed by "House of Flying Daggers", "The Promise", "The Banquet" and more recently "Curse of the Golden Flower". All the main characters died in these films. "Ci Ma" also has similar themes.

This reporter proceeded to ask if it is a requirement that all the characters die in large epic Chinese films. I thought it was a very interested question. I wonder if this is a difference in culture between East and West. Is it that we can only make money from tragedy and the mass audience only likes to watch this type of film? Large scale comedies are rare in China. So who can answer this very interesting question? I certainly don’t have all the answers. In most of my 27 years of filmmaking I have portrayed the hero -- the one that doesn’t die. But in the last few movies, including "Fearless", the characters I have portrayed all met an untimely demise. From "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in 2000 all the way until 2007, it’s been like this. Is it that if the main character lives, then it’s not as emotionally resonating? Maybe there’s not enough of a heroic element? I don’t know! Any suggestions or answers? I hope you can provide me with some clues and your thoughts. Let’s see what happens in the future ...