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Production Notes

SHANGHAI CALLING

For Media Inquiries: PMK/BNC Marian Koltai-Levine

Rachel Aberly

212-373-6130

310-854-4812

[email protected]

[email protected]

2

SHANGHAI CALLING CREDITS CHINA FILM CO., LTD. and AMERICATOWN, LLC present a MANIFEST FILM Production “SHANGHAI CALLING” DANIEL HENNEY

ELIZA COUPE

GENG LE

ZHU ZHU

ALAN RUCK

and BILL PAXTON Written and Directed by

DANIEL HSIA

Produced by

JANET YANG

Executive Producers

XIA ZHENG ZHAO YUTING

Presenter

HAN SANPING

Director of Photography

ARMANDO SALAS

Production Designer

YU BAIYANG

Editor

PAMELA MARCH

Costume Designer

WANG HAIYAN

Music by

KLAUS BADELT & CHRISTOPHER CARMICHAEL

US Casting by

LESLIE WOO

China Casting by

POPING AUYEUNG

3

SHANGHAI CALLING SYNOPSIS

An ambitious young American attorney discovers that his hard-charging approach to corpo-

rate law is no match for the surprises of modern China in Shanghai Calling, an intelligent, charming, cross-cultural romantic comedy that marks the feature film debut of writer and director Daniel Hsia. One of the first of a new wave of Sino-American co-productions, Shanghai Calling features an outstanding international cast and a timely story, all set against the gorgeous backdrop of modern Shanghai, a city whose blend of old and new, and East and West, has made it a symbol of contemporary globalization.

Sam Chao (Daniel Henney), an up-and-coming Manhattan attorney angling for partnership, is

dispatched by his bosses to Shanghai to open the firm’s new satellite office there. If Sam completes the three-month assignment, they will give him the promotion he’s been dreaming about. But Sam may not be suited for life in China. His first day in Shanghai, he humiliates Amanda (Eliza Coupe), the lovely relocation specialist hired to smooth his way into the expat community, browbeats Fang Fang (Zhu Zhu), his hyper-capable office assistant, and insults everyone he meets with his refusal to adapt to local customs.

When his insistence on doing things his way costs an important client a potential billion-dollar

deal, Sam must rely on the very people he has alienated to fix his blunders and save his job. As he painfully learns to temper his take-no-prisoners style, Sam slowly discovers a new way of looking at the world—and at Amanda.

Written and directed by Daniel Hsia (“Psych,” “Andy Barker, PI”), Shanghai Calling stars Dan-

iel Henney (“Three Rivers,” X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Eliza Coupe (“Happy Endings,” “Scrubs”), Bill Paxton (“Big Love,” Titanic), Alan Ruck (“Greek,” Extraordinary Measures, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Geng Le (Desires of the Heart) and Zhu Zhu (What Women Want, MTV-China).

The film is produced by Janet Yang (The Joy Luck Club, Dark Matter, The People vs. Larry

Flynt). Director of photography is Armando Salas (Sophie’s Revenge, Sailfish, Cocaine Cowboys). Editor is Pamela March (I Heart Huckabees, Waiting for Forever). Production designer is Baiyang Yu (Mission: Impossible III, Shanghai Kiss). Costume designer is Haiyan Wang. Line producer is Jiakun “Jaguar” Zhang (The Painted Veil, Inseparable). Executive producers are Yuting Zhao and Xia Zheng. 4

SHANGHAI CALLING ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

The multicultural mix-ups and misunderstandings of Shanghai Calling were inspired by the

real-life stories writer and director Daniel Hsia heard from a friend living the expatriate life in Beijing. “Every time I ran into him at a classmate’s wedding or college reunion, he told me hilarious stories about what it’s like to be an immigrant from America,” says Hsia. “It’s not an experience a lot of Americans are familiar with. We’re used to people visiting the U.S. But now that China is becoming a global powerhouse, all the big companies are opening offices there. We’re no longer the center of the universe. For many Americans just out of college, their first job is in China. That’s where the inspiration came from.”

Based on his experiences writing for American television, the Bay Area native was sure that

there was a compelling story with a sprawling cast of characters to be found in China. “I decided to go to Beijing and Shanghai for a couple of months to do some research,” he says. “Shanghai today is a very dynamic and exciting setting, so I interviewed everyone I could meet—Americans, Chinese, Europeans—from all walks of life, and the story very quickly came together.”

Hsia crafted a classic fish-out-of-water tale about an American businessman arrogantly poised

to take the unsophisticated natives of a far-away city by storm. The twist is that the hero, Sam Chao, is a Chinese-American who looks like he should fit in easily, but Sam has spent his entire life willfully ignorant of his heritage. A comeuppance is, of course, awaiting him in China.

Determined to shoot his movie in Shanghai, Hsia decided that there was only one producer

who had the knowledge, experience and vision to help him bring his script to life. Janet Yang has shepherded some of the most successful cross-cultural films of the past two and a half decades to the screen and her considerable expertise in filmmaking in China was what Hsia believed he needed to realize his project. He leveraged all his contacts to get a meeting with the producer.

“Janet has done so many amazing pictures,” says Hsia. “She is such a well-known figure in

Hollywood and in China, and I felt I would be nowhere without Janet Yang. I got in touch with a friend who knew her and we had lunch so I could tell her a little bit about the project. I just tried my best to show her how passionate I was about it and about shooting in China.”

Yang, whose professional experience in Asia goes back to Steven Spielberg’s 1987 epic Em5

SHANGHAI CALLING pire of the Sun, was caught up in a hectic schedule that was already taking her to and from China for another film. “But I was to be the producer of this film and he was not going to let go of that notion,” says Yang. “Daniel is a very kind and open person, but he’s also very driven and assured. I suppose he came to me because I had worked in China before and I understood how to set up a co-production, as well as how to be sensitive to the tastes of Chinese audiences.”

It took several months and a second introduction for Hsia to convince Yang, who was by then

finished with her previous project, to sign on. “Luckily, this is the kind of script that she was looking for,” says Hsia. “I caught her just at the right time in her career, because she’s doing more and more films in China, both Chinese films and American films shot there.”

Without Yang’s assistance, Hsia doubts he would have been able to mount his movie. “She’s

so good at the business side of things,” he says. “If I didn’t have her, I have a feeling a lot of people on set wouldn’t know what to do. Our strengths complement each other very well.”

Yang sat down with Hsia to fine-tune his script, zeroing in on a story that would appeal to audi-

ences both in the U.S. and China. “We did many drafts,” she says. “We ended up with a film that I am very proud of, and I believe he should be very proud of. We were able to tell a story that straddles both sides of the Pacific.

“In shorthand, we like to say it’s about a banana who falls in love with an egg,” Yang continues.

“A banana is someone who’s yellow on the outside, white on the inside, and the egg is obviously the reverse. I think it strikes a number of chords for people in China and all over the world. We’re experiencing an intense curiosity about China right now. Our protagonist doesn’t know anything about China in the beginning, so he takes Western audiences with him on his journey. And I think it’s fun for Chinese viewers to laugh at somebody like that.

“So it’s both a cross-cultural comedy and a romance,” Yang continues. “I think it really satisfies

on both levels. The motor of the story involves Sam and the trouble that he gets into as a lawyer, but his affection for China is largely influenced by meeting a woman with a very different point of view.”

Sam, a man used to being in control of his world, finds it all turned upside-down, a situation

Hsia says is a classic comedic setup. “Every time Sam walks into a situation, his expectations are reversed,” says Hsia. “My first lessons in comedy came from listening to my father’s favorite radio 6

SHANGHAI CALLING comedians from the 1930s and 1940s—Jack Benny, George Burns, Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen. They taught me about comedy rhythms and the wealth of jokes you can get from a particular kind of character. It provided me with a bedrock understanding of how comedy works and how characters relate to one another.”

And while he admits that there may be jokes that don’t translate for every audience, Hsia is

confident that American and Chinese audiences will both find plenty to laugh at. “For Americans, a lot of the comedy will come from situations they’ve never seen before. For instance, you walk into a noodle restaurant and sit down at an empty table. From the American perspective, that is your table. All of a sudden, other people start sitting with you and that’s just not something we’re used to.

“It’s fun to watch the look Sam’s face as he is having a private discussion and people keep

joining them,” he continues. “He doesn’t understand what’s happening. There’s a lot of fun to be had from the Chinese perspective to see this American-born Chinese, who arrives in Shanghai thinking he’s top dog, and is instead a fish out of water. Every encounter he has with a Chinese local ends in a disastrous—and very comedic—way. When somebody who is so put together and so arrogant is very slowly brought to his knees, it reveals the person he really is on the inside.”

Hsia credits his television writing experience with allowing him to accept comments from a host

of collaborators to make the script stronger. “TV was good training for this,” he says. “Throughout the process, we’ve gotten notes from the American side, from the Chinese side, from actors and producers and investors. It’s been a whirlwind process.”

Although she has more than a dozen films to her credit, Yang says that this one is special for

her. “Every now and then, I’m blessed with the opportunity to work on something that speaks to me personally. Cross-cultural stories are so much a part of my own background that I feel I have more to contribute. Joy Luck Club was like that. I really enjoyed working on Dark Matter. I have more nuanced insights to provide for films like these. The line between the professional and the personal is quite blurred, so I feel like this is more than just a movie for me.”

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SHANGHAI CALLING AN INTERNATIONAL CASTING CALL

The filmmakers scoured the globe for their cast, drawing on actors from the U.S. and Asia to

put together an ensemble that reflects the melting pot that is 21st-century Shanghai. Heading up the diverse company is Daniel Henney, an American-born actor with a strong following in Korea. Best known in the U.S. for playing Agent Zero in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Henney was cast as Sam after the filmmakers met with a variety of Chinese and Chinese-American actors for the role.

“I simply cannot imagine anyone but Daniel Henney playing Sam,” says Yang. “He’s extremely

handsome and very photogenic. What we found in our audition with him is that he’s also a very good actor, very much leading-man material.”

Their Chinese partners wholeheartedly concurred that Henney was a great choice. “When-

ever we showed his photo to a room full of women, everything stopped,” says Hsia. “They fell completely silent. I hadn’t seen him in a comedy before, so at our first session together I talked to him a lot about the basics of what I think comedy performing is. It turned out I didn’t need to, because he really knocked it out of the park. There are people who are naturally musically talented, but you never know unless they try. And there are actors who are very funny, but haven’t been cast in comedic roles before. Daniel Henney is one of those actors. I really believe that Shanghai Calling will be a great eye-opener for his fans.”

Henney recalls his audition for the part as “brutal,” and after the two-hour-long meeting, he was

convinced he had no chance at the part. “It is so exciting for me to be a part of this,” he says. “It was the first time I’d seen an Asian-American lead role in a romantic comedy where he actually gets the girl. I grew up in the ’90s, when there were a lot of great romantic comedy films with wonderful stories. These days, romantic comedies tend to be quite talky and sometimes the comedy can be quite raunchy. The films I remember and love were well-written, fun to watch, and the comedy was witty.”

The actor says that anyone who’s a fan of fun-loving romance will enjoy Shanghai Calling, no

matter their cultural background. “A lot of jokes are Western-style jokes, but there’s also a lot of really great Chinese dialogue and themes throughout the film, which I think makes it unique,” he notes. “Virtually anyone who watches the film can find something to relate to.”

Playing Sam required some adjustment for the actor, who describes himself as much more 8

SHANGHAI CALLING easygoing than the hard-driving corporate lawyer. “He’s very aggressive, he’s incredibly intelligent, and he’s always got the right answer,” says Henney. “I admire his drive, but I would never want to have that kind of life. Sam is all work, work, work. He forgets that he’s missing certain things in life that are essential to happiness. He thinks that what he is searching for is career success, but what he really needs is love.”

On the other hand, Henney completely relates to his character’s cross-cultural experience.

“When I was 22, I went to Hong Kong for three months,” he says. “It ended up being three years. It was true culture shock and that helped me understand what Sam is going through. I believe that everyone, at some point in their lives, should live overseas. It opens your eyes and your mind, and you come back home with a new perspective on things. When you are immersed in a culture, you have to be open. If you’re not, it’s like swimming against the current.

“When I went to Hong Kong for the first time, I wanted to leave after a week,” he recalls. “I

hated it. I hated the smells, I hated the sounds, I hated the music. I wouldn’t even give it a chance because it wasn’t what I was used to. And then I fell in love with a girl. Before I knew it, I had a group of friends and the city acquired such an important place in my heart.”

Although Hsia conceived his script as an expansive ensemble comedy, once he found the

actors to play Sam and Amanda, those characters began to become the center of his story. “Daniel Henney and Eliza Coupe, who plays Amanda, have such great chemistry,” he says. “When they were in place, it just naturally evolved into more of a romantic comedy. Right before we started rolling, we reworked the script to make it more about Sam’s feelings about Amanda, rather than his feelings about China or about his job. Their scenes together became the heart of the movie.”

Coupe has appeared in a number of Hsia’s favorite TV comedies, including “Happy Endings,”

“Flight of the Conchords,” Community,” and “Scrubs.” “We were looking for a female lead who was beautiful and funny and smart enough to learn the Chinese,” says Hsia. “And as soon as her name was brought up, I said, ‘she’s the one.’”

Producer Yang says Coupe was meant to play Amanda in the film. “Eliza is one of the funniest

people I’ve ever met,” says Yang. “We sent her the script and she decided to do it the next day. She goes by her gut and she just felt like this was what she was supposed to do next. In the movie, the 9

SHANGHAI CALLING characters she and Daniel play are diametrically opposed, but in reality, they have the same wacky sense of humor.”

Ironically, what eventually won Coupe the role was what she says was the worst audition of her

career. “I auditioned for a different film—a very big film,” she remembers. “And it was terrible. I had to start over four or five times until eventually it became hilarious. It was a train wreck, but thankfully the casting director was laughing with me. A few weeks later, I got a call for this because, in that awful audition, the casting director saw something great for Amanda.”

It’s not like the actress, who calls herself “Captain Planner,” to make impulsive decisions. “Usu-

ally, I think a million steps ahead,” says Coupe. “I set up my breakfast the night before. But when they sent over the script, I read 12 pages and called my manager and said, let’s do it.”

Hsia’s deep involvement in the story and characters he created defined his directing style, she

says. “He knows how to talk to actors in a way I haven’t experienced too much,” says Coupe. “We had rehearsals before we started shooting, and before any scene, he would talk to us about where we just came from emotionally. He was so invested in it. He was always trying to help us discover things in the moment.”

The actress recognized herself in Amanda’s way of speaking and fiery temperament, and

researched some of the unfamiliar aspects of the character when she got to China. “I don’t have children, but my character does, so I met with some expat moms,” she says. “From what I gathered, Shanghai is a place where a lot of people come to reinvent themselves. Amanda came from Nebraska after her marriage ended. She had already studied the language, so it was good fit. But you wouldn’t move to another country with your daughter if there wasn’t a bad situation at home.”

The actress found herself becoming quite attached to her life in Shanghai. “There were been

moments when I thought I didn’t ever want to leave,” says Coupe. “Not because I didn’t want to go home, but because it was an unbelievable experience. There was clearly a reason that I said yes after reading 12 pages. I felt very strongly that I was supposed to be there and have this experience.”

Bill Paxton had just wrapped the HBO drama “Big Love” before he joined the cast of Shanghai

Calling. He was on Yang and Hsia’s short list to play Donald, affectionately referred to by expats in the story as the “mayor of Americatown,” when the producer coincidentally ran into him at an industry 10

SHANGHAI CALLING event in Los Angeles honoring Kathryn Bigelow. “When I arrived for the event, Bill Paxton was speaking. I thought, yeah, he’d be fantastic as Donald. I emailed Daniel and said let’s go to him.”

Paxton plays the role with natural authority and ease. “Anyone who’s ever met Bill knows that

he can walk into a room and everyone will do what he tells them to do,” says Hsia. “Donald has been in China for 20 years now, but he’s one of the old-school expats. He doesn’t wear a suit. He has a very folksy manner. At the moment our story starts, he is realizing that the expat community is changing. Suddenly the city is full of young Ivy Leaguers who are getting sent over here by their companies and he is struggling to adjust to the times.”

The story’s blend of humor, cultural insight and heart made it unlike any script Paxton had

previously read. “I was reminded of the type of film that Robert Altman used to make,” says Paxton. “It is very contemporary, with a light humor that creeps up on you. It seems at first like there’s no deep statement in terms of the themes, but by the time you get to the end of the movie, you realize it has a lot more soul than you first reckoned.”

Added to that was the opportunity to visit Shanghai, a city about which he had always been cu-

rious. Paxton took full advantage of his downtime, visiting the city’s museums and getting to know its people. “I’ve been fascinated with the culture of China since I was a kid,” he says. “My grandfather did business there back in the 1920s and my father told me wonderful stories about him and his travels.

“Donald was one of the first Western businessmen to come to Shanghai when it became open

to Western business again,” Paxton says. “He is the president of the American Chamber of Commerce, and serves as a liaison between Chinese and American businessmen. He tries to take Sam under his wing, but Sam has his own ideas and causes a lot of problems for himself. And so he gets sent down the rabbit hole and has to come back to my character for help.”

Working with a partially Chinese cast and crew was both exciting and enlightening, he admits.

“It was difficult in terms of language,” he says. “But I got to work with a lot of new talent—Chinese talent, American talent, people from all over. We are entering the real time of internationalism.”

One of those Chinese actors is Geng Le, who plays Awesome Wang, an investigative reporter

who is also an all-purpose fixer, the go-to guy for Americans with problems to solve in Shanghai. “He’s a fabulous actor,” says Yang. “He’s got that gorgeous voice, and he can play both Sam’s fan11

SHANGHAI CALLING tasy version of who he is, as well as the real version, and be extremely convincing as both.”

Hsia concurs. “From the moment I met Geng Le, we had a rapport,” says the director. “His

English is excellent and his Chinese is that perfect aspirational Mandarin. We knew that we wanted the character to be a smart, well-educated journalist, but because he’s named Awesome Wang, Sam expects him to be some really cool guy in a leather jacket. In reality, he looks like a bookworm. There’s a lot of fun to be had there again, by turning expectations on their heads.”

After his first reading of the script, Geng Le gave the filmmakers his feedback on the character.

“I commented a lot, actually,” he says. “I was worried that the director might have lost interest in me because of all my input, but he considered everything I had to say and worked it into the script. I think it has a very American point of view and will ring true to Chinese people as well.”

One of Wang’s idiosyncrasies is that he always speaks Chinese, even when talking to foreign-

ers, a habit that confused Geng Le. “It felt feel so weird at first, but as the director explained to me, he can understand Chinese and English. You use your own language and he uses his. It worked and it is very funny.”

Like many Chinese, Geng Le studied English, as well as some U.S. customs, as a child.

“When I learned English in school, teachers told us a lot about American culture,” he explains. “There’s an evident difference between East and West and sometimes they are completely opposite. But many Eastern people live well in Western countries, and also many foreigners live well here, too. All the gaps and differences come from lack of clarity. I think, from this film, those who have never been to China before will begin to learn about it.”

He applauds the director’s choice to make his “ugly American” character an American-born

Chinese—ABC, in the vernacular. “Sam is a typical American even though he doesn’t have blond hair and blue eyes,” says Geng Le. “I enjoy the irony of that. Sam doesn’t even think of himself as Chinese. His impression of China is that it is still a large farm.”

One of China’s most popular and busiest performers, actress, singer, MTV-China VJ and

spokesperson Zhu Zhu plays Sam’s loyal but frustrated assistant, Fang Fang. “Zhu Zhu is one of these women that I meet in China more and more who combines a lot of the traditional and the contemporary,” says Yang. “She is very assured, she has a wide network of contacts, and she’s lived a 12

SHANGHAI CALLING lot. But while she’s sophisticated and worldly, she’s still a very down-to-earth woman. We met a number of other actresses for the role, and nobody else even came close.”

An ambitious local, Fang Fang has hitched her wagon to Sam’s rising star, but his refusal to lis-

ten to anyone’s advice threatens her chances for success. “Fang Fang seems to be a typical Shanghai girl,” says Hsia. “Then we find out that she has many more layers hidden beneath that. Zhu Zhu is very beautiful and very talented. Every time we talked about the character, we came up with even more interesting details about who she is and where she came from and how she wound up at Sam’s law firm.”

Fang Fang reflects a dichotomy seen in many modern women in China, according to Zhu Zhu.

“Fang Fang has a personal dream that she wants to fulfill,” says the actress. “On the other hand, it is very important for her to honor and care for her family, so she has to work very hard. She represents a lot of professional Chinese women today. They are very smart and they’re very good at what they’re doing. And, at the same time, they’re a little bit lost because all these foreigners like Sam are coming to China and it causes a lot of confusion. Fang Fang wants to help Sam to do the right thing and be successful in his job so she can keep her job. Sam misunderstands her attention as romantic, but she’s a little bit too busy to have a crush on Sam.”

In a romance that parallels Sam and Amanda’s, Fang Fang is also too busy to respond to the

overtures of her amorous co-worker, Guang. “In the Western world, you have certain rules about dating and relationships,” says Zhu. “But Chinese parents have more influence on their children. A lot of people live with their parents until they’re in their late twenties and early thirties. It’s not until Guang acknowledges her family that she shows any interest in him.”

Zhu hopes that the film will provide Western audiences with an unprecedented look at life in

China. “In the West, we’re sometimes seen as a real-life Kung Fu movie or as if we lived during the Cultural Revolution,” she says. “They haven’t gotten a real picture of modern China. This is so real. It’s a lot like my life.”

The filmmakers were pleasantly surprised by the depth of the pool of actors they had to choose

from in China. “We didn’t know how many people we’d have to bring over from the States,” says Yang. “We found that there are a number of Western actors residing in Beijing and Shanghai who are 13

SHANGHAI CALLING happily and busily working in China. The actors who play Brad and Jensen, the New York lawyers, live there, as well as the darling actress who plays Amanda’s daughter. We didn’t have to compromise in any way by hiring local talent.”

Hsia says his first time directing a feature film will be unforgettable for him, both because of

the location and the cast. “These are characters I’ve been living with for a couple of years now,” says Hsia. “Having the chance to work with the actors gave me even more material. We came up with better things together than I could ever think of on my own. Everyone is extremely talented and they really brought these characters to life. I’m looking forward to having more opportunities to work with all of them again.”

14

SHANGHAI CALLING FOUND IN TRANSLATION

Shanghai Calling was set up as a joint Sino-American co-production, using cast and crew

from both nations, and shooting entirely on location in China. “In 2001, Ang Lee made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and created a new genre, something that was both uniquely Chinese, and very commercial and international,” says Yang. “That genre has been handsomely feeding the film industry in China for the past decade. Our film is on a smaller scale, and of a genre that has become very popular in China and has always been popular in the West—the romantic comedy.

“This sort of co-production model was created by the Chinese,” the producer continues. “It’s

not just that you see American actors and Chinese actors on the screen. It really is a blend of systems. I think everybody learned something along the way, because there’s no superior system. It works because it brings investment and talent from both sides together, but allows it to be a Chinese film in the Chinese market, which is an advantage for us because we can bypass the quota for imported films.”

With a billion people and a burgeoning economy, China is on track to become a major source

of film revenue. “I think that one of the strengths of Shanghai Calling is that it is not just an American film that we want to play in China,” Hsia says. “It’s a film about Americans and Chinese that takes place in Shanghai. It’s modern and timely and contemporary. I think that in the U.S. there are a lot of people who have questions about what China is like and what’s going on there. And hopefully Shanghai Calling will open a lot of eyes to this world.”

Directing a first feature is challenging under any circumstance, but for Hsia, setting and mak-

ing a film in China sometimes magnified the complications, mirroring the film’s story. “The Americans, including myself, came in expecting things to run a certain way and then our line producer, Jaguar, would tell us, ‘That’s not how it works here. You have to adjust to our way of doing it.’ Both sides learned from each other and we eventually reached a middle ground, so the production ran somewhere in between the Hollywood style and the Chinese style.”

Yang’s experience making American films in China made her first priority finding a capable line

producer to navigate the Chinese system with her. That person is Jiakun “Jaguar” Zhang, producer of some twenty previous films for Chinese and Western companies. “Film may be a universal language, 15

SHANGHAI CALLING but the working styles and dynamics within and between departments are unique,” Yang says. “Jaguar and I had very similar views about what kind of people we wanted to have on our crew, even if we differed in how to manage them. The most important thing was communication.”

Jiakun Zhang knew Yang by reputation and was eager to work with her. “From the earlier films

I produced, I found every country has its own way of working,” he says. “Hollywood’s production techniques can be different from Chinese ones, so we had to adapt to each other’s working habits. We came in with different expectations, but as long as you can keep communicating, you are able to overcome that and the experience can be quite enriching culturally.”

Hsia says he also got a strong assist in surmounting cultural barriers from the film’s director

of photography, Armando Salas, who had shot two previous films in China. “He knew exactly what to expect,” says Hsia. “He was familiar with the Chinese terminology for lenses and diffusions and lights and stands. He would ask for a lighting setup completely in Chinese and then the translator would retranslate, but the crew would say, he already told us.”

Hsia was sold on Salas’s work after seeing a movie called Sophie’s Revenge. “It was the most

visually kinetic, modern Chinese film I’d seen in a long time,” the director says. “Chinese films have their strengths, but a lot of them take place in the past. This was a very richly textured, well-shot and well-crafted film that took place in the modern day. When I met with Armando in L.A., he felt like someone I could really get along with. We complement each other very well. We riffed off of each other and came up with ideas that enriched each other’s work.”

The pair had extensive discussions about how camera movement and color would define both

the characters and the settings, according Hsia. “At the start of the film, Sam is in New York and his life is very stable. We intentionally chose camera positions that were fixed. As soon as he comes to China, the camera starts moving around. His color palette is very cold: blue or gray or black. Amanda’s colors are warmer, both in her clothes and her home. Over the course of the film, Shanghai warms up color-wise. As Sam becomes more familiar with it, the colors start to pop out a little bit more.”

The director says that trying to balance the conventions of East and West has changed his per-

spective on many things, including his own cultural identity. “In the U.S., I always thought I was more 16

SHANGHAI CALLING Chinese,” says Hsia. “As soon as I came to China, I realized that a lot of my sensibilities are more American. Over the course of the film, I was able to embrace both sides of my identity. I spoke to my Chinese actors and Chinese crew in Chinese and understood where they were coming from. When I dealt with Americans, I dealt with them in a very American way. I tried to help both sides adjust their way of thinking a bit.”

Hsia feels he has begun to understand the Chinese way of doing things a little more fully.

“From an American perspective, there’s an inclination to say, it would be so much more efficient if we did it my way,” he explains. “But that can make you a little crazy, because China is a country of a billion people and I’m not going to change the way things work here. What was best for my own sanity and for getting the film done was to state the way that I would like things done and then temper my expectations. If we ultimately arrived at the same place, that was great.”

Even for Yang, with all her production experience in China, the making of Shanghai Calling

was extraordinary. “I have always enjoyed working there,” says the producer. “The people are extremely hard-working, both in general and specifically in film. They are eager to please, and in many departments extremely experienced. There were some other challenges, but overall, I’m highly appreciative of the working conditions there.

“On this film, the camaraderie among cast and crew was extraordinary. I couldn’t wait to get on

set each day,” she adds. “That’s what I’m definitely going to remember most, as well as some of our amazing locations in Shanghai. We were so fortunate to be able to shoot in some amazing locations that nobody’s ever shot before.”

There were times when Hsia doubted the wisdom of making his first project such an ambitious

undertaking. “In pre-production, there was definitely a point at which I thought I’d bitten off more than I could chew,” says Hsia. “Why couldn’t I have made my first film with two people in a room in Los Angeles? Instead, we had five main characters, seven supporting characters and it takes place in Shanghai. We shot entirely on location, loading in, loading out, and never really having a place to call home for the course of our movie.

“But it came together really well,” he says. “We had incredible actors who gave excellent per-

formances. Our crew has been wonderful. They showed up early and stayed late and I cannot express enough gratitude towards everyone involved.” 17

SHANGHAI CALLING ABOUT THE CAST

DANIEL HENNEY (Sam) is an international heartthrob best known for his roles in X-Men

Origins: Wolverine, the CBS medical drama “Three Rivers,” the South Korean romantic comedy My Lovely Sam-Soon and the Korean television series “The Fugitive: Plan B,” in which he starred alongside international pop star Rain. Henney is already a household name in Korea. The 29-yearold model turned actor is gaining popularity with audiences due to his gentle smile, chiseled features and naturalistic acting style. He co-stars in the forthcoming action-thriller Last Stand, opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, for director Jee-woon Kim.

In Korea, Henney broke out as a star with his turns in the romantic comedy Seducing Mr. Rob-

in and the drama My Father, sweeping the nation’s major cinema awards for best newcomer to the screen. He was the first foreign-born actor to do so. He also starred in the last installment of famed director Seok-ho Yun’s “Four Seasons” miniseries, “Spring Waltz.”

Henney was born in Michigan to a Korean-American mother and a British-American father. He

attended Albion College on a basketball scholarship and studied business communications. Henney is an active musician and has provided lead vocals and guitar for the underground rock band Avarice for the last two years.

While living in New York City, Henney has appeared in Off Broadway shows and studied act-

ing at the Deena Levy Theater and studio. He has also been seen in commercials for leading brands such as Olympus, Minute Maid, GM Daewoo, Nestlé, Hana Bank and LG. He has modeled for Tommy Hilfiger, Esprit, Banana Republic, Gucci and Giorgio Armani, among a dozen other major labels.

ELIZA COUPE (Amanda) is a gifted comedic actress whose talents have been recognized on

television shows such as “Scrubs,” “Flight of the Conchords,” “Community,” “Happy Endings,” “Royal Pains” and “Samantha Who?” She was recently seen in the romantic comedy What’s Your Number? opposite Chris Evans, Anna Faris and Aziz Ansari. Other film credits include Chris Rock’s I Think I Love My Wife and Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere.

Coupe won the Breakout Performer Award at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in 2006.

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SHANGHAI CALLING

BILL PAXTON (Donald) is a highly respected actor and director who has starred in such

blockbuster films as Twister, True Lies, Aliens, Tombstone, Apollo 13 and Titanic. He will next be seen in Steven Soderbergh’s action thriller Haywire, opposite Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas. On the small screen, Paxton received three Golden Globe Award® nominations for his work on the acclaimed HBO drama series “Big Love,” starring opposite Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin. He will be seen in the 2012 History Channel series “Hatfields & McCoys,” starring alongside Kevin Costner and Mare Winningham.

Paxton works on both sides of the camera. He is currently executive-producing (along with

Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman) a miniseries for HBO that will commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The miniseries is set to air on HBO in 2013.

In 2001, Paxton directed the gothic thriller Frailty, in which he also starred alongside Matthew

McConaughey. Frailty was honored with the National Board of Review’s Special Mention for Excellence in Filmmaking. In 2005, Paxton directed the sports drama The Greatest Game Ever Played, starring Shia LaBeouf. Additionally, he served as a producer on the features The Good Life and Traveller, in which he starred along with Mark Wahlberg and Julianna Margulies.

Paxton began his career as a set dresser on producer Roger Corman’s Big Bad Mama in the

mid-1970s. After working in the art department on several features, Paxton moved to New York to study acting with Stella Adler. Returning to Los Angeles in 1980, he met James Cameron while moonlighting as a set dresser on Roger Corman’s Galaxy of Terror.

After gaining critical attention in the John Hughes comedy Weird Science and Cameron’s clas-

sic Aliens, Paxton turned in a performance as a small-town sheriff in Carl Franklin’s One False Move that marked his emergence as a leading man. In 1998, Roger Ebert cited Paxton as his Best Actor choice for his turn as Hank Mitchell in Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan. That same year, Paxton received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in HBO’s “A Bright Shining Lie.”

Other film credits include U-571, Mighty Joe Young, Vertical Limit, Trespass, Indian Summer,

Near Dark, Boxing Helena, The Dark Backwards, Club Dread, The Evening Star, Streets of Fire, Frank and Jesse, Navy Seals, Predator 2, The Vagrant and Pass the Ammo.

Paxton, a native of Ft. Worth, Texas, now resides with his wife and children in California. 19

SHANGHAI CALLING

GENG LE (Awesome Wang) is an acclaimed actor best known for the critically lauded Chi-

nese films Spring Subway, Restless, Beijing Rocks and Desires of the Heart, as well as for countless television series. His acting talent and charming good looks have made him a darling across China.

ZHU ZHU (Fang Fang) is an actress, singer, model and music video host for MTV China. She

co-stars in RZA’s upcoming martial arts film The Man with the Iron Fist, alongside Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu, for producers Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth. She made her big-screen debut in the Chinese remake of What Women Want in 2010, starring opposite Andy Lau and Gong Li.

Zhu was born in Beijing but speaks fluent English. While still in middle school, she directed,

wrote and acted out “Beauty and the Beast” for her class, all in English. After being accepted at Parsons The New School for Design, she became a host on MTV and deferred her enrollment. She has hosted a number of events for luxury brands such as Dior, Bulgari, Burberry and Land Rover.

ALAN RUCK (Marcus) may be best known for his role as hopeless hypochondriac Cameron

Frye in John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, opposite Matthew Broderick, but he has turned in many other memorable performances. Ruck co-starred with Michael J. Fox on ABC’s classic sitcom “Spin City” and has been seen recently on such series as “Justified,” “Cougar Town,” “Fringe” and “Rules of Engagement.”

Ruck was born in Cleveland, where his mother taught school and his father worked for a phar-

maceutical company. At the University of Illinois, Ruck majored in theater and performed in summer stock in the area. After graduation, he headed for Chicago, where he began working with some of the area’s most prestigious theater companies, including the Wisdom Bridge Theatre, the Goodman Theatre and the Apollo Theater. In addition to starring in numerous stage productions, he was seen in the feature films Class and Bad Boys as well as the telefilms “First Steps” and “Hard Knox.”

Relocating to New York, Ruck appeared on Broadway for nine months and created the charac-

ter of Don Carney in Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues.” After director John Hughes came to see star Matthew Broderick in the show, Ruck ended up with the second lead in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Since then, Ruck’s other films have included Extraordinary Measures, I Love You Beth Cooper, 20

SHANGHAI CALLING Ghost Town, Cheaper by the Dozen, Three for the Road, Bloodhounds of Broadway, Three Fugitives, Young Guns II, Star Trek: Generations, Speed and Twister.

Television credits include a recurring role on NBC’s “Mad About You” and a co-starring role in

the ESPN miniseries “Bronx is Burning,” opposite John Turturro and Oliver Platt. Ruck was also seen in the NBC telefilm “Shooter,” the ABC comedy “Going Places,” the WB comedy “Muscle” and the Showtime sci-fi series “Outer Limits.” More recently, he played a recurring role as the dean of students on the ABC Family series “Greek.”

Ruck appeared in the first national tour of Mel Brooks’ hit musical “The Producers” in 2005. He

also appeared in the Off Broadway production “Absurd Person Singular.”

Ruck currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Mireille, and his three children.

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SHANGHAI CALLING ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

DANIEL HSIA (Writer / Director) is a filmmaker and experienced comedy writer. He has

worked as a writer for such television comedies as “Psych,” “Andy Barker, P.I.,” “Rodney” and “Four Kings.” He has also sold original pilot screenplays to Sony Pictures Television, ABC and USA Networks. Hsia wrote and directed the short films How to Do the Asian Squat and Generation Gap.

Hsia is an alumnus of Stanford University and USC’s graduate program in film production. He

currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Mary, and their dog, Jetpack.

JANET YANG (Producer) is an accomplished Hollywood producer with a long, deep relation-

ship with China. In recent years, Yang was hired by Disney to spin off its highly coveted “High School Musical” franchise for Chinese audiences. Previously, she produced the acclaimed drama Dark Matter, starring Meryl Streep and Chinese star Liu Ye. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and won the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Prize for Best Narrative Feature.

Previous credits as producer include Carl Franklin’s High Crimes, a military courtroom thriller

starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman; The Weight of Water, directed by Academy Award® winner Kathryn Bigelow and starring Oscar® -winning actor Sean Penn; and Zero Effect, a cult classic starring Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller.

From 1989 to 1996, Yang served as president of Ixtlan Corporation, the company she formed

with Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone. At Ixtlan, she produced Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt, which won Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film also garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Actor. Yang was also executive producer of Wayne Wang’s groundbreaking film The Joy Luck Club, based on the bestselling novel by Amy Tan.

Yang shared in the Emmy Award® for Outstanding Made for Television Movie won by HBO’s

“Indictment: The McMartin Trial,” which she executive-produced. The telefilm also won the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for TV.

Prior to her association with Oliver Stone, Yang got her start in production by working closely

with Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment on their historic production of Empire of the Sun, which filmed in China. 22

SHANGHAI CALLING

Yang began her career in Hollywood when she represented Universal, Paramount and MGM/

UA in brokering the first sale of American studio films to China since 1949. Before joining MCA/Universal, Yang served as the president of World Entertainment. During this time, she gained the distribution rights to films produced in mainland China, including those of such internationally prominent filmmakers as Yimou Zhang and Kaige Chen.

Yang holds a B.A. in Chinese studies from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Columbia

University. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the Committee of 100. She is an advisory board member of Asia Society Southern California.

Yang has been named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood” by The Hollywood

Reporter and featured in articles appearing in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and Variety. She has appeared on numerous television and radio shows throughout the U.S. and China, including CCTV and Beijing TV.

Yang is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. She currently splits her time between Los Angeles and

China.

ARMANDO SALAS (Director of Photography) won the prestigious American Society of

Cinematographers (ASC) Heritage Award in 2002. His credits include Cocaine Cowboys, an Official Selection of the 2006 TriBeCa Film Festival; Dark Mirror, IFC’s top on-demand film of 2009; Sailfish, and the hit Chinese romantic comedy Sophie’s Revenge. His music video credits include Katy Perry, Jason Mraz, and Josh Groban. Shanghai Calling is the third feature film that Salas has shot in China.

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SHANGHAI CALLING



KLAUS BADELT (Composer) is best known for his franchise-defining score to Disney’s

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, as well as his film score work for directors Wolfgang Petersen, Michael Mann, Richard Donner, Francis Lawrence, and producer Harvey Weinstein. In 2008, Badelt was honored to be the only western composer invited to write music for the opening and closing ceremonies of the XXIX Olympic Games held in Beijing, China.

In addition to working on large-scale projects, Badelt also routinely works with independent

filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Kaige Chen, and John Madden. A truly global film composer, Badelt main recording studios in Paris, Beijing, and his home of Santa Monica, California. Having a variety of places to work out of allows Badelt to always be close to the filmmakers with whom he is collaborating. “It’s not just about the music,” says Badelt. “I see myself as a filmmaker. I just happen to write music.”

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