Bruce Willis has joined the expanding roster of American stars who have headed East to take part in expensive foreign language productions.
The Bombing is a true life World War II tale seen from the viewpoint of the citizens of Chongqing, the Chinese city beset by relentless Japanese bombing raids. These lasted an astonishing half a decade. Willis will play an American volunteer who teaches young pilot Song Seung-heon how to take the fight to the skies.
Willis’s participation is an acknowledgement of the Chinese market’s importance to Hollywood, where audience attendance ranks as the second largest in the world. While we’re accustomed to Asian actors taking the trip to America, the trend now is for talent to flow in the other direction. John Cusack, Adrien Brody, Nicolas Cage and Christian Bale have chanced their arm where the Die Hard star now treads. The actor flew to Shanghai earlier this week to shoot his scenes over eight days.
China Film Group funded the project together with private investment and their aim is to get the movie into cinemas by the end of the year. This should synch it with the 70th anniversary of the conflict. The Bombing is directed by Xiao Feng.
