A “Creating God” Experience of Chinese Film Industry and Aesthetics: Conversation with Wuershan, Director of Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms

Abstract

Wuershan is a well-known Chinese film director, screenwriter, and producer, who is known for his directorial blockbusters The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordman (Daojianxiao, 2011); Painted Skin: The Resurrection (HuapiⅡ, 2012); Mojin: The Lost Legend (Guichuideng Zhi Xunlongjue, 2015); and Creation of the Gods Ⅰ: Kingdom of Storms (Feng shen: zhao ge feng yun, 2023). This interview was conducted between Wuershan and Xuguang Chen on October 12th, 2023 in Wuershan’s Director Studio, Beijing. In this in-depth interview, they focused on the experience of the Chinese film industry and the aesthetics of Creation of the Gods Ⅰ: Kingdom of Storms. First, they discussed industrialized operations of filmmaking in terms of film creativity, screenwriting, production, and casting. Second, they emphasized the classical aesthetic elements involved in the movie, including selection criteria and their creative transformation, and the inheritance and innovation of traditional values. They also analyzed the characters and stories of the movie in the third part, which are derived from Chinese historical texts, and rewritten to meet the requirements of both a mythological movie framework and the contemporary times. And then they explored the role of technology in cinema, the place of authorship within the system, and the consumption of imaginative films. In the end, they discussed the issue of cross-media operations and the international communication of Chinese films.