The White Countess News

10/30/2004 Guess who’s coming to dinner?
SAVOIR FAIRE By Mayenne Carmona
The Philippine STAR

Darling girl, look your prettiest for tonight’s dinner, I have a surprise for you!" China’s porcelain beauty, TV icon and cosmetic queen Yue Sai Kan, excitedly told me, as she welcomed me to her brand new tastefully appointed palatial home located in the heart of Shanghai. Clueless as to who the surprise mystery person was, I nevertheless took extra effort in the looks department and made sure I was given an A+ grade by my hostess. We relaxed over a glass of champagne before the mystery guests arrived. Yue Sai would not as much give me a clue who the special guests were but promised that I would be seated next to the man of honor.

My heart skipped a beat when the doorbell rang and a tall, blue eyed, dreamboat of a man walked in, followed by a few other people who did not seem to matter to me. The introductions were done, and Ralph Fiennes, yes, the Ralph Fiennes of The English Patient, The End of the Affair and Maid in Manhattan fame, (am rattling off my favorite movies of his) sat next to me during the pre-dinner drinks and during dinner.

The dinner party consisted of the cast of The White Countess, a movie currently being filmed in Shanghai in its entirety. James Ivory is the director, Ishmail Merchant is the producer, Natasha Richardson plays the a Russian refugee who Ralph falls in love with, Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha’s real life mother, and Lynn Redgrave, Vanessa’s younger sister, both are in the cast as Russian immigrants, and Ralph Fiennes himself plays an American diplomat. They are a bunch of heavyweights in the film industry. James Ivory have made 47 films in 42 years. He received an Oscar for his movie The Remains of the Day. Ishmail Merchant made about 40something movies, like Howard’s End, which won several awards, A Room with a View and recently Le Divorce. Natasha Richardson won the Tony Award as best leading actress for her role in Cabaret. She is married to the actor Liam Neeson. Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave need no introduction. They are veteran thespians and movie stars. Ralph Fiennes was last seen in Maid in Manhattan, but he is best known for his role in The English Patient. I liked him best as Julianne Moore’s passionate lover in The End of the Affair.

Ralph enthusiastically explained to me the story line of the movie The White Countess. He plays an American diplomat who tragically met an accident in one of the uprisings in Shanghai and goes blind.

For his role as a blind man, he told me he went to the Britain’s Royal Society for the Blind and studied the actions of one blind man. It was very interesting when he said that this blind man would even look at the person he is talking with giving the illusion that he is not blind.

He also had to get rid of his English accent and had to speak with an American accent. This was not difficult for him at all as in Maid in Manhattan, he played the role of an American senator and had to speak in American English.

There is a coach for accents in this movie, in the person of Allen Brooks. Mr. Brooks mastered in accents in a special course in Harvard and for this film he made sure that every actor spoke with the accent of their roles.

I will not preempt the readers joy by giving the story of this movie. But it is romantic, a bit tragic, with a lot of history because the setting is Shanghai circa 1930. During the dinner, I was seated between Natasha Richardson and Ralph. Natasha was wearing a sexy white cheongsam with red flowers, which complimented her tall, slim figure. She was enjoying the shopping in Shanghai. She is a natural, not pretentious and very down to earth. She enjoyed telling me about the various bargains she had bought. She was looking forward to the visit of her husband, Liam Neeson in mid-November.

I noticed that she and Ralph had very good appetites and ate most of the Chinese dishes that were served them. They were not finicky at all and even tried all the spicy sauces that went well with the dishes. I managed to sneak in a text to my sister Marisa and asked her what I could ask Ralph as I was at a loss for words. She answered back, "Just look at his deep blue eyes and don’t bother to talk." Indeed, his eyes were like pools of clear blue waters, with a lot of kindness in them.

I mastered enough guts to ask him some personal questions and he answered them good-naturedly. One of the quotable quotes from him was "I am a nonbeliever of marriage. I was married once and it was a catastrophe. I enjoy a close relationship with a woman, but it does not have to lead to marriage."

He also told me that he admired J. Lo, his leading lady in Maid in Manhattan, as an actress and she was very professional. But he did not have much chemistry with her off the set. He had great chemistry with Juliette Binoche, the leading lady in The English Patient, and Julianne Moore, his leading lady in The End of the Affair. Until now, he is enjoying a great friendship with the both of them.

After the dinner, everyone went back to their respective hotels except Ralph Fiennes. He opted to go to a party with me and Yue Sai.

At the party, the real Ralph Fiennes surfaced. It was a character study of a big star in communication with a world outside the realm of Hollywood. He was very gentlemanly, he had no airs, he was accommodating to all the fans who wanted to pose with him. And he did not snub the paparazzi. He did not run away from them and allowed them to take his photo.

The treat of the evening was watching him dance. He was a good dancer and he danced to his heart’s delight, not declining anybody who wanted to dance with him. He did not discriminate and danced with the young and the young at heart. He definitely captured everyone’s heart with his inimitable charm.

In the wee hours of the morning, we brought him back to his hotel. He kissed both me and Yue Sai good night and thanked us for a very enjoyable evening. His good night words to me were so memorable and are still ringing in my ears: "Good night my darling, thank you for such a wonderful evening". And then he gave me two kisses on both cheeks. I told Yue Sai I was not washing my cheeks that night to keep the kisses intact. She found me so hilarious but I didn’t care. Frankly, I was up in the clouds and it was a wonderful feeling.

The next day, I was invited to the set of The White Countess. The casting director for the western cast, Patrick Kelly, met me and toured me around. It was a scene in the nightclub where Natasha R. worked and where she and Ralph met.

The set was opulent and the club girls were dressed to the nines. Circa 1930 was the age of opulence in Shanghai. The nightclub girls were dressed in long gowns and had plumes on their hair.

The owner of the nightclub played by Chinese actor Lin Dong Fu, was dressed in tuxedo to emphasize the ostentatious style of the era. Natasha had her hair in rollers when I arrived and as she was waiting for her hairdresser, she took time to explain her role to me. Ralph was also preparing for his scene but greeted me warmly with a resounding hug and kiss.

After two hours in the set talking to the major and minor players, I bid them adieu. They made me promise to bring all my friends to watch The White Countess when it comes out on the magic screen! You bet I would not miss it for the world, I said.

Ralph Fiennes brought me all the way to the car and as we waved goodbye to each other, I wondered if I would ever see him again outside of the silver screen. All of a sudden, the pervading idea that celebrities are snobs and unapproachable became a myth to me. These bunch of celebrities I just met were as down to earth as you and me! I boarded my flight for Manila that night with a song in my heart.

10/23/04 White Countess, No Steamy Love Scenes

Shanghai Daily news

Internationally acclaimed movie production house Merchant Ivory has brought 1930s Shanghai back to life in the film 'The White Countess,' writes Jin Haili.
Every morning when director James Ivory travels through the downtown hustle and bustle on his way to work, he
always winds down the car window and gazes at the buildings and the people around - the 76-year-old film-maker says there's always a new inspiration waiting to be discovered.

Ivory is in Shanghai to film "The White Countess," the first movie he's making in the city in his 40-year career. Filming started earlier this month, and "Countess" is a joint production between the Shanghai Film Group Corp and Merchant Ivory Productions.The screenplay is based on Japanese writer Kazuo Ishiguro's original script and the story is set in the late 1930s when a blind former American diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) develops a curious relationship with a young Russian refugee (Natasha Richardson). She has been reduced to making a living at the city's bars to support members of her dead husband's aristocratic family.

The film is supposed to be a sumptuous picture that moves from the grand clubs and spacious parks of old Shanghai's powerful foreign elite - the Americans, British and French vying for supremacy - to the squalid neighborhoods where the Russian and Jewish refugees have settled.
Despite the remarkable features of the 1930s decadence, Ivory emphasizes that the film is more about an impression of Shanghai during that special pre-war period than the telling of a realistic story.

"I hope we can do justice to the so-called 'decadence of old Shanghai' and, in fact, I don't think it was decadent since it seems to me that Shanghai was emerging enormously as a modern city and people were having a very good time," says Ivory who has been nominated three times at Academy Award for Best Director with "A Room with a View" (1985), "Howard's End" (1992) and "The Remains of the Day" (1993).
This is the 47th film to come from Merchant Ivory, a film production company established on Ivory's more-than-40-year partnership with producer Ismail Merchant. The duo are most famous for their Edwardian and other period masterpieces, including "Heat and Dust (1983), "A Room with a View," "Maurice" (1987), "Howard's End," "The Remains of the Day" and "The Golden Bowl" (2000).

While most overseas productions of Shanghai-themed movies have been shot in Hollywood studio, the real backdrop of the Bund is a luxury for a filmmaker, but it also raises the question if today's international metropolis, with skyscrapers mushrooming and the traffic flowing all the time, can accurately replicate a fraction of the nostalgic memories of the city that existed in the 1930s.
"We have also had the same problem when shooting films elsewhere and my experience is that as an observer of the city, you just open your eyes and ears to feel and understand if you've got the passion for exploring the place," says the director. "I have learned a new way of making movies since I came to Shanghai and I think we will be able to accomplish everything we want if we keep our minds open."

Apart from Ivory's stated confidence, the movie has some other notable features that will help ensure it has an authentic Shanghai flavor. The director of photography, Chris Doyle, is known for his collaboration with Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai on the movie "In the Mood for Love," a 1960s love tale with Shanghai dialect. And both Fiennes and Richardson are reading novels about the 1930s Shanghai to get their characters right.

"It's an extraordinary opportunity for all of us, especially on behalf of the English-Europeans, to have the chance to take part in such a great movie," says the dashing Fiennes, hero of the multi-award-winning film, "The English Patient." Also the star of "Maid in Manhattan," "Red Dragon," "The End of the Affair" and "Schindler's List," Fiennes was the first choice for the role of the self-obsessive diplomat.
"Shanghai beats like the bass line of a beautiful melody in this story, where two people meet and develop a strong affection, yet audience will see hardly a kiss. It is a true love story without the bedroom scenes," Fiennes says.

For Chinese supporting actors Wang Luoyong and Ying Da, the film has opened for them a new perspective on cultural misplacement. The ex-Broadway musical performer Wang once used "A Room with a View" as English-learning material and he describes his role of the diplomat's assistant as a pair of eyes witnessing the adventure of an Anglo-Saxon on a new continent.
Wang's local background also helps during the filming. When shooting a Peking Opera scene, the "audience" didn't dare to cheer and applaud since no one asked them to do so.

"Mr Ivory felt something was wrong and he asked me if this was correct," Wang recalls. "I explained to him what a real Peking Opera scene was like and he said, 'Okay, I want it.' Cultural contrasts are not the focus of the movie but it is still a crucial issue the producing team has to handle and I appreciate the efforts the director has made, which reflects his very serious and critical attitude."
Extra performer Benedict Porter is also deeply impressed by the producing team's artistic ethic. The young Australian regards the city as his cultural homeland as his grandmother was a Shanghai native. On hearing the news that the movie was looking for foreign extras, he applied at once.

"The director cared about every detail, including the way the extras walked, talked or even waved a hat. He asked us not to overact as we were in a Hollywood movie since we were presenting the Shanghai of the 1930s when people were more conservative," says Porter. "It has taken me a whole day to finish the shooting but it was very exciting. Merchant Ivory has a long reputation for re-creating the period of the stories they are filming and they have done it again this time."

"The White Countess" has a budget of around US$30 million from Merchant Ivory and another US$1.2 million from the local film group and filming in Shanghai is scheduled to finish by the end of the year.

"Co-investment can ensure a profit in the local market," says Ren Zhonglun, president of the local film group, "and it can also guarantee that the local market will not ignore the movie but love it as its own 'baby.' This kind of joint production is a shortcut for the Chinese film industry to attain a more professional standard and hopefully it will open the door for many future co-productions in China."

10/17/04 New Photos from the Set of the White Countess
Thanks to Misha on the forum for finding these gems:
See them on the photo page or go to the websites:

http://ent.sina.com.cn/2004-10-15/1222533809.html

http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/f/f/bojfr/index.html

http://ent.sina.com.cn/download/photo/bojfr.html


10/08/04 Press Conference in Shanghai click here for Part 1

Press Conference Part 2
(requires windows media viewer)
From http://www.monkeypeaches.com/

October 8, 2004
From Yahoo News
Latest Merchant Ivory film begins shooting in Shanghai

Filmmakers Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, famed for their lush period
dramas, have begun shooting their 47th film in Shanghai with stars Ralph
Fiennes and Natasha Richardson.

Set in the vibrant, cosmopolitan city of the 1930s, "The White Countess,"
portrays the relationship between a blind, disillusioned former American
diplomat played by Fiennes and Richardson's exiled Russian countess.

"It's not strictly a realistic film. It's more an impression of the city,"
director Ivory told reporters on Friday.

The film marks a return to the pair's trademark period dramas after a
diversion into modern farce with last year's "Le Divorce." It's also a
reunion with scriptwriter Kazuo Ishiguro, whose novel "The Remains of the
Day" was made into a movie that won Merchant and Ivory one of their three
Academy Awards.

Shooting began two weeks ago using city landmarks from the era, the art deco
hotels and hulking stone bank buildings of the riverside Bund that predate
the communist revolution of 1949.

Sets at the Shanghai Film Studio portray the bars, shops and nightclubs of
the city just before the 1937 Japanese invasion when it was a haven for
Western adventurers and refugees from Soviet Russia and European fascism.

"We have just seen some of the rushes and we feel very elated," said
producer Merchant, wearing the traditional white tunic of his native India.

Fiennes said he prepared for the role by spending time observing a blind
man's average day with the help of Britain's Royal Society for the Blind.

"To be making a film in Shanghai about Shanghai in the 1930s is a great
chance to explore interaction between cultures," the two-time Academy Award
nominee said.

Camera Starts Rolling For James Ivory's THE WHITE COUNTESS In Shanghai (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

October 2, 2004
Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson. (Xinmin Evening News.)

Actually the shooting has started for a week. The White Countess is set in Shanghai from 1936 to 1937. Ralph Fiennes plays a blind former American diplomat, who dreams of opening a nightclub called The White Countess. Natasha Richardson portrays an exiled White Russian countess, who worked hard to support her late husband's aristocratic family, through prostitution and driving a taxi. The story centers around the relationship between them. Ralph Fiennes is required to speak some Chinese in Shanghai accent, something he has to learn on the set. Wong Kar-Wai's Aussie buddy Christopher Doyle is on board as the director of cinematography. Budgeted at near US$30 million, the project is produced by Merchant Ivory Production and Shanghai Film Studios. The latter invested about US$1.2 million in exchange for the copyrights in China. John Lone, Jiang Wen, Zheng Hao, Kimura Takuya and Simon Yam were contacted for joining the cast and now the offer goes to veteran actor Sun Daolin and former Broadway actor Wang Luoyong. Another Chinese actor Xia Yu is also in negotiation for a role. To be qualified as a co-production, according to Chinese law, the cast must includes a few Chinese actors, with Chinese citizenship. The cast also includes Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, John Wood and Madeleine Potter.

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