Why are directors 'afraid' to make a movie of Kim Dung's extremely good novel?

June 18, 2021 14:11

Although Kim Dung's novel "The Sword of the Vietnamese Woman" is very famous, it has only been made into a film once. Up to now, no director has dared to remake it. Why?

When it comes to martial arts novels, you will probably think of Jin Yong. His works are constantly adapted into television series, and even remade over and over again.

However, among Kim Dung's martial arts novels, there is a very good series, not inferior to The Condor Heroes or The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, but it has only been adapted once, that is the series Viet Nu Kiem.

Vì sao các đạo diễn 'sợ' dựng thành phim bộ tiểu thuyết cực hay của Kim Dung? - 1
Writer Kim Dung

Many fans of Kim Dung's martial arts novels rate the quality of this series as very attractive, worthy of being one of Kim Dung's most outstanding works, and don't understand why directors don't adapt it.

The Sword of the Vietnamese Goddess tells the story of Fan Li and A Qing. Fan Li was dissatisfied with the politics of the Chu state, so he turned to help King Goujian of Yue destroy the Wu state. During this process, Fan Li met a beautiful woman with extraordinary swordsmanship, A Qing, and was caught in a love triangle with her and Xi Shi.

Vì sao các đạo diễn 'sợ' dựng thành phim bộ tiểu thuyết cực hay của Kim Dung? - 2
The character A Thanh is played by actor Ly Trai Phuong.

In 1986, Hong Kong Television produced the film Viet Nu Kiem with the participation of famous actors Ly Trai Phuong and Nhac Hoa. However, in this film, the character Tay Thi never appeared but only "lived" in the dialogue of other actors. The female lead A Thanh is a shepherdess who is not only beautiful and elegant but also has an extremely strong personality, extremely high martial arts skills, considered the beauty with the highest martial arts skills in the world of Kim Dung's novels.

Vì sao các đạo diễn 'sợ' dựng thành phim bộ tiểu thuyết cực hay của Kim Dung? - 3
Lee Trai Phuong

If compared, martial arts geniuses like Little Dragon Girl, Dragon Saber Girl, Huang Rong, Yellow Shirt Girl... all lost to A Thanh. A Thanh is considered the female version of the Invincible.

To make this film, the Hong Kong producer chose the actors very carefully, however, because of the lack of the character Xi Shi, the film was not very successful.

Later, a film expert pointed out that the reason directors did not dare to remake the film Viet Nu Kiem was because A Thanh was a very difficult character to take on.

Vì sao các đạo diễn 'sợ' dựng thành phim bộ tiểu thuyết cực hay của Kim Dung? - 4
Ly Trai Phuong is so far the only actor who has played A Thanh.

She is described as being extremely beautiful, and her martial arts do not follow any school. All of her moves are her own creations, but beyond that, it is very difficult to imagine. If she tries to adapt it, the martial arts director will have to spend a lot of effort to create the details, but it is not certain that it will satisfy the audience and fans of Jin Yong's martial arts novels.

Moreover, the character Xi Shi is already a beauty icon in the imagination of the audience, one of the four great beauties of ancient China. Finding an actress who can meet the audience's expectations is also too difficult.

In the novel, A Thanh fell in love with Pham Lai and then realized that the man she had given her love to only had Tay Thi in his heart. This made A Thanh jealous and had murderous intent. However, when he saw Tay Thi, A Thanh was convinced by her beauty and backed off, fulfilling Pham Lai and Tay Thi.

Many experts believe that the images of both A Thanh and Tay Thi described in the novel would be extremely difficult to find in real life. Therefore, directors give up the difficult and choose the easy, looking for novels that are easier to adapt.

According to VTC

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Why are directors 'afraid' to make a movie of Kim Dung's extremely good novel?