James Guymon Composes Sample Music For Empires Of The Deep

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: James Guymon / Jonathan Lawrence / The Empires of the Deep Crew / Undead Backbrain / Avery Guerra

For some time now I have been posting updates for a very ambitious film project from China called "Empires of the Deep." The film, which is being produced under the direction of Jonathan Lawrence with an American and Chinese crew, is the most expensive movie to ever be shot in southern Asia.

Here is the film's synopsis:

For thousands of years, legends of beautiful mermaids have enchanted people from all over the globe. Their fascinating and mysterious world has always captured the imagination of humans. In film history, there hasn’t been a single movie that has uncovered and explored this mystical world. What secrets lurk beneath the depths? And why do beautiful mermaids seduce human men? “Mermaid Island” (.....Empire of the Deep?) is the first underwater fantasy film to unveil and answer these questions.

As you can imagine, such an undertaking has had more than its share of problems. With an international cast and crew there are bound to be communication problems, and from what has been spilling out on the website, Undead Backbrain, it can only be assumed that tensions may be coming to a head.

More on that in a moment.

First off, though, I wanted to touch on some more positive news about the film. It seems that composer James Guymon has been hired to orchestrate some 'sample' music for "Empires of the Deep." Though, Guymon has not been hired, yet, to work on the films final score, his work does give us an idea of what Lawrence and his staff are looking for musically.

Guymon has created a website that features his conceptual music for "Empires" and is presently inviting fan feed-back. Check that out here - http://vergefilms.com/james/mi/mi.html

It's some pretty good stuff I have to tell you!

Now to the "Jerry Springer" style complaining that has surfaced over at the Undead Backbrain website.

It seems that some of the disgruntled crew has chosen Robert Hood's site to air out some of their differences with Lawrence and the producer Jiang Hongyu.

Here are a few choice comments:

"Unfortunately, Jiang, the writer and money man, is pushing the whole project to the brink of destruction, due to his inexperience and by the very poor and dishonest way he is treating everybody, not honoring contracts, etc. "

"Jiang needs to be fired. He is completely irresponsible in constantly trying to force the actors and crew to jeopardize their health and safety by shooting in dangerous locations and conditions, in order to cover up for his mistakes and his lack of movie production knowledge. He is currently driving this entire production into the ground and is risking losing all the talented people he tricked into joining this production through his lies. I too wish to remain anonymous, but I can assure you that I speak from direct experience on set and for all cast and crew."

"....Jiang has got to be Ed Wood incarnate. And if he has his way this ‘would be’ summer blockbuster will be little more than a featured ditty on Mystery Science Theater."

So far, it has only been Lawrence that has posted any replies to these complaints, and he has chosen to take the high road with his comments, "....I think this is a great place (Undead Backbrain) for fans to meet and the crew to vent – When my contract ends I might exercise that luxury as well..."

It is hard to really gauge just how much any of this stuff will have on the finished product. Normally, on just about any set, there is some sort of fighting that takes place behind the scenes that people never hear about, yet quality work still manages to get done in spite of everything.

You really have to know a lot about how the Asian film industry works to get a real feel for this. Asian film productions are done in a different time frame, with different production techniques than American or European films.

Productions are normally 'rushed' with with a real desire to get the film from pre-production to post-production, and ultimately into the theater in as little time as possible.

A fine example of this are Japanese films that go from concept to finished film in a year or less.

In contrast, American and European films can take up to three years to make.

And lets not even get into the whole budget mess, Asian films cost almost nothing to make compared against the price of Hollywood productions.

So, trying to mesh these different concepts together is bound to be a nightmare for everyone involved.

If all this stuff gets worked out, "Empires of the Deep" could be spectacular!

Hey, at least it looks like the music will be good!

See Also: "Empires Of The Deep" Filming 'Finally' On Schedule / Bai Ling Is One Killer Mermaid In 'Hydrophobia' / Monica Bellucci Replaces Sharon Stone On Empires Of The Deep / Spend Your Valentine's Day Surrounded By Sexy Bikini Girls...Green Mutant Killer Bikini Girls / Bikini Monsters Scare Up Some Press In St Petersburg And Tampa - Exclusive New Photos! / It's Bikini Monster Girls Gone Wild! / Bikini Monsters - Posters, Behind The Scenes And Make Up Tests Oh My

"Empires Of The Deep" Filming 'Finally' On Schedule

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Undead Backbrain / Avery Guerra / Press Release

"Empires of the Deep" is without a doubt the most ambitious fantasy film that has ever been attempted in China, so it wouldn't be too surprising to assume that the project would run into a mountain of obstacles ever before filming was slated to begin.

Indeed "Empires" has already had a major casting change, Monica Bellucci replacing the disgruntled Sharon Stone as the Mermaid Queen, and director change, Jonathan Lawrence stepping in for the Frenchman, Pitof.

Due to this turmoil, filming was pushed back to November of 2009, and is now slated to be completed by late March of this year.

Here is a bit from the E-magine Studios press release about the film:

“Jonathan Lawrence is uniquely suited to direct this epic adventure,” said producer Mark Byers. “His previous films integrate visual effects seamlessly into the story instead of treating them like add-ons, and his global experience allows him to interface with the all-Chinese crew without a hitch.”

Written by Jiang Hongyu, and produced by Jiang, Byers, and Harrison Liang, the US $50 million (reports now have the films budget at $100 million) Empire of the Deep is set in ancient Greece and tells the story of a band of Greek sailors who discover a secret underwater kingdom of mermaids, and must join forces to combat a dark evil that threatens both mermaid and human civilizations.

Even though the story is set in the Greek isles, the picture will be shot entirely in China, on sound stages in Beijing, and exotic seaside locations in Fujian and Hainan provinces, making it one of the first Chinese productions based on an entirely Western story.

“It is an honor to be part of this groundbreaking production, and a great experience to work with such a world-class Chinese crew,” said Lawrence. “Mr. Jiang has an extraordinary vision, and I’m excited to bring his epic story to the big screen.”

Produced by Beijing production company E-magine Studios, Empire of the Deep features extensive visual effects that will set it on the level of a Hollywood studio production, further enhancing the picture’s uniqueness in Chinese cinema.

Actress Liang Yanfei, has been cast as the films heroine, or main mermaid as you will, alongside an international cast including Irishman, Tom Archdeacon and Alec Su.

Over the past decade Asian cinema has taken major strides in forming a solid base to compete with Hollywood, and with a good cast, creative creature design, elaborate sets, stunning effects, and a good story to work from, "Empires of the Deep" could end up being China's answer to "Avatar". Though it would be hard to gauge at this point how much, if any impact the film will have on the west, or international cinema markets.

At least, at this point, unless suddenly Jonathan Lawrence pulls out to shoot another American TV movie, or actress Monica Bellucci publicly disagrees with Chinese politics, "Empires" will continue moving along as planned and should finish on schedule. As it stands, that, in upon itself is an incredible accomplishment for a film that has been in a various states of flux since it was first conceived of way back in 2006.

For the early production artwork it is easy to see why visually, "Empires of the Deep" could be spectacular.

Here are a few examples:

See Also: Bai Ling Is One Killer Mermaid In 'Hydrophobia' / Monica Bellucci Replaces Sharon Stone On Empires Of The Deep / Spend Your Valentine's Day Surrounded By Sexy Bikini Girls...Green Mutant Killer Bikini Girls / Bikini Monsters Scare Up Some Press In St Petersburg And Tampa - Exclusive New Photos! / It's Bikini Monster Girls Gone Wild! / Bikini Monsters - Posters, Behind The Scenes And Make Up Tests Oh My

Monica Bellucci Replaces Sharon Stone On Empires Of The Deep

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Undead Backbrain / Avery Guerra

Over the past few decades relations between the United States and China have sometimes been tense. There have been moments of turmoil and misunderstandings on both sides of the Pacific, but ultimately things have always worked out because each side really needs the other to survive, politically and financially.

Is it any wonder that a joint American and Chinese fantasy movie project, once called "Mermaid Island", now titled, "Empires of the Deep", would also face it's own share of turmoil, and political incorrectness?

The once touted role of the Mermaid Queen in the film once belonged to none other than acclaimed American actress Sharon Stone, well that is, until she made some public remarks about a major earthquake in China being the result of bad karma inflicted on the country due to its horrible treatment of the Tibetan people.

Needless to say, the actresses' comments didn't sit too well with the Chinese film makers so they said goodbye to Sharon Stone.

In her place comes the very buxom Italian actress Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions) who will take over as the Mermaid Queen alongside Chinese actress Liang Yanfei, Tom Archdeacon and Alec Su.

Also gone is the film's original director, Frenchman, Pitof (aka Jean-Christophe Comar)(Alien: Resurrection, Catwoman), who has now been replaced by Jonathan Lawrence, who's resume is rather short and contains lesser know titles such as the made for TV movie, "Hope for the Holidays".

On the upside, the film's budget has recently been increased from $50 million to $100 million, which will allow for a more wider range of visual effects.

Here is the film's synopsis:

For thousands of years, legends of beautiful mermaids have enchanted people from all over the globe. Their fascinating and mysterious world has always captured the imagination of humans. In film history, there hasn’t been a single movie that has uncovered and explored this mystical world. What secrets lurk beneath the depths? And why do beautiful mermaids seduce human men? “Mermaid Island” (.....Empire of the Deep?) is the first underwater fantasy film to unveil and answer these questions.

The film promises a good dose of monsters, wizards, beautiful undersea kingdoms and sexy mermaids. Here are a couple of conceptual images from "Empire of the Deep":