Chinese director Zhang Yimou's upcoming movie The City of Golden Armor is a copy of director Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet, TOM.com said in a Sunday Web posting, quoting entertainment business sources.

 

Scripts: royal power struggle

 

Night Revels of Han Xizai, a scroll painted in the 10th century by Gu Hongzhong, is the source for Feng's movie The Banquet. The film, starring Zhang Ziyi and positioned as the "Chinese version of Hamlet," has been wrapped up and is due out in October.

 

Golden Armor is inspired by the modern Chinese play Thunderstorm, a classic tragedy from playwright Cao Yu. However, the Zhang Yimou film is also set in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

 

Both the movies involve a Tang Dynasty power struggle between the emperor, the empress and the prince.

 

Roles: two empresses

 

Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi both play the leading role of empress in the two movies. According to Wang Zhonglei, president of Huayi Brothers, the production company of The Banquet, he had planned to cast Gong Li as empress, but Gong was not available. Gong is now the lead in Golden Armor.

 

Plot: fornication between stepmother and son

 

What matters is the plot. In The Banquet, the emperor (Ge You) usurps the throne and marries the beautiful young empress, Wan (Zhang Ziyi). The prince (Daniel Wu) loves his stepmother, so he plans to get revenge for what the emperor and Wan have done. Golden Armor also involves the ill-fated romances between the emperor (Chow Yun-fat), the empress (Gong Li) and a prince (Liu Ye).

 

Producers: just coincidence

 

Commenting on the "plot crash," Golden Armor producer Zhang Weiping, said: "The script was completed three years ago. It is definitely not a copy." Zhang is still working on the movie, which will be released early next year.

 

Huayi's Wang Zhonglei said whether or not the two productions share plots, nothing will affect the release of The Banquet in early October.

 

(Shenzhen Daily March 21, 2006)