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Matt Glasby

This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions.
By the mid-2010s, China had become the second biggest film market in the world. It was also opening up to Western influences, increasing the number of foreign films that could be shown per year.
To capitalise, production companies such as DMG Entertainment began making films that would, they hoped, appeal to both American and Chinese viewers.
Styling itself as the gatekeeper between Beijing and Hollywood, DMG Entertainment had a clear plan. It would make bold, distinctive sci-fi films with elements that would make them saleable around the world.


In the case of 2012’s Looper this meant the presence of action megastar Bruce Willis, while 2013’s Iron Man 3 combined internationally recognisable IP with brief appearances from Wang Xueqi and Fan Bingbing. Both films were critical and financial successes.
Still, the 2014 film Transcendence was an even bigger swing. Although the plan was to release it on the same day in America and China, creating a global cinema event, its appeal was more limited than DMG realised.
Named on 2012’s Black List, a survey of the best unproduced screenplays, Jack Paglen’s knotty script was well regarded in the industry. But in other respects it was a tough sell: a talky, techy drama about the dangers of AI, then in its infancy.
Equally, director Wally Pfister must have seemed like a safe pair of hands, having worked as Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer on the likes of Memento, The Dark Knight trilogy and Inception, winning an Oscar for the latter.
Yet Transcendence would be his directorial debut, and a complex one at that.

The plot concerns married scientists Will (Johnny Depp) and Evelyn Caster (Rebecca Hall), who are working on a sentient computer which will ultimately surpass human intelligence – Will calls this transcendence.
In protest, he is shot by a terrorist group called Rift, for Revolutionary Independence From Technology. Before he dies, Evelyn uploads his personality to the computer, despite dire warnings from their friend Max (Paul Bettany).
But at what point does Will end and the AI begin, and can anyone halt the process?
Whatever you make of that plot summary – and it’s still confusing after you’ve seen the film – Transcendence is a risky proposition.
Depp, not yet a box office pariah, commanded a US$20 million fee – plus a rumoured 15 per cent of the film’s gross – for very little screen time. Although excellent, the rest of the cast, including Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara and Cillian Murphy, were hardly marquee names.

Publicity for the film went into overdrive. Depp travelled to Beijing for a two-day promotional tour, a feat so unusual that The Hollywood Reporter ran an entire feature about it.
While there, he jammed with rock star David Tao, made sculptures with artist Ren Zhe, and took part in a round-table discussion with Chinese actors and fashion designers – not to mention DMG Entertainment chief executive Dan Mintz.
“China has a lot to offer Hollywood,” said Depp. “There is a level of art, aeons of culture here. We can learn a lot from each other.”
However, the problem with spending so much money on an untested product soon became clear. Transcendence tanked in North America, making just US$23 million against a US$100-US$150 million budget.
It did only slightly better elsewhere in the world, making US$20.2 million in China compared to Iron Man 3’s US$121.2 million.

In retrospect, it is easy to see why it failed. While Iron Man 3 and Looper featured Chinese actors and scenes shot in mainland China and/or Hong Kong, Transcendence has nothing of the sort, even though it would have been very easy to do.
Pfister’s visuals are beautiful and Paglen’s ideas are ahead of their time. But there’s a lot of dialogue – the scene in which Will sets out his beliefs is effectively a TED talk (with a cameo from Elon Musk no less) – and very little action, which makes it hard for overseas viewers to follow.
It’s a film that trades in big, tricky-to-explain concepts. So does the work of Nolan, but he uses visual cues to make them simple to grasp – think of the tattoos in Memento or the hero’s spinning top in Inception.
Nolan also started small with his black-and-white 1998 debut Following, rather than attempting a huge international blockbuster and ending up way out of his depth.

DMG’s release plan could have changed things forever, but Transcendence was not the right project, and Pfister – who has never directed another film – was not the right man.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


How Hollywood sci-fi movie Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp, flopped in China

The unlikely story behind Mr Potato Head

Who is Dawn Olivieri? The Yellowstone actress played ruthless lawyer Sarah Atwood – the latest character to be killed off after Kevin Costner’s John Dutton in Paramount’s neo-Western show

4 fashion and art books to grace your coffee table, about Diane Keaton and Iris Apfel’s inimitable styles, legendary Japanese artist Hokusai, and French sculptor and fashion designer Madame Grès

American cinema

Johnny Depp in a still from Transcendence, the Hollywood sci-fi film that failed to excite audiences in China. Photo: Golden Scene

Johnny Depp (right) and director Walter Pfister in Los Angeles during a tour to promote Transcendence. Photo: Zach Cordner/Invision/AP

Johnny Depp as Will Caster (centre) and Rebecca Hall as Evelyn Caster (right) in a still from Transcendence.

Depp in a still from Transcendence.

(From left) Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Rebecca Hall in a still from Transcendence.

Why Jackie Chan hated doing The Protector movie, a 1985 Hong Kong-US co-production

Jackie Chan in a still from The Protector, one of the Hong Kong martial arts actor’s many attempts to crack the US market before finally having success with Rumble in the Bronx (1995).

Danny Aiello (left) and Jackie Chan in a still from The Protector.

Roy Chiao Hung in a still from The Protector.

Jackie Chan in a still from The Protector.

Jackie Chan and Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus in a still from The Protector.

How depiction of Hong Kong expat life in Soldier of Fortune contained some harsh truths

Clark Gable and Susan Hayward in a still from Soldier of Fortune (1955). Directed by Edward Dmytryk, the film was mostly set and shot in Hong Kong and painted a somewhat dim picture of expat life in the city.

Michael Rennie and Grace Chang in a still from Soldier of Fortune (1955).

Kam Tong in a still from Soldier of Fortune (1955).

Clark Gable (left) and Michael Rennie in a still from Soldier of Fortune (1955).

How Chinese-American comedy 21 & Over became 2 movies, and why they’re both problematic

(From left) Miles Teller, Justin Chon and Skylar Astin in a still from 21 & Over (2013). Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Skylar Astin, Justin Chon and Miles Teller in a still from 21 & Over. The original Hollywood version of this frat comedy and the subsequent Chinese cut are both controversial, but for different reasons. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Teller, Chon and Astin in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Astin, Sarah Wright and Teller in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Astin, Chon and Teller in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

Chon in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Teller, Astin and Chon in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

In Ferry to Hong Kong, Casablanca meets The World of Suzie Wong, but cast nearly sinks it

Curt Jürgens (centre) in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959).

Curt Jürgens (centre) in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959). The movie, described by one commentator as part Casablanca, part The World of Suzie Wong, co-starred Orson Welles, who caused many issues for James Bond director Lewis Gilbert.

(From left) Orson Welles, Jeremy Spenser and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

Sylvia Syms and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

Orson Welles (left) and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

A still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959).

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Despite a cast that included Depp, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Rebecca Hall, sci-fi film pitched at China tanked at the box office


Despite a cast that included Depp, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Rebecca Hall, sci-fi film pitched at China tanked at the box office.
