The historical drama film "Shanghai" which stars John Cusack, Gong Li and Chow Yun-fat is set to be released on June 17 during the 13th Shanghai International Film Festival.
This is the first time American actor and screenwriter John Cusack cooperates with Chinese big-name star Gong Li and Chow Yun-fat. The film is set in the 1940s Shanghai.
Cusack played an American intelligence officer comes to Shanghai to investigate the murder of his friend but discovers a big hidden secret and falls in love at the same time.
"The four characters have different paths; people use each other, and lie to each other," Cusack said. "There\'s no character that\'s simply good or bad in this film."
The actor, best known by Chinese audiences from film "2012" said it was a very easy decision to make when he first took the role because of the high quality script and high quality characters.
"It won\'t give you the fantasy of love; the audience needs to think and pay attention, like how many motivations and contradictions are there," Cusack explained. "If you want a fairy tale, it\'s not here."
When asked about his impression of Gong Li , Cusack said that he saw some of Gong\'s films in the United States and he\'s very nervous to work with her because she usually appears in movies as woman in power. But after meeting in person, he found out how warm and funny she is.