Olympic opening: 5,000 years in 50 minutes
BEIJING -- China's most famous film director will shoulder the burden of boiling down 5,000 years of history into 50 minutes for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
Zhang Yimou, the director general of the opening and closing ceremonies, has never faced an editing job quite like this one.
"Fifty minutes is not enough time to feature the quintessence of a Chinese culture that has been running for 5,000 years," Zhang said Wednesday, speaking for the first time about the Olympic opening ceremonies on Aug. 8.
Zhang won't have the help of American director Steven Spielberg, who dropped out as an artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies last month. Spielberg cited a lack of progress by China on pressuring Sudan to end the crisis in Darfur.
"I personally find it regrettable," Zhang said. "About half a year ago, (Spielberg) came to Beijing. We had two meetings and discussed a lot of things in relation to the artistic design of the Beijing Olympics.
"It is a pity, but I don't think that will affect the opening ceremony of the Olympics because we have a lot of other domestic and foreign experts."
Zhang said his goal is to top the "amazing" opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The director "House of Flying Daggers," "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Not One Less" is famous for using red in his films. Zhang said the color was sure to light up the opening ceremony, which will last about 3½ hours.
His major fear is that rain -- August is a damp month in Beijing -- might ruin opening night.
"Rain is the No. 1 concern of ours," Zhang said. "We have some alternate plans we could do in case of rain. First, we hope God will bless us."
Zhang didn't provide much of a glimpse into the specifics of the opening ceremonies, which are already being rehearsed with a cast expected to reach 10,000.
"If you know all the details about a movie, you will lose interest before the preview," said Zhang, who confirmed he'd signed a confidentiality agreement.
There were unconfirmed reports that suggested jail time for violating it.
"Every person involved in the preparatory work signed an agreement," Zhang said. "All the confidentiality provisions are from the IOC with some Chinese regulation added. It is a kind of responsibility we have to shoulder."