FIVE
‘The Great Wall’ is set in ancient China, as mercenary William Garin (Matt Damon) leads five battle-scarred warriors on the run from warring desert factions—who hunger for wealth, power and glory.
TWENTY FIVE
Collectively, the cast and crew of ‘The Great Wall’ celebrate 25 Academy Awards® with 43 additional nominations.
TWO MOVIES
‘The Great Wall’ teams up Andy Lau & Matt Damon for the first time. Previously they played the same character in two different movies. Lau as the corrupt police inspector in the 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller ‘Infernal Affairs’, and Damon as the same devious undercover cop in ‘The Departed’, the 2006 English-language adaptation.
THREE
There are 3 different kinds of Tao Tei in the movie (The Drone foot soldiers, The Paladin imperial guards and The Queen, who controls the Tao Tee army). The beastly antagonists were not just a creation for the film, but are actually part of Chinese mythology.
TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT
Director Zhang Yimou’s big-screen triumphs include ‘House of Flying Daggers’ & ‘Hero’, which remains the highest grossing film in Chinese cinema history. But it was the 2008 Olympics that won him praise from a global audience. Yimou is responsible for staging the opening and closing ceremonies of the now iconic Beijing Olympic Games.
TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND
Number of bricks used to recreate the Great Wall on set
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION
Costing US$150 million to make, ‘The Great Wall’ boasts the title of “The biggest movie ever made in China”. Director Zhang Yimou said “For me personally it’s not the biggest challenge… as a director what you really need to concentrate on is: make sure the story is good, make sure the characters are interesting and unique, and find something special to say in the movie.”
SEVENTEEN
1600 years in the making… ‘The Great Wall’ is at Irish cinemas from February 17th