Saw this interesting little bit of movie news on io9... Director Rian Johnson's (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) latest film, Looper, is a sci-fi flick, and appears to have a very interesting vision of a future in which China is the world's leading superpower: First images of Rian Johnson's dystopian future.
Sure, we're all aware of the upcoming Red Dawn remake, in which evil Chinese military forces invade America. But while in the future of Looper, China has become "ascendant over the United States," something tells me it won't be too quick to paint China as the scary aggressive:
But just who will be the dominant power in the future that Johnson is envisioning? According to The Hollywood Reporter, Looper is getting some much-needed funding from Chinese production company DMG, which previously invested in the propaganda film Birth of a Republic, a near-hagiography of Chairman Mao. And because of DMG's close ties to the state-run China Film Group (CFG), which put out Birth of a Republic, Looper may be able to gain access to the lucrative Chinese market, in spite of strict controls on the number of foreign films allowed to be shown in China each year. Also, Chinese actress Xu Qing is joining the cast, as the wife of Bruce Willis' character.When a Chinese production company is footing the bill, it's best not to make a movie calling them the Big Red Menace. That's a very delicate balance, but this ought to be interesting. I'm curious to see how they pull it off. Hey, it's got to be better than the lame Chinese-y future in Firefly. More here: Endgame, DMG Team to Make Rian Johnson's 'Looper'.
And in return, Looper will be doing its overseas funding in China — not in France, as previously planned. In the future depicted in Looper, China has become ascendant over the United States — something that its new investor, DMG, was very keen to emphasize at a party in Beijing yesterday. At the party, DMG showed a promotional video for Looper which blared, "Sixty years from now China is the leading super power and time travel has been invented."
(It's not clear how much, if any, of the film is actually set in China, or whether China will simply perform the same role as France would have in an earlier version of the film. It's also not clear how much, if at all, the script is being revised to reflect the rise of China as the world's leading superpower.)