Film director Wuershan is spending a decade adapting a classic novel into a film trilogy, Xu Fan reports.

With a big budget and a crew of more than 2,000 members, Chinese film director Wuershan says he is spending a decade adapting a mythological epic into cinema.

"The Chinese film market has reached a phase and scale with which we can produce grand works that showcase the country's rich legacies in history and culture," Wuershan, who turned 47 in early June, says during an interview with China Daily.

"I have selected the most important work from my perspective and I expect to spend 10 years on the film project."

His Fengshen Trilogy films is adapted from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel Fengshen Yanyi (Creation of the Gods), a mythical retelling of a war from more than 3,000 years ago. Its major storyline unfolds through a subsidiary state's ruler who leads an army to defeat a tyrant. The novel fictionalizes a turbulent era when two conflicting human forces get help from supernatural beings such as deities and spirits.

A lot of money and time will be needed to bring the story onto the big screen, with special effects playing a major role.

Fascinated by the novel since childhood, the filmmaker who was born in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, announced the project's launch in 2012. Wuershan is one of China's best fantasy film directors, exemplified by the blockbusters Painted Skin: The Resurrection and Mojin: The Lost Legend. He chose Beijing Culture as a partner for the film project.

One of the fastest-growing entertainment media companies in China, Beijing Culture is credited with several hits, including the country's all-time top and second-highest grossing films, Wolf Warrior 2 and The Wandering Earth, respectively.

From 2016 to 2017, the trilogy project launched a campaign to short list 30 young people from more than 15,000 aspirants. Of the winners, 16 were selected to join the cast, with six playing major characters.

Du Yang, vice-president of Beijing Culture, says the cast consists of A-list stars, veteran actors and young people, but doesn't reveal the names.

The trilogy, which is now being shot in the coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province, is scheduled to release its three feature-length films consecutively every year from 2020 to 2022.

Last year, all the youngsters on the project had a six-month training in Chinese history, culture, ancient etiquette, horse riding and so on. And some who play spirits in avatars of animals were given extra study material on the habits of wild creatures.

The trilogy marks the acting debut of a woman who plays Su Daji, a vixen spirit embodying a beautiful woman who bewitches King Zhou, hastening the fall of the dictator, in the novel. Wuershan says he has asked her to research on foxes to prepare for her role.

Barrie M. Osborne, the trilogy's production consultant says as a result the woman is now good at simulating fox emotions and moves.

Best known as a producer of The Lord of the Rings franchise, Osborne's experience during the shooting of the Peter Jackson epic trilogy will help Fengshen's production process, during which the three films are being shot simultaneously. Movie sequels in China are usually shot after watching how the first installments do at the box office.

The producers of the Fengshen trilogy have acquired more than 30 horses from abroad including Germany, the Netherlands and Hungary, and have kept them in a ranch of 1,800 square meters in Qingdao. Bill Lawrence, a US horse trainer who worked on Steven Spielberg's 2011 film War Horse, is now training the horses for the Chinese films.

The young people who will play warriors or princes are being trained to shoot arrows from horsebacks. No stand-ins are being used for such roles, says the director.

"Previously, most of the cast members that I worked with were big stars. This project also marks my first time working with newcomers on a large scale," Wuershan says.

This might have been the only way to realize his dream project, as celebrities charge more in film fees and their schedules are busy, with less time for preparation.

"I am too stressed to fall asleep each night before the day when a youngster begins to shoot for his or her first sequence. Fortunately, they are all living up to my expectations, "he says.

As the story takes place around more than 3,000 years ago but the novel was shaped in recent centuries, the films' sets and costumes are a mix of different dynastic styles. The director draws inspiration from bronze artifacts of the Shang (c. 16th century-11th century BC) and Zhou (c. 11th century-256 BC) dynasties at museums, the shuilu (water and land) paintings between the 13th century and 15th century, and landscape paintings of the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

"Chinese culture features an enduring history. I wish that such legacies are not only displayed in museums or seen in some foreign films featuring a few Chinatown-set scenes but showcased in an epic which can go abroad," he says.

Around 800 carpenters from Shexian county in Anhui province and Dongyang city in Zhejiang province were recruited to make wooden sculptures for King Zhou's lavish palaces. The main royal palace, which totally took 35,000 hours to design and build, has installed more than 3,000 oil lamps. At least 40,000 pieces of props, including weapons, costumes, carriages and vessels are being made.

"The novel has values that could be passed down generations," says Wuershan, adding that he wants to connect audiences of different ages through the films.