Hollywood may be afraid to anger China
But there are some stories
that won’t be silenced
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
I got bad news for you—all those superheroes you admire so much? They sold out to China.
It’s not just them. All of Hollywood has sold out to China.
“In 2020, the Chinese film market officially surpassed North America’s as the world’s biggest
box office, all but ensuring that Hollywood studios will continue to
do everything possible for access to the country.”
And since the Chinese Communist Party enforces strict censorship, that means you won’t be seeing
any Hollywood movies about Tibetans. Or Uyghurs. Or how the Chinese Communist Party is trying to
undermine the United States by infiltrating American institutions, like Hollywood.
That last one sounds like a real blockbuster.
But that doesn’t mean movies about China aren’t being made.
Independent directors are creating wonderful films exploring life under the Chinese Communist Party.
Like director Leon Lee. We had him on the show a few years ago to talk about his movie
Letters from Masanjia, a true story about a man who snuck out a letter from one of China’s most
notorious labor camps by hiding it in Kmart Halloween decorations.
I’ll put a link to that episode down below.
But this January 21, he’s releasing a new movie called Unsilenced.
It's based on true events, about a group of university students in Beijing
who risk their lives to help an American reporter break through China’s censorship.
And since it stars friend of the show, actress, beauty queen,
and activist Anastasia Lin , I decided to talk to her about the upcoming movie.
Anastasia, it's great to have you back on. Always a pleasure
to have my favorite beauty queen on the show.
Aw, thank you.
Yeah, I know.
It's great to be here again.
Yeah. Well, I mean the main idea is that we'll put you on the thumbnail, get lots of clicks.
This is a cash grab for me.
Yeah, I thought so. Who would want to see Leon's face, right?
Ah, Leon, the director of the movie that we will be talking about.
You don't insult the director of your movie when you're trying to promote your movie,
Anastasia. These are things I shouldn't have to tell you.
Yeah. I can barely hear you over the internet, but sure, why not?
Perfect answer. So tell us a little bit about the movie. What is Unsilenced about?
So Unsilenced is a movie that Leon spent about two years interviewing different parties,
including the people who are persecuted in China and the people, Western reporters,
who worked in China and tried to expose their human rights abuses and all of their stories. And
he wrote the script, and we produced it in Taiwan last year... um, two years ago, 2020.
So you were filming this movie at the height of the pandemic in Taiwan. What was that like?
It was nice.
I escaped the pandemic for like two months. Taiwan was totally free basically. Everything was open.
I got to eat inside and go shopping while everyone else on the set is working. So that was nice.
I hate you.
Sorry?
Why did the audio get so bad? You're wonderful and very sweet.So I'm curious,
this movie is about... It deals with a lot of heavy things about
persecution in China. Did you guys face any pressure at all while you were making this movie?
Well, yes, certainly. Everyone else faced a lot of pressure.
I went shopping and had a lot of fun in Taiwan.
It's just so easy being a beauty queen, isn't it?
Well, it was really an honor to join this cast. I think everyone who worked on this
film made a choice that they are willing to take a risk for
this film to be produced, so that people can see what is going on inside China and the stories that
is not really getting told in the West as well. So, every day on set with the production,
there had been crises. There are actors who dropped out every single day, like people who
we had casted all of a sudden decided that this was not for them. And there are locations that are
getting canceled. Things that we signed suddenly getting canceled. It was really an adventure.
Well, I could imagine that, for like a Hollywood film, where they're doing every craven thing they
can to get into China, but you're filming in Taiwan, and people were that afraid?
Well, I'm not quite sure why Hollywood films want to get into China-
Money!
... to see the state of the celebrities
Money, Anastasia.
Well, yeah, but how long would that last? That's even a question
There's always more money!
In the short term, it might look like you can get a lot, but if you look at the state
of Chinese artists, artists in China who want to produce really meaningful projects,
those things don't really get heard. People who want to produce things that are worthwhile get a
lot of pressure. And I don't think, as an artist, I want to work in an environment like that,
no matter how much money or profit it gives you in the short term, because I think in the long term
it does stifle the soul. There had been a period of time where Chinese artists had that little
window to be able to speak, so we see films like Farewell My Concubine that reflected on China's
Cultural Revolution. And those are true Chinese voices that depict the real China,
and those things are so moving and classic. If you remove the soul from the art piece
and market it however you want, just for the short-term profit,
those things won't last. At least that's my thought, but maybe I'm being too idealistic.
Oh you mean another Spiderman movie won't be with us for centuries to come?
It's been a while since I've been to the theater, so-
Amen. But so why... The threats that happened
on set, just the difficulties of making this kind of movie,
the fact that you aren't getting big Hollywood studio money. Why did you and all the others
involved in the film, why were you willing to go through this to tell this story in Unsilenced?
Well, for me, mostly it was because of my character. I
played a Chinese journalist who faced a lot of pressure to
compromise her integrity and work somewhat in accordance to the Chinese state. I never thought
that this role can be so enlightening to me, that I would discover a piece of myself that is
resonating with her experience of being pressured, had to make choices that are against her will.
And I feel like there's something extremely universal about this experience. That's for
me. And I think it is through experiences like this that I build my own character and my craft.
And it's a lot more meaningful. Now for other actors, well,
it was really a collaboration, to see them devoting themselves into these extreme
circumstances of their character, like some have been tortured, some are being killed,
some have been having to face... what would I call that? Short-term career loss completely.
But seeing them devote to those journey is really inspiring as well.
Chris: 07:12 Well, what I think was really neat about Unsilenced is...
This is the big question for people today. Like
you find yourself in an authoritarian country. How much do you comply with what you're being told?
How much do you believe the party line? What are you willing to do to other people to
protect yourself? That's really an issue. Everyone should be asking themselves what would they do?
Exactly. I do feel like the characters in this film can resonate with everyone,
and everyone can find themselves in at least one of those characters.
It's about making decisions are true to yourself in circumstances that are unexpected. It could be
under totalitarian regime, or it could be just in a society where everyone else seems like to
be saying something totally different from what your heart is saying. And are you able to follow
what you believe? And I think the message is extremely universal in this film.
Well, I definitely saw reflections of myself
in your character. Every time I saw your character, I was like, "That's me."
How so?
I think I'm good looking.
Thank you for the flattery.
Oh, that was more about me than you, but thank you. You're welcome. So next stop Hollywood?
Next stop Hollywood? I don't know. It really
depends on what they want to produce in the future.
You could be the next Spiderman. Spider Woman!
Why would I want to be the next Spider Woman?
All right. The next Thor? What do you want? What do actors do?
Well, I think there are different kind of ways to entertain. And there's no right way to do
it or wrong way. And sometimes I feel like I just need two hours to watch some of the films,
where it doesn't touch my real life as much and it's for the pure purpose
of entertainment. And it's totally fine. When you come to see my film, this film,
it might get you to think a lot. Not that we need to do that every single day
We're trying to promote the movie. Don't make the people think.
When you come to see this film, I think it will give you a lot of courage, in the sense
you can see the true decisions, how people living under a totalitarian regime have made,
even if they're in very desperate circumstances. And that might give you a little piece of courage,
that things aren't really not so bad if you choose to not let them be.
And that is probably a bit more important than the 25th Avengers movie.
Anastasia, thank you for joining us. This was a real treat.
Well, thank you so much for having me.
If you’re interested in seeing Unsilenced, it opens in select theaters this January 21.
I’ve put a link to the movie’s website below. It’s a powerful movie.
I mean, not as powerful as the Incredible Hulk, but come on.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell. See you next time.