brappy!

set detail, originally uploaded by brappy!.

Rielly and I wandered into the Beijing Film Studio one afternoon. It's right next to the Beijing Film Academy. We snuck (well, walked) into the film studio through the back gate, bought some DVDs and ice cream at the store (we had to bargain for it), then we walked into another convenience store and went right out the back, directly onto a film set. Rielly had scoped all of this out before, so he knew where he was going. I was a few steps behind him as he wandered around, and there was an old lady in the convenience store. She yelled, "They don't understand! They don't understand!" when we walked in, and out of her store, going through the forbidden, but unlocked, door.

Then, we were on the film set, which was being readied for the filming of the new Chen Kaige film, starring Zhang Ziyi. It's a new film that is as yet untitled, about the life of an early 20th century opera star. The sets look pretty interesting. More photos are here.