Wuershan

Wuershan was born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China, in 1972.{{cite web|title=乌尔善执导《封神三部曲》蓄势待发|last=Tong|first=Wang|url=http://inews.nmgnews.com.cn/system/2019/12/23/012822628.shtml|publisher=inews.nmgnews.com|access-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210411165312/http://inews.nmgnews.com.cn/system/2019/12/23/012822628.shtml|archive-date=11 April 2021}}

At 16 he enrolled to a high school affiliated to China's Central Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1992 he was admitted to the oil painting department of the latter. However, he dropped out the following year, and in 1994 started studying directing at the Beijing Film Academy, graduating from the latter in 1998.{{cite web|title=Wuershan Biography|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4069612/bio|publisher=IMDb|access-date=11 April 2021}} He started his career by making TV commercials, becoming successful in the business. He continued to work as a TV commercials director, video artist and avant-garde artist until his debut in movie industry with the 2004 film Soap Opera.

Wuershan's film debut came with Soap Opera (2004). For this movie, he won the FIPRESCI Award at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2004.

On September 16, 2010, Wuershan's second feature film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman premiered on September 16, 2010, at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section marking the first time a film from China has been shown at this sidebar.{{cite web |url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/reviews/the-butcher-the-chef-and-the-swordsman |title=The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (刀見笑) |work=Film Business Asia |access-date=September 21, 2010 |date=September 17, 2010 |last=Elley |first=Derek |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222124017/http://www.filmbiz.asia/reviews/the-butcher-the-chef-and-the-swordsman |archive-date=February 22, 2011 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/toronto-unleashes-butcher-in-madness |work=Film Business Asia |title=Toronto unleashes Butcher in madness |date=August 18, 2010 |access-date=September 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820130350/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/toronto-unleashes-butcher-in-madness |archive-date=August 20, 2010 }} It received mixed reviews from critics.{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943632.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&nid=2562 |work=Variety |title=The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman |last=Anderson |first=John |date=September 19, 2010 |access-date=September 21, 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eyeweekly.com/article/101798 |work=Eye Weekly |title=The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman |last=Bilton |first=Chris |date=September 14, 2010 |access-date=September 21, 2010}} The film was also screened at the Pusan Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/article@apa?fox_to_release_chinese_martial_arts_film_the_butcher_the_chef_and_the_swordsman_16419.aspx |title=Fox to release Chinese martial arts film The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman |publisher=Asia Pacific Arts |date=February 23, 2011}} It was presented by Doug Liman at the festival.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2010/08/doug-liman-carries-torch-for-china-film-63175/ |website=Deadline Hollywood |title=Doug Liman Carries Torch For China Film |last=Fleming |first=Mike |date=August 26, 2010 |access-date=September 21, 2010}} It was released theatrically on 17 March 2011 in Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand simultaneously.{{cite web|url=http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/ent/film/sinacn/file/20110216/06352230648.html |title=《刀見笑》敲定春季檔上映 3月17日全球公映}} Described as an avant-garde martial arts comedy, the film is split into three stories titled "Desire", "Vengeance" and "Greed," and it follows the "journey of a mystical blade as it passes through the hands of three ambitious men."{{cite web|title=The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1722513/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ql_stry_2|publisher=Fox International Productions|access-date=11 April 2021}}

Wuershan's third feature film, Painted Skin: The Resurrection, was released on June 28, 2012. The film, which has an 83% approval rating on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes,{{cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/painted_skin_the_resurrection/|title=Painted Skin: The Resurrection|work=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=November 6, 2012}} and is described as a "deliciously nutty love story," tells about Xiaowei, a malevolent fox spirit, who consumes men's hearts to preserve her beauty and is looking for a heart that must be freely given to her in order to become human, while lovesick Princess Jing, who wears a mask to conceal her scarred face, looks for true love. She winds up deciding to exchange her pure heart for the fox daemon's beauty.{{cite web|last=Catsoulis|first=Jeanette|title=The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/17/movies/painted-skin-the-resurrection-by-wuershan.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=11 April 2021}} With a total box office gross of $115.07 million,{{cite web|url=http://www.chinesefilms.cn/141/2012/08/13/122s11302.htm|title= Mainland Box Office Chart for Week 31, 2012 |access-date=2012-09-02|work=EntGroup Consulting}} the film became the highest grossing domestic film in China beating the previous record holder Let the Bullets Fly.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/resurrection-takes-china-bo-record|work=Film Business Asia|title=Resurrection takes China BO record|access-date=July 24, 2012|author=Cremin, Stephen|date=July 24, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730010234/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/resurrection-takes-china-bo-record|archive-date=July 30, 2012}}

His fourth feature film was Mojin: The Lost Legend, an action adventure fantasy thriller film based on the novel Ghost Blows Out the Light.{{cite web |url= http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2014-08/08/content_33184554.htm | title=Movie giants to make blockbuster tomb raider story |date=2014-08-08 |access-date= 2015-04-12 |work= China Internet Information Center}} It was released on December 18, 2015.{{cite web |url= http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/china-releasing-schedule-revealed-at-seminar | title=China releasing schedule revealed at seminar |date=2015-04-10 |access-date= 2015-04-12 |work= Film Business Asia}}{{cite web |url= http://movie.douban.com/subject/3077412/|title= 寻龙诀 (2015)|access-date= March 5, 2015|work= movie.douban.com|publisher= douban.com|language= Chinese}} The film won several awards, including Best Visual Effects at the Beijing College Student Film Festival and the Golden Horse Awards, and Wuershan was named Best Director at the 33rd Hundred Flowers Awards. The movie however received mixed reviews from western critics.{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mojin_the_lost_legend/|title=Mojin – The Lost Legend (2015)|work=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=December 19, 2015}} The film was a huge box-office success, grossing over US$278 million{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficechina.com/beta/2016-02-09|title=BOX OFFICE DATA FOR TUESDAY, 9TH FEBRUARY 2016 (ESTIMATES AS OF 21:30 CST)|work=Box Office China|access-date=February 9, 2016}} from a budget of 37.{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=mojinthelostlegend.htm|title=Mojin: The Lost Legend (2015)|work=Box Office Mojo|access-date=December 17, 2015}}

In 2019, he began on the production on the Creation of the Gods trilogy. Sometimes dubbed as "China's Lord of the Rings",{{cite web|title=Director Wuershan Wants to Make China's 'Lord of the Rings' With 'Fengshen Trilogy'|last=Davis|first=Rebecca|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/features/wuershan-fengshen-trilogy-china-1203301222/|publisher=Variety|access-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210411170933/https://variety.com/2019/film/features/wuershan-fengshen-trilogy-china-1203301222/|archive-date=11 April 2021}} it is the "most ambitious and expensive production in Chinese history."{{cite web|title="Jiang Ziya," "Ne Zha" and How Not to Make an Expanded Cinematic Universe|last=Grogan|first=Bryan|url=https://radiichina.com/ne-zha-jiang-ziya-mcu/|publisher=radiichina.com|access-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210411174607/https://radiichina.com/ne-zha-jiang-ziya-mcu/|archive-date=11 April 2021}} The production has a crew of over two thousands employees. The movie is a retelling of Investiture of the Gods, a 16th-century Chinese novel and one of the major vernacular Chinese works in the gods-and-demons (shenmo) genre written during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).{{cite book|title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: A-F|author=Haase, Donald|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2008|isbn=978-0-313-33442-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_w7y9/page/340 340]|url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_w7y9/page/340}}

The novel combines elements of history, folklore, mythology, legends and fantasy,Chew, Katherine Liang (2002). Tales of the Teahouse Retold: Investiture of the Gods. Page XI. {{ISBN|0-595-65161-5}}. with a story set in the era of the decline of the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC) and the rise of the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). It tells about the downfall of King Zhou, the Shang Dynasty's last ruler. He becomes a tyrant after having been "bewitched by a fox spirit posing as his concubine." An epic battle "rages to defeat him, involving gods, demons and other supernatural beings." Barrie M. Osborne, producer of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was involved in the production.

The first film of the trilogy, Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, was released in 2023, and a sequel, Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, was released in 2025.

• Soap Opera ({{lang|zh|肥皂剧}}), 2004
• The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman ({{lang|zh|刀见笑}}), 2010
• Painted Skin: The Resurrection ({{lang|zh|画皮II}}), 2012
• Mojin: The Lost Legend ({{lang|zh|寻龙诀}}), 2015{{cite web |url= http://movie.douban.com/subject/3077412/|title= 寻龙诀 (2015)|access-date= February 7, 2015|work= movie.douban.com|publisher= douban.com|language= Chinese}}
• Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms ({{lang|zh|封神第一部：朝歌风云}}), 2023
• The Traveller, 2024
• Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force ({{lang|zh|封神第二部：战火西岐}}), 2025
• Creation of the Gods III: Creation Under Heaven, TBA

• Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, 2023
• The Traveller, 2024

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• {{IMDb name|id=4069612|Wuershan}}

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{{Hundred Flowers Award Best Director}}

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Category:1972 births

Category:Chinese film directors

Category:Living people

Category:People from Hohhot

Category:Chinese people of Mongolian descent