‘Empires of the Deep’ is a multi-million dollar movie you’ll never see

One would assume that with enough money behind the project, producing the movie you want would be doable. Jiang soon realized that transforming an idea and a dream into a visual spectacle was no easy task. Do not forget that James Cameron started with his idea for Avatar back in the 90s. Though Empires of the Deep never seen release day daylight, a lot of effort went into making the film a multi-million dollar underwater action movie you’ll never see.

“Empires of the Deep” Was the brainchild of John Jiang

John Jiang was trained as an architect and became one of the biggest names during China’s real estate boom. But besides talking about concrete and metal, he was really interested and fascinated by the good old Hollywood films. The idea for an epic fantasy film also came from his love of Hollywood epic films such as George Lucas star Wars and Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings. John Jiang also considered himself a screenwriter, often writing for fantasy and sci-fi films. Empires of the Deep by the time John Jiang put his story on paper, it had been in the making for many years. Yes, Jiang himself wrote the story of the film that was originally destined to be called Mermaid Island. The story was set in ancient times when a war was going on between demons and mermaids, even involving the Greek hero Atlas. Jiang didn’t want to stop at just one film. Instead, he intended it to be a trilogy. Jiang wanted to make it as big as Michael BayX transformers.

After coming up with an idea and a story, Jiang really started looking for people who would bring his idea to life. He needed people who had experience in Hollywood. Empires of the Deep was set to become a major joint US-Chinese production. Actress known as Cassandra Gava started asking for a screenwriter on Jiang’s behalf. Frequent collaborator of James Cameron, Randall Frakesbest known for his work on Terminator, was one of the first to come running after hearing the bell ringing from a Chinese tycoon. Frakes flew to Beijing to discuss the story with Jiang. According to him, Jiang was very much “inspired” by people like In Search of the Lost Ark and star Wars with scenes taken directly from the films. Jiang’s vision was clear - he wanted to make an international film with world stars.

Jiang wanted to play in “Empire of the Deep” with the best Hollywood talent

By the time Frakes was involved, Jiang had tied up another big Hollywood name. It was Empires Strike Back director Irvin Kershner. When Kershner and Frakes met, they both agreed that Jiang’s original idea for a film about an ancient mermaid kingdom would not appeal to a wider Western audience. Instead, they offered Jian a modern sci-fi retelling in which a group of people accidentally stumble upon an underwater kingdom. But Jiang abandoned that angle, and Frakes and Kershner left.

The next person on board Jiang was Jean-Christophe Comardalso known as Pitof, who served as director Halle Berry star Catwoman. With $400,000 on the table for a year of work, Pitof quickly stepped in and hired Michael Ryan, who wrote scripts for cartoons such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After 12 months, when Jiang hated the script presented by Pitof, he also fled the ship. This is when Jiang came up Jonathan Lawrence who had made only one unsuccessful feature film before. Interestingly, Lawrence was in talks with Jiang before Frakes took over the project in 2007.

Jonathan Lawrence is poised to be one of the many directors who will be working on empires of the deep Jiang also began to look for Hollywood talent for his main production. The role of the mermaid princess Aki went to Jiang’s girlfriend. Shi Yanfei. Former Romanian model named Irena Violetta was chosen as Aki’s bodyguard. Quite a few names were proposed for the role of the mermaid queen, including Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci. The role eventually passed to Olga Kurilenkowith whom he filmed Daniel Craig in 2008 quantum of solace and received $1 million for the project. Other roles went to relatively lesser-known actors such as Steve Polites, a theater school graduate, and Jonathan Cos-ReedWesterner who previously worked in many Chinese films.

Empires of the Deep had production problems

By the time Lawrence received the script, it had already passed through the hands of many. Aside from the job of pitching something acceptable to the public, Lawrence also had to pander to the guy at the helm of it all, Jiang himself. Fonteylsee Pictures was founded by Jiang to produce his dream movie. By the time Lawrence arrived in Beijing to work on the film, Jiang already had a lot of creative work with illustrations and models ready to create the world of mermaids in Empires of the Deep.

Lawrence was involved in many things, including sets and casting extras, while working on the film. Speaking of problems, there were many. From a script that was far from finished to an underperforming costume department that conjured up things from the 80s, nothing went the way it should have for the movie of the scale that Jiang was planning. The CGI team also worked on a trailer that would not surpass Avatarvisuals even on their best day. By the time Jiang ordered filming to begin, the script was only half finished. Jiang also forced the introduction of a scene in which the characters encounter a group of Chinese characters to play along with the Chinese censors.

“Empires of the Deep” turned out to be unfulfilled promises

The following months proved to be a disaster, as was the rest of production history. The actors were not given the rich amenities they were previously promised, even access to the gym was denied to an actor who needed to look his best for the character he was playing. Lawrence began to run into difficulties when working with a Chinese operator. Rao Xiaobing. Romanian model Irena decided to quit when tensions with Rao came to a head shortly before the crew was about to film the elaborate beach raid scene.

However, Irena was not allowed to leave easily as her and her boyfriend’s passports were left at the production house. With the help of Lawrence, she and her boyfriend managed to escape from the hotel through the window before reaching the United States with the help of the police. Shortly after Irena left, she was replaced by another actress. But by now, Lawrence has decided he wants to leave as well, given that the film turned out to be anything but what it seemed at first glance. February 2009 Michael FrenchRao’s employee Heart of Dragon, he was approached by Rao to take on a work in progress. French managed to find a more relaxed way of doing things on set. He skipped dialogue and decided to film the scenes twice, once according to Jiang’s vision and once according to his own, to avoid conflicts and delays.

John Jiang’s dream met a bitter end

In April 2010, a press conference was called to reveal a 3D trailer for the film. Empires of the Deep the trailer itself is far from presentable. Three weeks later, French’s contract was coming to an end and he had completed most of the script. However, Jiang began to add more scenes and insisted that French stay on for the last installment, risking losing his salary if he didn’t decide to leave. The crew had not received their pay in weeks, and French decided it was time to head home..

The next director to come on board was Scott Miller who tried his best to improve what he could. He tried to allocate more money for food for the actors to improve mood and morale on set. In addition, he also requested that the entire film be reshot in accordance with his vision, a request that could not be denied. The film was left not only by the directors. Even Max Molion, the actor who played Atlas’ co-star Trajin, also decided to step back after spending six months in China, where his character has undergone multiple changes. His final scenes were filmed with a replacement actor playing his part. Steve Polites, who played Atlas, decided to go all the way and filmed his last scene before saying goodbye to China and Empires of the Deep.

‘Empire of the Deep’ release date never came out

Empires of the Deep was supposed to be released in 2011, but apparently the film didn’t hit any theaters on its scheduled release date. In October 2012, a 3D trailer for Empires of the Deep went online that no one wanted to rush to the cinema to watch Jiang’s multi-million dollar Hollywood proposal. Jiang had a hard time finding a distributor for his film for obvious reasons. In 2013, one of Jiang’s assistants briefed lead actor Polites about a screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, the appearance of Polites in Cannes for Empires of the Deep should not have been, as the trip was canceled before Polites could reach the airport. In 2014, Jiang hired Spielberg’s regular collaborator Michael Kahn to edit the film. When the film was presented at Sony Pictures in Los Angeles, it was more than a complete failure with incomplete CGI and a convoluted plot. Polites also flew to Beijing that same year to complete some reshoots.

In January 2016, another more attractive CGI-enhanced trailer was released on the crowdfunding site. The producers requested 1 million yuan for the film with an April 2016 release date. Irwin Kirshner, Scott Miller and Michael French were credited as directors, while Randall Frakes was credited as writer. As expected, the film failed to raise or even meet its crowdfunding target.

With no release date or news on what was to be John Jiang’s groundbreaking 3D extravaganza, one would expect Empires of the Deep will never be lucky enough to be a witness or, at best, to enjoy the audience around the world. Having spent his own and others’ fortunes on the film, Jiang may still be determined to release the film. Empires of the Deep. But no matter how determined Jiang is to inspire audiences with his film, Empires of the Deep will remain a failed multimillion-dollar film project, which was never destined to take place.