Director of Gangster Movie on Trial for Threatening Promoter
Before “The Choice,” a movie about Shanghai’s World War II-era underworld, ever made it onto the silver screen, its director was accused of dabbling in the gangster life himself. On Monday, director Jiang and three other employees from the film’s production company stood trial in Beijing’s Chaoyang District court, reported The Beijing News. Prosecutors have charged the four with “picking quarrels” on the suspicion that they assaulted and threatened employees of a promotion company to get them to buy the rights to their film. “The Choice,” or “Junzidao,” is a sequel to a classic Hong Kong TV show, “The Bund,” which was popular on the Chinese mainland in the 1980s. The movie revolves around the shady dealings of various gangs and tycoons in Shanghai during the Second World War, and on promotional posters it was advertised as the Chinese version of “The Godfather.” In September 2015, Dalian Fengshangru Media Culture Co. Ltd., the production company Jiang work...