Keanu Reeves, 49, is an actor, director, and movie star best known for his starring role in the popular Matrix trilogy. Ezra Vogel, 83, professor emeritus at Harvard, is an acclaimed Sinologist and the author Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, a recent biography of the Chinese leader. Vogel has spent his career writing about important historical figures. Reeves “met” a few of them in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
But recently, the two, separately, found themselves in an eerily similar position: compromising with China's censors over mandated changes to their work. Reeves, who making his directorial debut with The Man of Tai Chi, appeared on the Canadian talk show George Stroumboplis Tonight this week to discuss the challenges of filming in China :
Here's what Reeves said, in conversation with Stroumboplis:
George Stroumboplis: I know guys that made films there, and maybe you didn't have this experience, but making a film in China you had to deal with the government and there was censorship and there was all these other issues. Did you have to go through that process?
Keanu Reeves: Absolutely. They don't have a ratings system in mainland China. So the idea is films have to be able to be seen by all ages. So there's no PG-13 or R or anything like that. And then there's content. Obviously the censorship has content issues.
I had to take down some of the violence. So I had one sequence where the lead punched someone in the head 11 times ... so we made it five. And that was OK. It got the story across ... and then another one was 32 and that went to 17.
( ... )
In the film I have underground fighting. So they didn't want underground fighting in mainland China, in the capital of China. So in Beijing there's no underground fighting. And there's no corrupt police officers. So we had to go to Hong Kong ... because it's OK in Hong Kong."
Reeves' experience is hardly unusual. There's a perception that, with foreign movies, anything goes in China so long as the Communist Party isn't criticized. But this isn't exactly accurate; in fact, Chinese film censors have a long list of content they deem objectionable. According to regulations issued in 2008 by SARFT, the Chinese government body then-responsible for the film industry, the following must be cut or altered from movies shown in the country: distortions of Chinese history, disparaging the image of the army, obscenity, violence, and even promoting a negative outlook on life.