She's taking dad's book to the big screen

Novelist Liu Zhenyun's daughter, Liu Yulin, is turning his best-selling novel One Word is Worth Ten Thousand Words into a film, and the author believes it has a very good chance of making a splash at the box office. Xu Fan reports.

For nearly 20 minutes, novelist Liu Zhenyun dwells on all the marital scandals in Chinese history at a recent Beijing event.

The message he wants to convey is that finding your life partner is not easy.

In a forthcoming movie, Someone to Talk To, based on Liu's best-selling novel One Word is Worth Ten Thousand Words, the story is told through the eyes of locals from rural Henan province.

Hailed as one of China's most financially successful writers, Liu has seen a series of his novels used to make movies and TV series, ranging from the dark humor drama Cell Phone (2003) to the Oscar-winning Tim Robbins and Back to 1942 (2012), starring Adrien Brody.

But, in a writing career spanning three decades, Liu regards A Word is Worth Ten Thousand Words as his best work, as it depicts the loneliness that lies deep in human hearts.

Since it was published in 2009, it has received a dozen awards, including the prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011, and it has sold nearly 1.8 million copies in China.

The novel has been translated into more than 20 languages, including English, French and German.

It has received 8.6 points out of 10 on the review site Douban.com, and many viewers say they relate to the protagonists.

"It (the novel) tells a truth: It talks of how difficult it is for a person to find someone who can understand him or her," says the 58-year-old writer, who is also the scriptwriter of the movie.

"Such an inner struggle is universal. Similar characters can be found all around the world, as well as their love and their hatred."

Meanwhile, though most of Liu's novels have been turned into films by veteran filmmaker Feng Xiaogang, this time the award-winning author chose to work with a young person.

Liu Yulin, Liu's New York University-educated daughter, persuaded her father and he agreed.

Recalling the phone conversation that won him over, Liu says his daughter's answers about "how one can be a good director" satisfied him.

Liu Yulin's statement about "not letting the audience see the director in the movie" sealed the deal.

And though the director is the author's daughter, her credentials as a filmmaker are impressive.

The 29-year-old first garnered Western attention for her directorial debut, Door God.

The short film - depicting a 6-year-old girl's yearning for maternal love - won her, then still a student in the United States, a silver medal in the Narrative Category at the 41st Student Academy Awards in 2014.

The movie is set in Liu's hometown, Yanjin county in Henan province, and it centers on a pair of siblings. The brother is upset about being betrayed by his wife, and his sister is eager to get married.

The director, in keeping with her plan to make a film that feels real, demanded cast members experience life in Central China's villages for two months.

And, unlike most domestic films, which rely heavily on stars, the film features lesser-known actors and actresses, including Mao Hai, Li Qian and Liu Bei.

Separately, speaking about China's shortage of quality stories in response to a question, Liu Zhenyun says: "A script is the core of a film ... So, a good scriptwriter would be paid more than an actor, if I had my way."

Asked if a movie would find it difficult to please a commercial market, Liu says he has confidence in the story.

"Some international filmmakers also tell me the movie could straddle the boundary between art-house films and commercial titles after seeing it (during the production process)," says the veteran writer.

He also says the film will be sold to the rest of the world after its mainland release, as the novel's multiple-language versions have proved the story resonates overseas.

The film is being produced by Bill Kong, founder of the Hong Kong-based studio, Edko.

Kong, who is known for distributing Chinese-language movies to overseas markets, has also produced Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggers - all among the highest-grossing Chinese films in the picky North American market.

Interestingly, the film will open across the country on Nov 11, a day marked in China as Singles' Day.

And, as the director says: "The movie is a salute for those who are single or divorced."

Contact the writer at xufan@chinadaily.com.cn

Liu Yulin (left) directs the upcoming film, Someone to Talk To, adapted from her father Liu Zhenyun's (right) novel, A Word is Worth Ten Thousand Words. Photos Provided To China Daily