Chinese studios to produce Kurosawa's shelved script

Wang Zhonglei (right), CEO of Huayi Brothers Media Corp, and Taiwan filmmaker Chen Kuo-fu promote the upcoming The Mask of the Black Death in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Kurosawa wrote the script for The Mask of the Black Death in the late 1970s but he didn't make it into a film before his death in 1998. Since then, filmmakers have wanted to make it.

The script is based on American author Edgar Allan Poe's gothic fiction The Masque of the Red Death, which was adapted for cinema by Roger Corman in 1964.

The book's story is about a prince who along with his nobles hides inside a castle to stay away from a deadly disease that's killing common people.

Wang Zhonglei, co-founder and CEO of Huayi, says he first heard of Kurosawa's script from a Chinese artist in Japan. He then visited the director's family to obtain the copyright for adaptation.

"We are feeling both fortunate and nervous," he says of the opportunity.

Chen, known for producing commercial hits, says he hopes the late Japanese master's script will boost Chinese-language movies.