In a recent blog entry, author Justin Hill of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny" revealed the arduous task involved in converting thoughts laid out in a film script into a novel.
In an entry posted as a guest writer on The Wrap, Hill said he was always conscious that his novel, which his editor asked him to write using an existent script and adapted from the original novels, would have to be in keeping with the film which is set to be released next month.
For fans of the first film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," it has been a wait that has lasted three years. At the conclusion of the film which was released in 2000, Chow Yun-Fat's character Mu Bai dies in the arms of Michelle Yeoh's character Shu Lien, and Zhang Ziyi Jen is seen jumping off a mountain. The movie was based on the fourth book by Wang Dulu in his Wuxia series titled "Iron Crane Pentalogy." However, the film brought in some changes in the storyline.
Having spent time in small rural towns of the Shanxi Province during winter in 1992, fresh from university, Hill recounted spending most of his adult life in China, in small rural areas, and it was those experiences that he drew from to bring his novel and the sequel to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," to life.
Hill likened the process of writing the novel to being like a forensic expert, he wrote "getting a skull and slowly, painstakingly having to reconstruct the face, muscle by muscle. I started to have an idea of just how much work I would have to do to fill in all the white spaces that actors, makeup, special effects and directors fill in."
Hill said to prepare himself to write the novel he first became an expert on Wang Dulu's work, while a simple translation of his work was not enough, Hill wrote that he immersed himself with the text and music from the first film. He said every detail needed to be paid attention to as some characters did not appear in the film as they had in Dulu's books.
While the task was daunting, Hill said he enjoyed the collaborative nature of the project, working with two writers- John Fusco, who wrote the film script of "Sword of Destiny" and Wang Dulu himself .
Hill's novel, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny," will be published by Weinstein Books and available to the public on Jan. 26. While Netflix and The Weinstein Company will release director Yuen Woo-Ping's film of the same name on Feb. 26.
According to The Mary Sue the Weinstein Company and Netflix have struck a deal to release the film in selected theaters along with the streaming service. The move according to reports has not been well received by theater companies.
Watch the trailer of the movie below