RENEE MONTAGNE, host: The China of the past is what feature film director John Curran was seeking when he scouted locations for "The Painted Veil," which opens next week. It's based on the Somerset Maugham book set in China in the 1920s. It stars Naomi Watts and Ed Norton.</s>Mr. ED NORTON (Actor): (As Walter Fane) Would you like a ride home?</s>Ms. NAOMI WATTS (Actress): (As Kitty Fane) On what, the buffalo?</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: In the past, such a movie might have been shot with fake backdrops far from China. But since Communist China joined the World Trade Organization, it has good relations with capitalist Hollywood.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Director John Curran enlisted a film crew that included 260 Chinese. He shot "The Painted Veil" entirely in China as a co-production with the government.</s>Mr. JOHN CURRAN (Director, "The Painted Veil"): You know, on a logistical level it was difficult in the very beginning just getting the Western process to mesh with the Eastern process. We were working with the Chinese government, so they were, you know, as involved in the script as the American studio was.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: The director expects more Chinese co-productions with Hollywood, including some from movies made mainly for the domestic Chinese market.
The China of the past is what feature film director John Curran was seeking when he scouted locations for The Painted Veil, which opens next week. It's based on the Somerset Maugham book set in China in the 1920s. It stars Naomi Watts and Ed Norton. The movie studio producing the film went into a partnership with the Chinese government to get it made.