If Sony made “Karate Kid” with a Chinese partner, it could be a part of that Asian gold rush, but the deal would come with some foreseeable obstacles, including possible government censorship.
Belgrad didn’t think long before giving his answer. “That was enough to say yes,” says Belgrad, who had long been fascinated by the country and had developed a “Sinbad” movie that would be set there. “It’s a fascinating place.”
Here’s the story’s best quote by way of James Lassiter, one of the film’s producers.
Try to film a movie in Brentwood, and the locals will grudgingly get out of the way. Do the same outside of Beijing and the rules are different. “The people run the country,” says James Lassiter, who is Overbrook’s president and serves as a “Karate Kid” producer. “So if people didn’t want you shooting in their neighborhood, there’s no authority that can tell them they have to. That’s why it’s called the People’s Republic of China.”
The people run China, a country so much more democratic than that awful, stifling Brentwood, U.S.A.
Is it willful ignorance or just ignorance?