Absolute Love

When the producer Andr Morgan proposed making a movie musical in 2003, indie filmmaker Peter Chan was less than receptive. "I thought there was a reason no one had made a musical for 35 years," says Chan. "Audiences wouldn't go to them." But the lure of shooting in mainland China for the first time was enticing, and Chan saw an opportunity to make a modern musical without compromising dramatic complexity. With Morgan, the producer behind Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby, and a $10 million budget, Chan assembled a starry cast: Taiwanese-Japanese icon Takeshi Kaneshiro, rising mainland actress Zhou Xun and Jacky...