'Shanghai' heads Weinstein slate

The scene is a fitting metaphor for the $50 million project and the company behind it.

Financed out of the Weinstein Co.’s Asian fund, the project, which is lensing in London, has been through as many ups and downs as Hossein Amini’s much-vaunted script to reach the bigscreen.

Eight years in the making, “Shanghai” has become an intensely personal passion for many of those involved.

The brainchild of Mike Medavoy, who was born in Shanghai in 1941 and who developed the story through his Phoenix Pictures shingle, project was subsequently bought by Harvey Weinstein while still at Miramax.

“Shanghai” has consistently been at the forefront of the Weinstein Co.’s slate ever since the launch of its Asian fund some 18 months ago and will topline its sales slate at this year’s Cannes.

Pic was finally set to roll earlier this year in China only for authorities in the country to block the shoot just weeks before production was set to begin. China exit meant walking away from sets that had been built at a cost of $3 million.

Initial fears that the project may once again fall apart abated, however, after Weinstein shifted the shoot to London and Thailand, where sets have been built re-creating Shanghai’s old colonial architecture.

“It took me 10 years to get ‘Chicago’ off the ground so this was easy in that it only took eight years,” Weinstein told Variety. “This project had been through so many incarnations until (‘1408’ director) Mikael Hafstrom came on board. At one point Johnny Depp was going to be in it.”

Set in 1941, four months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the story revolves around U.S. expat Paul Soames, played by Cusack, who returns to the city to investigate the death of his friend only to find himself caught up in a labyrinthine mystery. Pic is a throwback to the old-school intrigue of classic fare such as “Casablanca” and “The Third Man.”

“Shanghai was this port of last resort for so many people at the time, including European Jews, and whoever could get out, went there. Even Einstein showed up,” Medavoy said. “The story is set just as the whole place is about to change and the safety these people thought they had is about to get undone. It’s not just another movie for me. When I took my dad back to China a few years ago, he started crying because that was the place that saved his life and mine. I’ve carried the memories of his tears ever since.”

Weinstein Co. execs are also hoping “Shanghai” is a throw-back to their halcyon days at Miramax, with hopes that it will become as company-defining a project as “The English Patient” was to the their previous incarnation.

“I like hearing that Harvey thinks it’s a company-defining movie because that means his full attention is there, all the brain power and considerable savvy,” said Cusack, whose previous pic “Grace Is Gone” opened to disappointing box office after being picked up at last year’s Sundance by the Weinstein Co. “The days of guys like Harvey, guys who can make a decision and role the dice this way, are almost gone.”