But Peter Chan's version is different, according to the director he wanted to tell the story from a different angle. He also wanted to approach the genre of Chinese Historical epics in a different way than recent hit films like Zhang Yimou's 'Curse of the Golden Flower' and Hero, or Chen Kaige's 'The Promise' or Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Chan is quoted as saying, "It's not romanticized. The characters don't fly around. It doesn't sugarcoat human nature. It just gives you raw and blunt reality."
As the film's budget reached the US$40 million mark, Chan found it difficult to balance the business interests of his investors with his own artist goals, he mentions that both Chinese and Western investors pushed for elements closer to the flash costumes of 'Curse of the Golden Flower' or gravity defying wu xia elements of 'Crouching Tiger' or 'Hero'. Ultimately Chan was able to prevail in his storytelling. The film has long scenes of brutal and bloody battles and the main characters appear in dirty, torn clothing through most of the film.
Chan is best known for his award winning romantic films, including 2005's groundbreaking musical 'Perhaps Love' and 1996's 'Comrades Almost a Love Story.'