How disaster struck for Air Strike, a Chinese movie starring Bruce Willis and Adrien Brody

This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions.

Sometimes troubled productions can create powerful cinema. Other times they create disasters like Xiao Feng’s 2018 film Air Strike.

Rumoured at the time to be the most expensive Chinese film ever made, it was conceived to mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in the second world war, and features a prestige international cast, from Chinese favourites Liu Ye and Fan Wei to American stars Bruce Willis, Adrien Brody and Rumer Willis, Bruce’s daughter.

The fact that Mel Gibson is credited as a consultant suggests he was once in the frame to direct, perhaps alongside cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), who was also mentioned.