The second was the involvement of Chinese finance in the international filmmaking business. The new Chinese studio Kylin Pictures was prepared to invest $20 million, making this their first foray into non-Chinese language pictures, as the film now capitalised on a growing interest in fantasy and romance. Mechanic, somewhat over-optimistically, pitched it as a cross between Twilight and Alice in Wonderland, but he managed to attract the likes of Brosnan, Scodelario and Hurt (replacing Bill Nighy) to the cast.
In something of a coup, he and the director Sean McNamara played to the all-important Chinese market by hiring the actress Fan Bingbing as the novel’s sea creature, who was now transformed into a mermaid. Brosnan relished the chance to play the all-powerful Louis XIV, saying: “My Louis is Jim Morrison meets Alexander McQueen meets Tom Ford, in the costume department, with a magnificent wig, a great-looking horse and lots of attitude. He certainly was the rock star of his time. His is a grand vanity: he wants to live on forever so he can eat, fornicate and go to war… This guy is the king of all kings.”
The film was completed in May 2014, after filming in Versailles and Australia, and Paramount Pictures, who were set to distribute it, announced that it would be released on 10 April 2015, retitled The King’s Daughter. It would serve as counter-programming to the big-budget Avengers sequel Age of Ultron. Brosnan loyally continued to promote it, saying: “It’s not a historically on-the-nose rendition, it’s a fantasy fable. So, it allows one a lot of leeway to make an impressionistic gesture at the whole court of Louis. And, by heavens, we’ve pulled it off, I think.”
Unfortunately, his faith proved to be misplaced. In March 2015, Paramount cancelled the release altogether, without scheduling a new one. There was a vague rumour that the special effects needed more work, but after a nine-month post-production period, they should have been ready. Instead, the whispered assumption was that the film was simply too poor to be released.
