The Mermaid () is a 2016 romantic fantasy comedy film directed, co-written and produced by Stephen Chow, which stars Lin Yun, Deng Chao, Zhang Yuqi and Show Lo. A Chinese-Hong Kong co-production, the film tells the story of a playboy businessman (Deng Chao) who falls in love with a mermaid (Lin Yun) sent to assassinate him.
The film was released in China on 8 February 2016, and broke numerous box office records, including biggest opening day and biggest single-day gross through its seventh day of release. The Mermaid had the biggest opening week of all time in China and went on to become the highest-grossing Chinese film of all time until Wolf Warrior 2 surpassed it in 2017. It was also the highest-grossing non-English, non-Hollywood film worldwide from 2016 to 2019.
A sequel is reported to have completed filming.
Plot Playboy property tycoon Liu Xuan (Deng Chao) purchases the Green Gulf, a coastal wildlife reserve, for a land reclamation project, and uses sonar technology to get rid of the sea life in the area. Unknown to him, the Green Gulf is the home of merpeople and the sonar (in addition to heavy pollution) has caused many of them to die or get sick. The few survivors live in an abandoned shipwreck in the gulf, and want to assassinate Xuan for his deeds. The merfolk send Shan (Lin Yun), a beautiful young mermaid, who has been trained to walk on her fins and hide among humans, to seduce and kill Xuan. At an extravagant party celebrating Xuan's business success, Shan, pretending to be a dancer, asks him to call her.
Xuan, believing that Shan is an escort, calls her number in order to make Ruolan (Zhang Yuqi), his business partner (and ex-girlfriend), jealous. Shan attempts to kill Xuan, but all her attempts backfire. Xuan decides to escort Shan back home, and along the way Shan takes him to a funfair where she works. While there, Shan shows Xuan there are more important things than money, and Xuan is impressed with Shan's simple, amusing antics. They spend the day together and develop feelings for each other. When Xuan finally takes Shan home, Shan quickly sends Xuan away before her people can kill him. The next day, Xuan takes Shan out on another date and proposes to her. Xuan admits that even though they only met the day before, he already knows that she is the one for him. A conflicted Shan rejects him and admits that she was sent there to kill him. Xuan kisses her, but Ruolan interrupts them. Shan runs out, and as Xuan attempts to follow her, Ruolan stops him. Angered, Xuan demands Ruolan to cancel their business deal.
That night, as Shan gets into an argument with the other merpeople, Xuan goes to Shan's house to talk to her. There, he discovers that she and her family are merpeople. Against Shan's wishes, the others capture Xuan and explain that he is killing them with his land development project. Xuan is about to be killed when Shan helps him escape. Octopus (Show Lo), one of Shan's friends, gets angry and realizes that she has fallen in love with him. Xuan returns home and, after the shock has worn off, decides to investigate the consequences of his project. He turns off the sonar but tells Ruolan that Shan is a mermaid and reveals where the other merpeople live. Ruolan tells Xuan that George, her henchman, also believes in mermaids and has been trying to find one. She is angered at Xuan's lack of affection and vows to kill Shan. Xuan tries to stop them but they dismiss him and proceed to the abandoned ship. The merpeople are attacked by Ruolan's mercenaries, and many of them are killed. The merpeople soon realize that the sonar had been turned off and return to the ocean. As Shan attempts to escape, she is shot and forced onto land. Xuan, using a jetpack, arrives in time to retrieve a badly-injured Shan. As he is carrying her to the ocean, Ruolan angrily shoots him, but George stops her before she could injure him any further. Shan insists that Xuan leave her, but he continues to carry her to safety. The police arrive and while Ruolan and George get arrested, Xuan collapses from his wounds.
Three years later, a student arrives at Xuan's home to thank him for setting up a scholarship for research into environmental protection. The student asks Xuan whether merpeople are real and if the story that he fell in love with a mermaid is true, but Xuan denies it. Xuan then introduces the student to his wife, "Lucy", who is actually Shan in a human disguise. Xuan and Shan encourage the student to travel and explore the world. The screen then goes to Xuan and Shan swimming in the ocean along with the other merpeople.
Cast
Deng Chao as Liu Xuan (), the film's main human protagonist Lin Yun as Shan (), the film's titular protagonist "The Mermaid" Show Lo as Octopus () Zhang Yuqi as Ruolan (), Xuan's business partner and the film's main human antagonist Kris Wu as Long Jianfei, a student who sets an interview with Xuan (cameo) Lu Zhengyu Fan Shuzhen Li Shangzheng Bo Xiaolong Pierre Bourdaud Ivan Kotik as George Kong Lianshun (cameo) Bai Ke (cameo) Chiu Chi Ling (cameo) Tin Kai-man (cameo) Tsui Hark (cameo) Wen Zhang (cameo) Lam Chi-chung (cameo) Yang Neng Zhang Mei'e Jiro Lee
Production Inspirations The story was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of "The Little Mermaid" in which a mermaid loves a human, but Chow wanted to make it a modern interpretation: "I saw great creative space and development potential from the story". In another interview, Chow said: "I'm actually a big fairy-tale fan. All my previous titles can be understood as fairy tales. In the world of fairy tales, the evil are punished and the good see a happy ending. I buy that idea."
Another inspiration comes from Chow's own childhood experiences. "I lived near the sea at a young age and I looked at the sea every day. I was frightened and curious. I was very nervous when I swam in the sea and felt there might be something hidden below. I've been fascinated with the (mermaid) story since then, and I felt I could do the film, creating the concept 6 years ago and beginning to write the script four or five years ago."
Casting Male lead and villain Stephen Chow picked Deng Chao to play the film's lead male character Liu Xuan, even though Show Lo (who played Octopus in the film, and had previously worked with Chow in Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons) was also in the consideration. Chow explained that he ultimately chose Deng Chao for the lead role due to his overwhelming popularity in China, and he also had confidence in Deng's comedic talent, having observed his performances in the slapstick-style hit The Breakup Guru.
Zhang Yuqi first worked with Chow in CJ7 and gained fame from that role. They both later fell out in a highly publicized contractual dispute. But the personal relationship between them was not intense and Zhang once defended Chow when he was under personality attacks from former disgruntled collaborators and employees. When Zhang got a call from Chow, she was in a foreign country while her car broke down. She said yes to join the cast to play the film's villain, and described the role as a personal challenge.
The "Mermaid" The selection of the female lead character, the "Mermaid" Shan, was one of the most publicized parts of the filming process. As reported on Oriental Daily News, the then 18-year-old actress Lin Yun was selected by Chow and his casting team from over 120,000 participants due to her demure personality in a talent contest held in Shenzhen. Reportedly, throughout the 13 casting-training period, Lin Yun caught the casting team's eyes for being calm and collected while other participants tried their hardest to steal the spotlight. According to Lin Yun, she entered the audition at her friends' recommendation, and has always admired Stephen Chow.
The mass audition was from 31 July – 15 August 2014 when everyone could submit the CVs to the website for online votes and for the casting team to choose. A total of 43 contestants were selected after the first round, and then were shortlisted to 13 finalists to participate in the final contest held on 15 September 2014. Among them, six were chosen to continue in the audition process. Lin Yun eventually won the role of the film.
Filming The Mermaid began filming in October 2014, with shoots taking place in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, and in Beijing. Before the filming, confirmed cast members include Deng Chao, Show Lo, Zhang Yuqi, and newcomer Lin Yun was from a talent contest held specifically for The Mermaid in Shenzhen.
The film's production was a well-kept secret. A major set was built up in a large factory, which was used once for glass production, in Shenzhen as the shelter of mermaids in the film. Reports say that most of the scenes in his latest film have been shot more than 50 times to meet his exacting standards. Chow has even personally coached most of the cast on acting-from lead stars Deng, Zhang Yuqi and Lin Yun to Show Lo, as well as other cast members. To get the best result, Chow once let Deng Chao and Lin Yun eat 150 roasted chickens for shooting a scene. Lin Yun said Chow has never shouted at her and would often watch out for her. Playing the role of a mermaid, Lin often had to put on the safety harness when filming her underwater scenes. As she was not used to it, she often incurred injuries all over her body, and on one occasion, Yun nearly became disfigured.
Filming wrapped up in Beijing on 2 February 2015, and then went into post-production, adding visual effects by Ken Law and his Different Digital Design Ltd., as well as by MACROGRAPH，Ltd. from South Korea, both of which worked for Chow's previous film Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.
Notable cameos Directors Tsui Hark and Stephen Chow collaborated for the first time in The Mermaid. The two film directors had never worked together during their careers, despite each spanning three decades. Tsui Hark said they had discussed collaboration for years but Chow was so busy that Tsui had to wait until then. At a press conference in Beijing to promote The Mermaid, it was revealed that director Tsui Hark and actor Kris Wu would have cameo appearances in the film.
Other notable cameos include actor Wen Zhang, who was in Chow's previous blockbuster Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, and the comedian duo Kong Lianshun and Bai Ke (White. K) from the popular web series Surprise, and the 2015 fantasy comedy film Surprise.
Marketing Stephen Chow was on a 20-city tour in China to promote The Mermaid, including many fan meetings. Nine companies, including China Film Group, Hehe (Shanghai) Pictures and Enlight Media, invested in the production, while four companies, Star Overseas, Hehe Pictures, Maxtimes Culture, and Union (Beijing) Pictures collaborated in terms of marketing and promotion.
On 24 May 2016, Stephen Chow, Deng Chao and Lin Yun joined Chinese government ministers in Wellington for a screening of The Mermaid as the opening of the "New Zealand China Film Week" at New Zealand's national museum to bring cultural exchange between the China and New Zealand film-making communities.
Trailers and "hunger marketing"