Zhang Yimou says Three-Body Problem script still needs work

Zhang Yimou is still rewriting his Three-Body Problem film.

His team has spent several years polishing the script because the novel is very difficult to turn into a film, he told the opening ceremony of the Busan International Film Festival, according to Variety. Polishing, in film terms, means reworking story structure, scenes and dialogue until they play on screen. He spoke as president of the festival’s competition jury.

That title puts him at the centre of this year’s Busan. He leads a seven-member jury for the competition section, the group that watches the selected films and chooses the winners. The 31st edition of the festival runs through Oct. 15. Festival director Jung Hanseok leads the organisation behind it.

The project is Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem. It is the first book in the author’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, a set of three linked novels. The book won the Hugo Award for best novel in 2015 in Ken Liu’s English translation, the version that brought it to many readers outside China.

It is a story audiences have already seen on screen in other forms. Bilibili released an animated series in 2022, using drawn and computer-made images rather than live actors. Tencent followed with the live-action series Three-Body in 2023, with real performers on camera. Netflix then released its own live-action take, 3 Body Problem, in 2024.

Interest in Zhang’s film version is intense. He said his company collected around 400,000 online audience comments in a single week after word spread that he would direct the film, according to Variety. One week. That is a flood of opinions, hopes and warnings for any writing team to read.

What makes this stand out is the mix of patience and pressure. A much-adapted book. A director willing to say the script is not ready. For fans, this means more waiting, but with a clearer reason for the delay.