At 16 he enrolled to a high school affiliated to China's Central Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1992 he was admitted to the oil painting department of the latter. However, he dropped out the following year, and in 1994 started studying directing at the Beijing Film Academy, graduating from the latter in 1998.[3] He started his career by making TV commercials,[1][3] becoming successful in the business.[3] He continued to work as a TV commercials director, video artist and avant-garde artist until his debut in movie industry with the 2004 film Soap Opera.[1][4]
On September 16, 2010, Wuershan's second feature film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman premiered on September 16, 2010, at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section marking the first time a film from China has been shown at this sidebar.[5][6] It received mixed reviews from critics.[7][8] The film was also screened at the Pusan Film Festival.[9] It was presented by Doug Liman at the festival.[10] It was released theatrically on 17 March 2011 in Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand simultaneously.[11] Described as an avant-garde martial arts comedy,[3] the film is split into three stories titled "Desire", "Vengeance" and "Greed," and it follows the "journey of a mystical blade as it passes through the hands of three ambitious men."[12]
Painted Skin: The Resurrection
Wuershan's third feature film, Painted Skin: The Resurrection, was released on June 28, 2012. The film, which has an 83% approval rating on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes,[13] and is described as a "deliciously nutty love story,"[14] tells about Xiaowei, a malevolent fox spirit, who consumes men's hearts to preserve her beauty and is looking for a heart that must be freely given to her in order to become human, while lovesick Princess Jing, who wears a mask to conceal her scarred face, looks for true love. She winds up deciding to exchange her pure heart for the fox daemon's beauty.[14] With a total box office gross of $115.07 million,[15] the film became the highest grossing domestic film in China beating the previous record holder Let the Bullets Fly.[16]
The novel combines elements of history, folklore, mythology, legends and fantasy,[25] with a story set in the era of the decline of the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC) and the rise of the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). It tells about the downfall of King Zhou, the Shang Dynasty's last ruler. He becomes a tyrant after having been "bewitched by a fox spirit posing as his concubine." An epic battle "rages to defeat him, involving gods, demons and other supernatural beings."[23]Barrie M. Osborne, producer of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was involved in the production.[23]