National treasure and comedian Zhao Benshan (赵本山) will play the warlord Duan Qirui (段祺瑞) in The Founding of a Party (建党伟业), to mark the 90th anniversary of founding of the Communist Party.

Of course, he won’t be the only star who will be signing on the dotted line to sing the praises of the Party and retain his status as an “untouchable.”

Like its forebear, Founding of a Republic (建国大业), last year, China’s celebrities are expected to queue up to play cameo roles, even for free.

Han Sanping (韓三平), head of the State-owned China Film Group, will direct the movie.

Its aim is to be another blockbusting propaganda vehicle like the surprisingly successful Founding of a Republic, which celebrated the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

It made a respectable US$58 million at the box office and featured the greatest number of stars in one film.

It was also produced by China Film Group and got 5.6 out of 10 from reviewers on imdb.com.

“(Duan Qirui) was arguably the most powerful man in China from 1916 to 1920,” according to Wikipedia. “His nickname was `Mr.Democracy‘ because he was against (warlord) Yuan Shikai (袁世凯) being the emperor.”

It’s not known whether Benshan’s “Mr Democracy” is going to be a hero, or a villain — or even a comedy figure — in the film.

Either way, Benshan will walk away from the project with another good mark against his name as far as the Communist Party is concerned.

This will inevitably stand him in good stead as he makes even more money, keeps his annual appearance spot on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala and remains an “untouchable.”

Source: Deep Throat