A celebrated filmmaker in the Chinese movie industry, Yimou Zhang is also a writer, actor, and cinematographer, who made his directorial debut with the Academy Award nominated Red Sorghum, in 1987. He then went on to direct movies like Codename Cougar (1988), Raise the Red Lantern (1991), The Story of Qiu Ju (1992), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and The Flowers of War (2011). His 2016 release includes the historical fiction action-adventure film The Great Wall. Starring Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe and Andy Lau, the movie bombed at the box office and failed to leave any impact.