Diao is not known as a particularly prolific director. He has established his prestigious reputation and gained fame for his unique style. Diao's last film, Black Coal, Thin Ice, won two awards-the Golden Bear for best film and the Silver Bear for best actor (Liao Fan)-at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival.

Driven by his desire to make a breakthrough, Hu says he set aside all his acting experience to reset himself as "a blank sheet of paper" to prepare for this unprecedented role, which involved learning the Wuhan dialect and taking part in a harsh physical-training regime.

Thanks to Hu's devotion as well as the efforts of the other cast members, including actress Kwai Lunmei and actor Liao Fan, the movie-which will open on Friday-has become one of December's most anticipated films.

The film was shortlisted as the only Chinese-language film to compete for top awards at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Loosely adapted from a real-life story, the movie set in the humid city in central China unfolds with Zhou Zenong, played by Hu, a hoodlum on the run after he accidentally kills a policeman. In order to make his isolated wife turn him in to the police to receive a 300,000 yuan ($42,400) reward, the outlaw turns to his friends for help-but things go wrong and end in bloodshed.

"I spent two years writing the script, using a blend of my imagination and news stories," recalls Diao at a recent promotional event held in Beijing.

Speaking about the dark tone of the movie, Diao reveals up to 85 percent of all sequences were shot at night. Around 2,000 extras were recruited.