"Taiwan needs a real on-screen hero," Wei said "Mona Rudao can be seen as a pure Taiwanese hero," he said, explaining his reason for writing the script.
Ten years ago when Wei saw an Aboriginal protest on TV, he said he was stunned by the keen, sparkling eyes and the determination on the protesters' faces. "I naturally thought of the story of Mona Rudao and began researching his story," he said.
"I want to show that a difference of religions and the clash between modern and traditional culture are the main reasons for the revolt," Wei said.
The Seediq are officially seen as a division of the Atayal people, although its language and customs are very different from those of Atayal. Head hunting and tattoos on the face are a central part of its culture. But these traditions were banned by the Japanese. "For the Seediq, without these rituals, they cannot connect with their ancestors and when they die, they will not enter heaven to see their ancestors," Wei said.
So the revolt was the pursuit of freedom for their souls, because they knew they would later die in action, Wei said.
Another reason the story fascinates Wei are the costumes and style of the Seediq people. Seediq men are always bare-footed, wearing eye-catching red and white linen and a mantle, with carved bamboo earrings in the ear lobes. They have tattoos on the foreheads and chins and their long hair is always neatly tied up.
"We have done quite a lot of research to find out what Seediq costumes looked like 73 years ago. Even younger Seediq now are surprised how simple but bright their old costumes were. Nowadays Aboriginal costumes have become too complex, for the purpose of tourism," Wei said.
Already, Chen Kuo-fu, the director of Double Vision has promised to put up US$7 million and other film companies have shown interest. After Wei's five-minute demo was put out on the Internet, small individual donations started coming in.
"Like I said, this is a big gamble and it's either win or lose. If I cannot raise enough money I will admit defeat and give up the project. But I'm glad that we have done the demo and gone so far. It may just be a long process," Wei said.
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