Bastille Post interviews director Mou Zhengyang and producers at Hong Kong premiere

In an exclusive interview with Bastille Post published on August 22, director Mou Zhengyang described the film as one of eight mortals challenging the gods, a tribute to the power of ordinary people. He said the script underwent several years of development, and because AI was still in its infancy during production, every keyframe, camera movement and animated sequence was crafted manually — "a clumsy way of working," he conceded, "but everyone poured their heart into it."[1]

Mou revealed that casting the voice of the teenage Han Xiangzi alone took three attempts, as the first two boys cast had both gone through puberty and their voices had deepened by the time additional dialogue recording was needed. He called balancing the eight characters' screen time the film's biggest challenge: "a single shot required extensive framing to fit all eight characters, and each of them needed to deliver nuanced acting."[1]

Asked about his favourite character, Mou named Tieguai Li — "a beggar, wandering the world, clear-headed and sharp" — and explained the exclamation mark in the title: "The movie is fast-paced, exciting, and exhilarating. The exclamation mark fits its energy perfectly. I hope that when audiences recommend it, they'll say it with the same punch — 'All Wishes Come True! is great!'"[1]

Executive producer Ying Xujun said the Cantonese-dubbed version was specially produced for Hong Kong audiences, with every voice actor handpicked by the director; she called Hong Kong "a key film market in Asia with a strong animation audience." She said the team never set a box office target: "Seeing the box office climb is certainly gratifying, but it's not just about the numbers; it's about the growing number of viewers."[1]

Producer Cao Linlin said the film uses a traditional style of Chinese blue-green landscape painting to create the Penglai Fairyland, which had no pre-existing real-world reference and "posed a huge challenge at first." Her favourite character is He Xiangu, citing "a fight scene in the film where she takes on seven men who are stronger and older than her without flinching; we call it 'He Xiangu taking on seven by herself.'"[1]

Ying noted the film has already been released in the UK, the US and other markets with encouraging audience response: "People like the characters and are beginning to take an interest in the Chinese mythological system and Chinese cultural traditions behind them." According to the report, the film had grossed over CN¥1.6 billion (RMB) on the mainland by August 16.[1]