"Tracks in the Snowy Forest" to Shoot in January

The official weibo account of Bona Film Group posted a photo featuring directors Tsui Hark and Huang Jianxin and the CEO of Bona Yu Dong, announcing that Hsui’s new 3D directorial project “Tracks in the Snowy Forest” is scheduled to start filming in January.

Yu Dong revealed in an interview with thebeijingnews.com that the leading actors will all come from the mainland, with a sizeable amount coming from the northeast of China.

Set in the northeast, “Tracks in the Snowy Forest” was originally a novel written by Qu Bo, mainly revolving around the reconnaissance hero Yang Zirong as he outwitted a group of bandits led by Zuo Shandiao in the winter of 1946.

Yu also revealed that shooting will be no easy task because the film contains a number of war and skiing scenes.

The production crew have been setting up the outdoor shooting locations in the Greater Hinggan Mountains since September.

Source: Chinese Films

Cast List of Tsui Hark’s ‘Di Renjie’ Revealed

Actor Mark Chao will lead the prequel to Tsui Hark’s “Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame”.

A Weibo account has disclosed some of the cast members for director Tsui Hark’s suspense action film “Di Renjie”, the prequel to his previous hit “Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame”.

The film began shooting on June 29 at the Hengdian World Studios in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province.

The new movie will reportedly star Mark Chao, Angelababy, Lin Gengxin, Feng Shaofeng, Carina Lau and South Korea’s Kim Bum.

Some insiders at the shooting site said that Feng plays a role with red hair as possibly the biggest villain in the film.

The official Weibo account of the Hengdian World Studios said that Lau – who starred in the first film as Empress Wu Zetian – will arrive soon to begin shooting.

“Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame”, released in 2010, is a fictional account of the legend of Tang Dynasty detective Di Renjie, who is summoned by the empress to investigate a series of mysterious deaths.

In the new film, Chao will play the title role when he investigates a mysterious pillaging case at age 21.

Source: CRI By Liu Shuai

Tsui Hark premieres his 3-D ‘Dragon Gate’

Director Tsui Hark (center) leads cast members (from left to right) Mavis Fan, Kwai Lun-mei, Li Yuchun, Jet Li, Zhou Xun and Chen Kun at the premiere ceremony of the film “Flying Swords of Dragon Gate” in Beijing on Monday, December 12, 2011.

Director Tsui Hark led the star-studded cast of his new 3-D martial-arts film “Flying Swords of Dragon Gate” in promoting the movie’s premiere Monday in Beijing.

Having received help from Chuck Comisky, the visual-effects supervisor of James Cameron’s “Avatar”, Tsui used 3-D cameras to complete the shooting, becoming the first Chinese director to do so.

The film stars Jet Li as a hero who goes head-to-head against a villain played by Chen Kun in and around a desert inn called Dragon Gate.

Actresses Zhou Xun, Kwai Lun-mei and Li Yuchun also have roles in the film.

Critics have hailed the film as one of the two most anticipated Chinese movies of this New Year season. The other one is Zhang Yimou’s Oscar-hopeful “The Flowers of War” starring Christian Bale. The two films will hit movie theaters the same day on December 15.

Source: Xinhua/china.org.cn

Tsui Hark and Jet Li Cover “GQ”

Tsui Hark and Jet Li—pose for “GQ” magazine to promote their new wuxia martial arts film “Flying Swords of the Dragon Gate 3D” scheduled for release on December 16 (Source: Xinhua Entertainment)

Chen Kun in "Flying Swords of the Dragon Gate"

Tsui Hark’s latest martial arts film “Flying Swords of the Dragon Gate” is scheduled to be released December 16, 2011.

In the film, Chen Kun plays a eunuch who battles Ming dynasty general Chow Wai-On, played by Jet Li.

Source: Tom Entertainment