Originally Michelle Yeoh was to play Hu Mulan and Chow Yun-Fat to play General Li in a new biopic about the young female Chinese girl turned warrior.
Now, according to producer Thomas Chung, the role of Mulan might go to Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh may play another role. According to Monkey Peaches, Chung told Beijing based newspaper Big Star that they had talked to her and he thought Zhang Ziyi was perfect for the role. However, it was really about whether she would be available for it or not because shooting will start by the end of the year.
The script was finally completed a while back but director Peter Pau had already exited the project. Now they are negotiating with two candidates to fill in. There are four major characters in the movie - Hua Mulan, General Li (Chow Yun-Fat may not play it), Hun General Li and Hun Princess Jicheng. The story starts with peace in the summer, war in the autumn, battlefield romance in the winter, and then peace in the spring.
There are two other projects-in-planning based on the same folklore made famous by Disney several years ago. One is by Hong Kong director Stanley Tong and the other one is being pushed forward by assorted Korean studios.
Thanks to 'Antoine'.
