THIRD MASTER'S SWORD Starts Production Next Year
Following Bona Film Group’s RMB $1B film fund launch reported in August, Kevin Ma over at FilmBiz.Asia shared some updates on a two-part list of scripts newly approved by China’s state censorship board, SAPPRFT, including Lo-Chi Leung’s The Killer Vanishes, and Derek Yee‘s long-awaited production of Third Master’s Sword; The latter film is based on the writings of late Hong Kong author Gu Long whose work inspired Yee’s lead actor credit in director Chor Yuen’s 1977 Shaw Brothers film Death Duel which starred then-actor Yee in a story centered around a swordsman whose past catches up to him after faking his own death to escape the underworld.
The film has taken a while to get things rolling since its initial announcement back in 2000 with Tsui Hark set to direct with a cast that namely included actress Zhang Ziyi and actor Leslie Cheung before his death three years later, in addition to other legal setbacks there after. Fortunately, the film’s 3D production is now set to begin in January with Hark and Yee producing the film – no word yet on who will star or direct. Bona’s new film fund also included the five-month production of the big screen 3D martial arts war thriller, Tracks In The Snowy Mountains, an adaptation of late author Qu Bo’s 1957 publication of the same name which Hark is also directing.
Stay tuned for more info.
H/T: Filmbiz.Asia