(Variety) Chinese actress Gong Li will star in the Europe-set action-thriller “Ana,” with Martin Campbell on board to direct.
“Rush Hour” producer Arthur Sarkissian and China’s Bruno Wu are producing the movie, which Wu is also financing. Sarkissian told Variety that they plan to start production in March or April.
The script is written by Richard Wenk, whose credits include “The Equalizer,” “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” and “The Expendables 2.” Sarkissian said “Ana” will be similar in tone to Luc Besson’s 1990 actioner “La Femme Nikita.”
“Ana” re-teams Campbell and Sarkissian following the Jackie Chan actioner “The Foreigner,” which opens Friday in North America with expectations of a $10 million debut weekend. “The Foreigner” is projected to earn $88 million in international markets by the end of the upcoming weekend.
Gong’s credits date back to Zhang Yimou’s directorial debut, “Red Sorghum,” which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1988. Since then, she’s appeared in “The Story of Qiu Ju,” “Farewell My Concubine,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Miami Vice,” and Zhang Yimou’s 2014 drama “Coming Home.”
Campbell’s directing credits include “GoldenEye,” “Casino Royale,” “Green Lantern,” “The Mask of Zorro,” and “The Legend of Zorro.”
Sarkissian produced “While You Were Sleeping” and the three “Rush Hour” films. Wu is a Chinese entrepreneur and the co-chairman and CEO of Seven Stars Entertainment & Media Group Limited.
Wu and Sarkissian announced last year that they had teamed to launch Peak Time Entertainment with an initial slate of five projects, including “Titanic Code,” about a conspiracy theory to sink the ship.
Source: Variety by Dave McNary