These days, it seems like you can throw a stone in China and hit a crew working on a period war epic.
Yes, there’s yet another production about to gear up, under the direction of Peter Ho-Sun Chan. Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro have all signed on to Ci Ma, which translates to This Violent Land.
Set during the country’s Qing Dynasty, it sees three blood brothers struggling as their kingdom is torn apart by war and political change. The script will be based on The Assassination Of Ma, which follows the slaughter of a general named Ma Xinyi. It’s not the first time the plot has made it to the big screen – a version was filmed in 1973 as The Blood Brothers.
"We want to produce a new take on the story based on human nature. For many years, I've dreamt about making a war movie, and this is a new challenge for me,” Chan told Variety. We're very excited and keen to get started.”
And as for Jet Li - who claimed that Fearless was the last kung fu film he’d make - his brightly burning pants might just be visible from space.