We've known for a while that Keanu Reeves was trying hard to get a green light from someone for his dream project. And he's now finally succeeded, with Village Roadshow and Universal stepping up to finance and distribute **Man Of Tai Chi{
Reeves will direct the film, as well as co-starring with Tiger Chen, who he knows from his Matrix days. Chen was part of the extensive team that ensured that Keanu would "know kung fu". Plot details are scarce, but we're apparently looking at the tale of a young martial artist who has to face some difficult decisions. Reeves has said he'd like to play the villain, but there's no confirmation on that so far.
What we do know is that Reeves is planning Man Of Tai Chi as an afectionate homage to classic kick-ass cinema. “There's eighteen fights," he revealed back in April. "We've timed it out. It's about forty minutes of fighting. I want to make a good, solid kung fu movie. Good story, good plot — but let's get some good kung fu going!" The film's set in Beijing, and will shoot in Mandarin and English.
Village Roadshow's Glen Basser said today that, "We are pleased to announce Man Of Tai Chi under the Village Roadshow Pictures Asia label and to extend our long-standing relationship with Keanu." (Village Roadshow were also behind the Matrix trilogy).
Universal's David Kosse meanwhile, weighed in with, "Man Of Tai Chi has an amazing pedigree of filmmakers and we're thrilled to be a part of Keanu's directorial debut."
Keanu's cameras start cranking in February. In the meantime, he's going to be getting his martial arts on in 47 Ronin late in 2012, for which we're rather excited.