Are Chinese superstars Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi planning to star together in an HK$80 million movie? Hopefully yes, if some New Zealand local politicians get their way.
A story appeared in the New Zealand Herald yesterday suggesting that a project called 'A Kung Fu Western Love Story' was top of a list of projects discussed by a visiting delegation of mainland Chinese film and government officials and members of the city council of Waitakere (NZ's fifth largest city), as part of their trade talks and tour of the country's production and post-production facilities.
The two internationally known Chinese big-screen actors are obviously the first choice as stars for the prospective co-production. 'We think it would be fantastic to have two of China's greatest stars, Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi, to kick-start New Zealand's co-production venture with China,' a Kiwi representative, Jim He - chairman of the Pacific Culture and Arts Exchange Centre - was quoted as saying.
No other details of the project were available, but the potential film title is telling enough. If funding comes through for this co-production, it would reunite the two stars, who both appeared in Zhang Yimou's Hero in 2002, although, as CitySeen recalls, they didn't actually share any scenes.
