Tian Zhuangzhuang is becoming the latest fifth generation filmmaker to make the leap into big scale action epics and he has tagged actioner starlet Maggie Q for the lead female role. The actress whose made the leap into English language fair over the past couple of years and most recently contributed to the love poem in New York, I Love You will take over for Tang Wei – who has been banned from, get this, China screens after her risqué turn in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution. Variety reports that The Warrior and the Wolf is a combat epic about two warriors in ancient China and has already begun shooting in Xinjiang province, with an eye to a late 2009 release.
Personally I’ve only caught three of the filmmakers’ works – his most celebrated films in The Horse Thief and The Blue Kite and a couple of years back the slow-paced Springtime in a Small Town. Zhuangzhuang last directed The Go Master (Wu Qingyuan).
The Hong Kong/Japanese/Singapore/Chinese co-production also includes a crew comprised of costume designer Emi Wada (“Hero,” “House of Flying Daggers,”) and effects designer Ellen Poon and cinematographer Wang Yu (“Suzhou River,” “Zhou Yu’s Train.”)
