John Woo's Next Is Romantic Epic 'Love And Let Love,' Korean Star Song Hye-Kyo, Zhang Ziyi And Chang Chen In Cast

News

by Oliver Lyttelton
December 21, 2011 10:00 AM
2 Comments

The path of John Woo's Hollywood career was a sad and rather depressing one; the acclaimed action filmmaker made his first inroads into English language with "Hard Target," "Broken Arrow" and "Face/Off" but the dumb-but-fun feel of those films soon gave way to the dumb-and-boring vibe of "Mission Impossible II," "Windtalkers" and "Paycheck," and the filmmaker has, for the most part, returned to Asia, where he's rediscovered his mojo thanks to his acclaimed two-part epic "Red Cliff" and period actioner "Reign of Assassins," which he co-directed.

And, after a couple of years of inactivity, Woo's got another one that looks ready to go. He's been working on the wartime romance "1949," which focuses on a woman in the aftermath of World War II, and during the Chinese Civil War, for some time, but the film was cancelled back in 2009 because of legal tangles over the rights to the script. But finally, it looks like the project is ready to go again, with a new title, and most of the original cast still intact.

Korea Herald report that the film, now entitled "Love And Let Love," will get underway in January in Shanghai and Taiwan, with Korean actress Song Hye-Ko ("A Reason To Live," Wong-Kar Wai's upcoming "The Grandmasters") still in the lead role, of a wealthy Shanghai woman. She'll be joined by a pair of alumni from crossover hit "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon;" Chang Chen, who played bandit Lo, and Zhang Ziyi, who starred as the aristocratic Jen before going on to "2046" and "House of Flying Daggers," among others.

It sounds like a more sweeping, romantic tale than we're used to from Woo, but we're sure there'll be some action-packed battle scenes as well. With filming starting in January, it could see a Chinese release before 2012 is up, although we're unlikely to see it in the rest of the world for a year or two yet.

News

More: John Woo, Song Hye-Kyo, Love And Let Love, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen

2 Comments

| Reply
tetzie | December 25, 2011 7:28 PMReply

We've been waiting for three years now since the announcement of 1949.
I hope this will push through and we'll be able to see in 2012. SHK ranks 5th
most beautiful woman(girl) in the world. I really like her face, much more her
very professional poise and good character.
Diana | December 21, 2011 10:22 AMReply

Sounds good. I worry about the feasibility of a Korean speaking Mandarin (or Shanghaiese) with a plausible accent, but then, dubbing over an actor's real speaking voice is common enough in Asian cinema.