By Jonathan Landreth BEIJING – Hollywood hitmaker Jan de Bont has signed up to direct Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi in an independently-produced, English-language co-production of the classic tale of Hua Mulan, the legendary young heroine soldier who joins an all-male...

International News: Zhang Ziyi to star in $35 million pic -- Action helmer Jan de Bont has signed up to direct Chinese thesp Zhang Ziyi in a new English-language, $35 million live-action version of the folk story "Mulan," which its makers hope will wow auds both in China and beyond.

Film News: Zhang Ziyi to star in $35 million pic -- Action helmer Jan de Bont has signed up to direct Chinese thesp Zhang Ziyi in a new English-language, $35 million live-action version of the folk story "Mulan," which its makers hope will wow auds both in China and beyond.

Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi is to team up with Speed director Jan de Bont to make an English-language version of the Chinese legend Mulan.

AP - The folk story of an ancient Chinese woman who replaces her father in battle will get its second live-action adaptation in recent years — this time in English starring Zhang Ziyi.

What ever happened to Jan de Bont?

The Dutch director of such thrilling action blockbusters as "Speed" and "Twister" hasn't been heard from since 2003 after he unleashed the truly terrible trio of "Speed 2: Cruise Control," "The Haunting" and "Lara Craft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" upon the world.

There's a live action "Mulan" that's currently in pre-production with Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi attached to star. Since they've lined up a lead actress, it's time to go and wrangle up a director. That's where Jan de Bont comes in, the same director who put together "Speed" and "Laura Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life". Ziyi stars as the young heroine who ends up joining an all-male army. The script was written by John Blickstead and is set to start filming this fall near Shanghai.  Those locked in to produce this feature include Ron Lynch, Steven Waterman, Mark Phillips and Christopher Brough. You've seen Ziyi in quite a few films during the past decade between "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "2046", "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Hero".Right now they're currently casting the rest of the supporting roles for the production. No word on when they predict to get this film out in theaters.Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Zhang Ziyi is to lead the cast of Jan de Bont's retelling of the Mulan story.

Zhang Ziyi has signed up to star in 'Mulan'.The Chinese actress - who has appeared in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', '2046' and 'Hero' - will play the lead in...

Though Disney previously made an animated version in 1998 of the tale of the legendary female soldier, the House of Mouse has absolutely nothing to do with this new indie project coming straight out of China. THR reports director Jan de Bont (Speed, Twister) will direct an English-language live-action telling of Mulan, the story about the young female warrior named Hua Mulan who joins an all-male army. Chinese superstar Zhang Ziyi will portray the title heroine first mentioned in a 6th century poem titled "The Ballad of Mulan" which was popularized around the world by Disney's musical telling of the ancient story. Doesn't sound bad. Writer John Blickstead (who as far as I can tell, hasn't written anything previously) The film is set to start shooting this fall near Shanghai, but it's not clear as to what time period the story will take place. Since the story has been passed down ...

Variety reports that Jan de Bont ( Speed , Twister , Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life ) will direct Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi in an independently-produced, English-language co-production of the classic tale of Hua Mulan, the legendary young heroine soldier who joins an all-male army.

&$ &$Actress Zhang Ziyi attends an event as the new image ambassador for the China Red Ribbon Foundation in Beijing on Sunday, August 8, 2010. (Photo: CFP.cn)&$&$Getting up at 6 a.m., Zhihuo, a 14-year-old girl from the Chinese Yi ethnic minority, started her first day as a fifth grader by feeding the only pig in her home, where she lives with her 76-year-old grandmother. Brought ...

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&$ &$ Actress Zhang Ziyi attends an event as the new image ambassador for the China Red Ribbon Foundation in Beijing on Sunday, August 8, 2010. (Photo: CFP.cn) Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi has been named image ambassador by the China Red Ribbon Foundation (CRRF), an organization working to prevent HIV/AIDS, Sina.com.cn reports. The actress appeared Sunday (August 8) with 1 ...

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi poses for photos with camp members after presenting them gifts at an opening ceremony of a summer camp for AIDS orphaned children in Beijing on Sunday. (chinadaily.com.cn)&$&$ Super stars of sports and art littered an opening ceremony for a summer camp where 100 AIDS-orphaned children would kick off a five-day tour from the Bird's Nest in Beijing on Sunday. The tour, organized by China Red Ribbo ...

Actress Zhang Ziyi attends the Jury Cinefondation Photocall at the Palais de Festivals during the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2009 in Cannes, France.

Actress Zhang Ziyi attends the Jury Cinefondation Photocall at the Palais de Festivals during the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2009 in Cannes, France.

Zhang Ziyi is bringing Disney heroine MULAN to life in a new, live-action adaptation of the ancient Chinese legend, according to reports.The actress, who will also...

Right on, Disney! Good for you for backing an underdog. Disney has agreed to invest $100 million into Zhang Ziyi's live action, 3D adaptation of their 1998 cartoon Mulan. Ziyi plans to both produce and star in the film. While the original cartoon won many awards upon its release, it never seemed to get the affection [...]

&$ &$Actress Yao Chen poses for this photo spread that is featured in the Chinese magazine "Grazia". The actress is best known for her TV works including "My Own Swordsman" and "Lurk". She also appears in the romantic comedy film "Sophie's Revenge" along with Zhang Ziyi. (Photo: Grazia/ent.sina.com.cn)&$&$ &$

&$ &$Zhang changes suits and shoes for playing on the field.(Photo by ifeng.com)&$&$ According to ifeng.com, the opening match of "Special Olympics Unity Cup 2010" raised its curtain at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town of South Africa on local time of July 3. Sixteen Special Olympics athletes from all over the world and some other celebrities such as Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, Zhang Ziyi, China's f ...

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi on Town & Country. (File Photo)&$&$&$ 【1】 【2】 【3】 【4】 ...

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi on A Magazine. (File Photo)&$&$&$ 【1】 【2】 【3】 【4】 【5 ...

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi on Newsweek. (File Photo)&$&$&$ 【1】 【2】 【3】 【4】 【5 ...

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi on Paris Match. (File Photo)&$&$&$ 【1】 【2】 【3】 【4】 【 ...

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi on Paris Match. (File Photo)&$&$&$ 【1】 【2】 【3】 【4】 【 ...

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi on Bazaar Japan. (File Photo)&$&$&$ 【1】 【2】 【3】 【4】  ...

&$ &$ Chinese atcress Zhang Ziyi poses on the red carpet.(Photo Source: hunantv.com) Zhang Ziyi returns with "Tale of Magic" Zhang Ziyi's downward spiral – her hidden secret life may reveal all &$ 【1】 【2】

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi promotes A Tale of Magic at the press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. (Photo: CFP)&$&$ Chinesedirector Gu Changwei's new film A Tale of Magic was introduced to journalists at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday. Actress Zhang Ziyi, who stars in the film, made her first public appearance since a torrent of bad press over her botched donations to victim ...

Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, left, applauds during a press conference promoting the film "A Tale of Magic" directed by Gu Changwei, second left, in Beijing, China, Tuesday, May 18, 2010.

Actress Zhang Ziyi says she signed on to play an AIDS patient in her new movie because she's a big fan of the director.

Charity must be handled professionally and if you do not know how, then work with someone who does, agreed two charity experts on actress Zhang Ziyi's recent donation fraud controversy. In an interview with China Daily on Monday, Zhang said that she raised only $1,300 in Cannes in 2008, while the rest of the widely reported $500,000 was only in pledges. "A donation is not complete until the payment is received," said Wang Haijing, vice-president of the Red Cross Society of China. "If the ...

Zhang Ziyi, the best-known Chinese actress internationally, has denied accusations that she committed fraud while trying to raise money for earthquake victims.

AFP - Chinese film starlet Zhang Ziyi has taken the blame for an earthquake donation scandal in her first comments on a flap that sparked a firestorm of Internet criticism and questions about her honesty.

AFP - Chinese film starlet Zhang Ziyi has taken the blame for an earthquake donation scandal in her first comments on a flap that sparked a firestorm of Internet criticism and questions about her honesty.

Film star says she will make up for fund shortfall Zhang Ziyi has vehemently denied accusations that she committed fraud in the name of charity, but admitted to inexperience when organizing a donation drive for the relief of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake victims. In an interview with China Daily, the internationally-celebrated Chinese actress - for the first time - answered some 100 questions, most of which involve details about the money she gave to charity or collected for her own found ...

Online game providers and movie companies are entering each other's fields in an effort to increase their presence in China's entertainment market. Perfect World, the fifth-largest online game operator in China, said it would shoot several more films this year after the success of its first offering. The firm's first movie, Sofie's Revenge - starring well-known Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi - pulled in 97 million yuan at the box office last year, according to Zhu Qi, president of the NASDAQ ...

Two charity groups have released details of donations from acclaimed Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi to end the debate over whether she honored her promise to donate one million yuan (146,400 U.S. dollars) to earthquake relief charities. The Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) said in a notice Monday the organization had received all of the promised donation from the actress. The statement was featured prominently in newspapers Tuesday, which happened to be Zhang's birthday. &$

International News: Li Bingbing replaces Zhang Ziyi in English-lingo pic -- Hugh Jackman is set to join South Korea's Jeon Ji-Hyunand and Chinese thesp Li Bingbing in helmer Wayne Wang's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," according to local reports.

Back in November we got word of Zhang Ziyi's next project, the Wayne Wang directed English language film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. However, word comes from THR that Ziyi (citing scheduling conflicts with her other project The Grand Master) has been replaced with Li Bingbing (The Forbidden Kingdom), plus Hugh Jackman will have an unbilled cameo in this adaptation of the Lisa See novel of the same name which tells the story of the lifelong friendship of Lily and Snow Flower and their imprisonment by rigid cultural codes of conduct for women. Jeon Ji-Hyun (Blood: The Last Vampire) has also joined the cast. This will be Wang's first film in China and with Jackman's involvement marks another big name Hollywood actor to join a production in China after Kevin Spacey joined Inseperable last month. No word if Ziyi is still producing the film, but the production isn't slowing ...

The Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post is reporting today that Hugh Jackman will play the male lead in Wayne Wang's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and that Li Bingbing ( The Forbidden Kingdom ) has replaced Zhang Ziyi in the film that also stars Jeon Ji-Hyun.

&$ &$Temples cling precariously to sheer rock faces in Mount Cangyanshan, Hebei province. (China Daily Photo)&$&$ Remember the climactic scene in Ang Lee's film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wohu, Canglong) when Zhang Ziyi takes her leap of faith and throws herself from the craggy heights into a never-ending ravine, till she is sucked into a misty haze? Lee swapped Wudan Mountains, where the story is set, ...

&$ &$Actress Zhang Ziyi graces the latest issue of Marie Claire Chinese edition. [Photo: sina.com/Marie Claire]&$&$ &$ 【1】 【2】 【3】 【4】 ...

AFP - Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi topped Google Taiwan's list of most searched for celebrities, the company said Thursday, after revealing photographs of her on a beach caused a web sensation.

&$ &$In the romantic comedy "Sophie's Revenge", Zhang plays Sophie, a young cartoonist who plans to win her boyfriend back after he dumps her for a beautiful actress, played by Fan Bingbing. (China Daily Photo)&$&$ The domestic success of her first film as producer has pushed Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi to target a wider audience with her next project. Zhang is working with her friends Wendi Murdoch and ...

Reuters - Rupert Murdoch's wife is among the producers of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," an English-language Chinese drama starring Zhang Ziyi, perhaps the country's most exportable actress.

Though Zhang Ziyi (or Ziyi Zhang depending on who you talk to) is a huge star in the Chinese box office, her starpower in the United States is still growing. After finding a wide audience as a villainous vixen in Rush Hour 2, and critical and awards acclaim with Memoirs of a Geisha, THR reports she has found her next English language film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Wayne Wang will be directing from a script he co-wrote with Michael Ray, set in 19th century remote China, which revolves around the lifelong friendship of Lily and Snow Flower and their imprisonment by rigid cultural codes of conduct for women. Zhang is also producing the film which is not only Wang's first film to be shot in China, but also the first in partnership with Wendi Murdoch, the China-born wife of News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. Though Wang has worked ...

Zhang Ziyi is joining Wendi Murdoch and Florence Sloan in producing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan , an English-language drama starring Zhang. The Hollywood Reporter says Wayne Wang will direct.

&$ &$Zhang Ziyi in Forever Enthralled. (CFP Photo) &$&$ The 18th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival (Jinji Baihua) opened last night with a star-studded gala event attended by some of China's most well-known actors and filmmakers. This year's festival is expected to be grander than ever before, hoping to gain ground on dwindling industry and audience appeal. The festival is being held in N ...