After a decade spent making his name in Hollywood as a master stylist of the action film, Hong Kong director John Woo plans to mark his return to Chinese-language cinema by producing a tale of a love triangle.
According to news reports in Hong Kong, the film is set to star Chang Chen, Shu Qi and Daniel Wu, and will have a budget of HK$47m (£3.2m). Taiwanese music video director Chen Yi-li will direct, and shooting will start in September. The title - which would surely cause anxiety in Hollywood, where Michael Cimino's megabudget flop of the same name remains a byword for cinematic follies - is Heaven's Gate.
John Woo patented his style of balletic violence in Hong Kong with such films as A Better Tomorrow and Once a Thief before answering the siren call of Hollywood in the early 90s, where he made Broken Arrow, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II.
His return to Hong Kong may have been influenced by his faltering track record in the noughties, with such duds as Windtalkers, Hostage and Paycheck in recent years.
In addition to Heaven's Gate, Woo plans to direct the historical epic Battle of Red Cliff in China starting in March 2007.
