After years of preparation and delayed filming dates, John Woo’s The Crossing is currently filming in Huairou District in Beijing. Takeshi Kaneshiro and John Woo were photographed yesterday on the first day of filming.

HONG KONG – Production got underway today on “The Crossing,” the first film in over four years to be directed by “A Better Tomorrow” and “Face/Off” helmer John Woo.

Set against the upheavals of revolutionary China in 1949, the film is the story of three couples from different backgrounds who make a fateful voyage on a ship fleeing China to Taiwan. The screenplay is by Wang Huiling, who previously co-wrote “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and who adapted “Lust Caution.”

The $40 million two-part movie is backed by rising Chinese studio Beijing Galloping Horse, along with China Film Group and Zhejiang Huace Film & TV, with production by Woo and Terence Chang’s Lion Rock Productions.

Woo and Chang have assembled a pan-Asian, all-star cast headed by Tong Dawei, Zhang Ziyi, Huang Xiaoming, (South Korea’s) Song Hye-kyo, (Taiwan’s) Takeshi Kaneshiro and (Japan’s) Masami Nagasawa.

“We are not shooting the foreign actors yet. And we are still adding on names,” Chang told Variety. “Confirmed are Jack Kao (高捷), Yang Kui-Mei (杨贵媚), and Hong Kong actor Bowie Lam (林保怡).

Top technical crew includes cinematographer Zhao Fei (趙非); production designer Horace Ma (馬光荣); costume and makeup artist Chen Tongxun (陈同勋) and music composer Taro Iwashiro.

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Previously called “Love and Let Love”, John Woo’s next film The Crossing will start shooting next month in Beijing…

When James Cameron‘s Titanic is really cooking, I think, it’s when the directoris playing to his strengths. The sequence with Jack hand cuffed to the pipe and Rose needing to get him free is top class stuff. There’s character, suspense, comedy and a little bit of running about. Cameron on top gear.

Some of the film, though, met heaps of criticism, particularly the central love story.

One might expect a similar mix of pedestrian romantic tropes, however well played they might be, and well-practised dynamics in the action and disaster scenes from John Woo‘s next picture, The Crossing.

Or… maybe not, though. Perhaps Woo will trump Cameron and actually nail the love story stuff too. Not sure if that means Cameron will have to hand over his World Crown to Woo in that case.

According to China.Org, The Crossing will start shooting next month. Zhang Ziyi and South Korean actress Song Hye-kyo will be amongst the cast, with several other key roles to still be announced.

The film will be set on aboard the Taipining, a steamer that sank after a collision in 1949. Though it had only been okayed to hold five hundred to six hundred passengers, there were fifteen hundred on board and… I guess it’s a spoiler to tell you what happened, but it wasn’t pretty.

I wonder how much of this will be filmed practically, and what kind of scale the disaster will be on. I’ve seen Woo’s Red Cliff, for example, and know that he can do huge.

And, you know, I’d be prepared to bet you anything that this film ultimately clocks in at an absolute minimum of two and a half hours.

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It’s been a while since we’ve heard of the project with Ziyi “Love and Let Love“. With the tumour diagnosis of John Woo few months ago, it was not likely to begin filming soon. Hopefully we have some developments.

After his surgery, John Woo will need some months to rest. According to Chinese reports, Woo’s producer Terence Chang said in a statement that the film will begin filming in March next year with Ziyi, Chang Chen, Song Hye Kyo and Louis Koo. Apparently everything was ready to shoot a while ago before Woo’s health problem. It won’t be a problem to begin shooting.

Glad to hear that it’s still hapenning and that the film is not postponed indefinitely.
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