Leading Chinese filmmaker Jiang Wen is likely to reunite with Gong Li in his latest directorial project, Gone With The Bullets, according to Marco Ma, who co-owns Beijing-based Buyilehu Films with the director.
According to Ma, the film can be roughly seen as a sequel to Jiang's 2010 hit Let The Bullets Fly, although the two films' plots will not be closely connected. Buyilehu is also planning the film to be the second in a "Bullets trilogy". Set in the same period – the warring 1920s – the new film's location will be shifted from a small town in South-West China to a big city in East China.
"It will be another action drama about contests of wits and power, that has a tense pace and is full of Jiang Wen's playful imagination, but on a grander scale," Ma said, adding that the production budget will be much higher than the $20m range of Let The Bullets Fly.
Jiang will also star in the film, which reunites him with Gong, 25 years after they co-starred in Zhang Yimou's Red Sorghum (1987). Ge You, who starred in Let The Bullets Fly, is also likely to join the cast, although the deal was not finalised at press time. "The two actors are very likely to join the project," Ma said.
Ma said Buyilehu is also in talks with a US actor to play the character of a Westerner in the film.
Buyilehu Films is currently putting together financing for the film. Ma said the company is likely to work again with Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures to co-produce and co-distribute the film. It is understood that Buyilehu is in talks with several international companies on possible casting and co-production deals.
William Chang Suk-ping will continue to collaborate with Jiang as art director. The script is co-written by Jiang Wen and Guo Junli (Let The Bullets Fly).
Shooting will start between September and October this year and the release date is set for late 2013.