(Variety) Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok have begun filming on big-budget Chinese-language action film “Project Gutenberg.” The picture is being directed by Felix Chong, screenwriter on the original “The Departed” and director of the hit “Overheard” franchise.
The story, written by Chong, sees Hong Kong police hunting a gang of exceptional currency counterfeiters. Through a gang member (Kwok) whom they extradite from Thailand, the police find themselves on the trail of the gang’s shadowy mastermind (Chow). The cast also includes Dick Liu Kai Chi, Zhang Jingchu and Catherine Chau as the lead detective.
The film is a Hong Kong-China co-production, with production by Hong Kong’s Pop Movies and finance by China’s Bona Film Group. International rights are handled by Distribution Workshop, which has already struck some early pre-sales. It will begin licensing other territories at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film has been licensed to GSC Movies for Malaysia, Shaw Renters and mm2 Entertainment for Singapore, and Celestial Tiger Entertainment for pay-TV in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesian and Brunei.
Location shooting takes in Hong Kong, China, Canada and Thailand. Delivery of the completed picture is scheduled for 2018.
Chong teamed with Alan Mak to write the iconic “Infernal Affairs” crime trilogy, which was directed by Mak and Andrew Lau and was later adapted for Martin Scorsese as the Oscar-winning “The Departed.” Chang and Mak established Pop Movies in 2007 and went on to produce “Extraordinary Mission,” “Overheard,” and “Silent War.”
Source: Variety by Patrick Frater