Hong Kong director John Woo plans to make film about Flying Tigers

Taipei - Hong Kong director John Woo plans to make a film about The Flying Tigers, the US volunteer group which helped China fight against Japan during World War II, a newspaper said Monday. The China Times, quoting an unnamed source, said Wu plans to spend 150 million US dollars on making the film to recall how The Flying Tigers helped the Chinese Air Force transport arms and supplies during WWII.

Animation of the film will be made in the United States, indoor scenes will be shot in Taiwan, and outdoor actions will be filmed in China, it noted.

Top picks for the leading role, General Chennault, include Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Half of the budget will be used on recreating the warships and warplanes of the WWII era, the paper reported.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry on Monday admitted it has helped Wu gather material for the film, but denied it will contribute to financing the film.

"We helped Wu gather material from the military archive and air force academy in August, October and December last year, but it is too early to talk about our cooperation in the film," Defense Ministry spokesman Yu Si-tzu told reporters.

Wu, 64, is one of the few Chinese directors who can make English-language films for the Western audience. Wu's English films Windtalkers, Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306966,hong-kong-director-john-woo-plans-to-make-film-about.html.