Chinese American filmmaker Dayyan Eng (Waiting Alone) is to produce and direct a black-comedy from his own script titledInseparable. Hong Kong actor Daniel Wu (Shinjuku Incident) and Chinese actress Gong Beibi (Call For Love, Waiting Alone) are heading the cast.

The project is being planned as a mid-budget film under Chinese industry standards ($3m to $7m). China Film Group will back the project as a distributor for the mainland China market, with Han Sanping, Zhao Haicheng from China Film Group and David U Lee as executive producers.

The story is under tight wraps but is said to be set in contemporary China, following a young man with problems at home and work befriending a mysterious stranger who changes his life. Wu will portray the young man and Gong his wife.

Shooting is likely to start in Guangzhou in May and it is scheduled to be released at the end of 2009.

Inseparable will be Dayyan Eng’s second feature film. His previous effort Waiting Alone, starring Xia Yu, Li Bingbing and Gong Beibi, and cameos from the likes of Chow Yun-Fat, was a big hit in China in 2005. It won first feature and actor awards at the popular Beijing Film Festival and was nominated for three Chinese academy awards (Golden Roosters) including Best Picture. Eng’s short film Bus 44 won awards at Venice and Sundance.

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