Wong Ching Po has been lined up to direct $10m martial arts action film Once Upon A Time In Shanghai for Wong Jing’s Mega Vision Pictures (MVP).

Scheduled to start shooting at the end of April, the film will star Philip Ng (Bodyguards And Assassins) and Sammo Hung. Yuen Woo Ping (The Matrix) is on board as action director.

Ng will play a poor labourer from Shandong who moves to 1920s Shanghai with a dream of making his fortune but ends up using his powerful fists. Hung plays his kung-fu master.

“The reason I asked Wong Ching Po to direct this film is that his visual style is very unique and I want him to bring a new visual element to kung-fu fighting,” Wong Jing told Screen.

Wong Ching Po is one of Hong Kong’s hottest young directors with credits such as Revenge: A Love Story which has sold widely around the world and won best director at last year’s Moscow International Film Festival.

His new project will be sold internationally by MVP’s international sales label Mega Vision Project Distribution, headed by Gordon Cheung, which is also selling Marco Mak’s Naked Soldier, starring Hung and Jennifer Tse.  

MVP’s busy production slate also include Patrick Kong’s motorbike chase drama Ride With The Wind and Wong Jing-directed Princess And The Seven Kung-fu Masters, which Bona Film Group will release in China this summer.

Wong Jing is also directing The Last Tycoon, starring Chow Yun Fat, for Bona which is also scheduled to start shooting in April.

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