Zhang Yimou to shoot Hollywood blockbuster

Chinese director Zhang Yimou confirmed that his next project "The Great Wall" will be a co-production between Chinaand the US.

The veteran director attended a press conference with "Godzilla" director Gareth Edwards at the BeijingFilmAcademyyesterday. Zhang spoke little about the upcoming Hollywoodblockbuster, a first for Zhang, but did reveal the cast will be mostly foreign and all the dialogue will be in English.

"First of all, the scale of the production is very big so it'll be fun to shoot this film. Also, this is a new genre of film that's full of and driven by Chinese elements," said Zhang.

Zhang has been known for making dramas that describe the sensitive and delicate side of human nature. "The Great Wall," on the contrary, is a fantasy epic and it will be the first time Zhang tackles this type of film in his 30-year filmmaking career.

The project was initially publicized in August 2011 as the first project for Legendary East Ltd, the Chinese branch of the Hollywoodproduction company, but was halted as Edward Zwick dropped out as director the following year. Since then, Zhang has been rumored to have replaced Zwick, and the unveiling of the poster yesterday was the first official confirmation of Zhang's involvement.

The film (scheduled to be released in 2016) mostly will be shot in China. Zhang said he hopes to express Chinese culture in simpler terms for the benefit of introducing the country to younger audiences abroad.

"Legendary East is brave in letting a Chinese director who doesn't speak English shoot an English-dialogue film. This kind of attempt is historically significant for Chinese films, its market and its future. It's taking Chinese films abroad, and I hope these kinds of projects will continue to guide Chinese filmmakers out of China," said Zhang.