The 1934 Hollywood classic The Painted Veil is being remade starring Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Chinese actor Xia Yu and Hong Kong star Anthony Wong and will open in Chinese cinemas on December 29.

A grand premiere ceremony will be held in the US on December 20 and China the following day.

In the remake Naomi Watts, replacing Nicole Kidman, and Edward Norton will take the roles originally played by Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall. The US$34 million production is being put together by John Curran. 　

Anthony Wong will be making his US debut later this year in The Painted Veil. Wong has already starred in four other releases this year, Johnnie To's Exiled, Herman Yau's On the Edge, Pang Ho-cheung's Isabella and the animated film McDull, The Alumni for which he did voice work. The Painted Veil also stars Naomi Watts, Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber.

The Painted Veil is from director John Curran who recently entered the US market with We Don't Live Here Anymore. His previous credits include the highly acclaimed, award winning, Australian production Praise which he made as an expatriate from New York.

Wong's profile in the West has been heightened due to the success of the Infernal Affairs trilogy though he was known for earlier roles such as John Woo's Hardboiled. He also received much praise for recent roles like the alcoholic father he played in Initial D. Wong started his career in Hong Kong in the early 80's. He joined ATV's training program and enrolled in the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. He has appeared in over 100 films.

The Painted Veil is scripted by Ron Nyswaner, who's been in the business since the 80's and is based on the novel of the same name by Somerset Maugham. The author was hugely popular in the 1930's.

The film follows a young English couple, played by Norton and Watts, who move to Shanghai because they are dissatisfied with each. Wong plays the key character of General Yu.

The film is being distributed by Warner Independent Pictures. It was shot in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai as well as Guangxi. It has a $34 million budget and will be released on December 15. 

(CRI November 23, 2006)