Influential producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein are set to remake Akira Kurosawa's classic The Seven Samurai and are negotiating with popular Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi for the project.

 

The Weinstein Co. announced Monday that it is in negotiations with Zhang for three films. Most recently seen in Memoirs of a Geisha, the 27-year-old actress is also known in Hollywood for such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Rush Hour 2.

 

In addition to the Seven Samurai remake and an unspecified project, the Weinsteins are planning a live-action movie about Chinese folk heroine Hua Mulan, who disguised herself as a man so that she could replace her ailing father on the battlefield.

 

The mythical story, which has been dramatized in China, was also adapted into the 1998 Disney animated film Mulan.

 

The Weinsteins acquired the rights to remake Kurosawa's Samurai in 2002, when heading up their former company, Miramax Films. They retained the rights when they formed their new company.

 

 

Zhang Ziyi stars in the up coming Feng Xiaogang's project The Banquet

 

At the Cannes Film Festival in May, the Weinsteins unveiled plans for a label titled "Dragon Dynasty," under which they will release Asian films to North American audiences. As part of the deal, the company will have DVD release rights to a library of Asian films, including early titles by John Woo and martial arts classics by the legendary Shaw Brothers.

 

Quentin Tarantino, a longtime Weinstein collaborator and Asian film champion, will be involved with the new label, which is set to distribute films such as Ong Bak 2, directed by and starring Thai boxer Tony Jaa, and other recent titles starring such action stars as Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung.

 

The Weinstein brothers have helped introduce popular Asian films to North American audiences, including Farewell, My Concubine, Iron Monkey and Princess Mononoke. However, some have criticized the Weinsteins for buying distribution rights to massive Asian hits like Shaolin Soccer and Hero, but allowing the films to languish on the shelves for months after their initial releases in Asia.

 

(CRI June 7, 2006)