Gong Li to star in Martin Campbell’s new Action Thriller 'Ana'

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Europe

"Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Red Sorghum" star Gong Li will star in the upcoming Europe-set thriller "Ana" with Martin Campbell directing, according to Variety.

The film will be produced by Arthur Sarkissian "Rush Hour" and China’s Bruno Wu, who will also finance.

The film is reported to start production in March or April.

The script is written by Richard Wenk, whose works include "The Equalizer", "The Expendables 2", and "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back".

Sarkissian said that Ana will have a similar in tone to La Femme Nikita, the 1990 film from Luc Besson starring Anne Parillaud which opens Friday in North America with expectations of a 10 million US dollars debut weekend.

Campbell and Sarkissian re-teams up following the Jackie Chan action movie "The Foreigner", which hit a 78 million dollars and 200 million viewers total in China so far.

Gong is known for her work in films such as award-winning works "Red Sorghum" (1987), directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou. Gong has been varied widely in plot and character including "The Story of Qiu Ju", "Farewell My Concubine", "Memoirs of a Geisha", and Zhang Yimou’s 2014 drama "Coming Home".

The New Zealand TV and film director Campbell is best known for directing James Bond movies "Golden Eye" (1995) and "Casino Royale" (2006). He also directed "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) and "The Legend of Zorro" (2005). "The Foreigner" is his latest work.

Sarkissian is a producer of three "Rush Hour" films, and Wu is known as a Chinese entrepreneur and the co-chairman and CEO of Seven Stars Entertainment and Media Group Limited.