Chow Yun-fat joins Liam Neeson

Chow Yun-fat will be joining Hollywood actor Liam Neeson in a new movie collaboration between 20th Century Fox and China Film Group.

As reported on Jayne Stars, the movie "Tragedy Of The Chinese Labourers" stars Chow Yun-fat and Liam Neeson as railroad workers in the United States in the 19th century.

Directed by Shekhar Kapur of "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" fame, the movie will recount the trials and tribulations of the Chinese and Irish workers who were sold to the United States for the construction of the California Union Pacific Railroad in the 19th century.

Chow Yun-fat will play the leader of the Chinese workers, who not only has to fight for their rights, but also face competition from the Irish workers, headed by Liam Neeson. Fan Bingbing also stars as Chow's love interest.

Taiwanese director King Hu had once expressed interest in filming the controversial story in the 1980s. However, the lack of funds caused delays in filming and the director passed away before the movie was able to be realised.

Plans for the movie resurfaced in 2005 when Fox obtained the filming rights and Liam Neeson was reported to have agreed on a role. However, filming was postponed again due to funding problems as well as the lack of special effects support.

Finally, in 2012, Fox invited China Film Group to invest in the film, to which the latter agreed, with the condition that the majority of filming will be done in China.

Source: Yahoo Entertainment