What?!? A John Woo project gets the go-ahead?

No no. I haven't been drinking tonight. What I tell you may or may not be the truth but it looks like a John Woo project have moved from being mere heresay to probably being made. I post this with a mighty huge grain of salt on my lap because it has seemed the past couple years that Woo has been all talk when it comes to his many, many projects. But, according to Poly Huayi Media, shooting on The Battle of Red Cliff will begin in September, not this Summer as earlier reported. Shooting will be done entirely in the mainland China and possible locations include Beijing, Dali region of Hubei Province, Red Cliff of Hubei Province and Hengdian World Studios of Zhejiang Province [yep, the same Hengdian World Studios where part of Zhang Yimou's Golden Armor will be filmed].

The casting rumors are still pretty much the same. Chow Yun-fat, Ken Watanabe and Tony Leung are names still circulating. New names include Colin Chou [Fearless, The Matrix Reloaded], mainland Chinese actress Zhang Jingchu [Seven Swords, Peacock] and Taiwan-born ex-supermodel Lin Chiling.

Oh. And Yuen Wo-ping has 'basically' agreed to direct the action for the film. 'Basically'.

Yeah. A big chunk of salt. Big enough to keep a dozen deer at bay for some serious salt licking.

[source]