'The Battle of Red Cliff' couple steps closer, production update and cast announcement.

While Grady over at KaijuShakedown pokes fun at a John Woo film announcement he is also terribly informative as well. Darn him and his dashing, daring good looks.

John Woo has signed a co-production deal with China Film Group to make his film, The Battle of Red Cliff. According to Darcy's report, the original production company backed out but are still trying to put their own version on television.

Here is what we know historically about The Battle of Red Cliff... The battle occurred in A.D. 208, during the final days of China's Han Dynasty. In the battle fought by over one million soldiers, two warlords, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, set up an alliance and defeated the army led by invading warlord Cao Cao from the north. In Red Cliff, on the southern bank of Long River (Yangtze River), the allied force launched a surprise attack and torched Cao Cao's mighty fleet and camps on the northern bank. The movie is based on classic Chinese novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

And here is what has happened in production... Set construction has already begun in Yi County (Hebei Province), about 120 km southwest of Beijing and about 1000 km north of the real Red Cliff. A local reservoir will be used to double for Long River. Works on costumes, miniatures and special effects have also started since February. Four US-based effect companies have been selected to do the CG shots. For the war epic, Woo will set up six units to shoot different scenes simultaneously.

And, what you've been waiting for, the cast... so far... Left to Right... Tony Leung, Ken Watanabe, Taiwanese supermodel Lin Chi-Ling and Chow Yun-fat. Talk about powerhouse acting.

I kind of like the third one from the left though. I don't know what it is... can't put my finger on it...