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Being set in an imaginary ancient kingdom, Emi Wada created the costumes for Rain of Swords in the Pugilistic World with Ming Dynasty clothing in mind, yet infused them with a modern touch, such as the patchwork for a Michelle Yeoh's outfit. To reflect a more rustic, everyday feel, the clothes were made of hemp, and intentionally left creased.

-- Rain of Swords in the Pugilistic World --

《剑雨江湖》 Rain of Swords in the Pugilistic World (tentative), co-produced by Lion Rock, Beijing Galloping Horse, Media Asia Films, began production on Nov 3 on Songjiang Soundstage, Shanghai. Attending the lensing ceremony were the producers John Woo, Terence Chang, Peter Lam, Zhong Li Fang, the director Su Chao Bin, and the cast Michelle Yeoh, Jung Woo Sung, Big S Barbie Hsu, Paw Hee Ching, Wang Xue Qi, Shawn Yue.

Future X-Cops trailer: Sina

Andy Lau travels back in time and teams up with Barbie Hsu to stop a group of cyborg assassins, led by Fan Siu Wong, hired to bump a scientist whose green inventions in the future would threaten the profits of oil companies. Opens on Dec 20, 2009
 

-- Fantastic Four Detectives --
《四大名捕》 Fantastic Four Detectives (tentative), a contemporary Chinese Western actioner on a team of four cops travelling miles to track down a group of criminals, is beginning production in Dunhuang in a few days. The cast includes Duan Yi Hong, Ni Da Hong, Wang Bao Qiang, Wu Jing, Francis Ng, Barbie Hsu, Feng Yu Xi, Zhang Li...

Director Gao Qun Shu says that the inspiration for the film came from an actual event that took place in Guizhou whereby a convict escaped to the deep mountains and the police force pursued him relentlessly. To prepare for the film, the cast members have been training in various stunts and firearms.

Duan Yi Hong plays the captain of the four cops, a smart, resourceful leader who is skilled in Tae Kwan Do, and an expert in guns and all sorts of pyrotechnics.

Wang Bao Qiang plays another cop, who despite his unexceptional looks, is a hero specialising in Shaolin Fist and car stunts, and is also a crack shot. For the first time in his showbiz career, Wang Bao Qiang, a Shaolin disciple, gets to flaunt his martial arts skills onscreen.

Fantastic Four Detectives will take around two months to shoot and is scheduled for May 1, 2010 release.  Sina

Cast Updates: Charlie Yeung Choi-Nei and Zhang Li will also be in this film. However, Barbie Hsu, who's doing another film Hot Summer Days, couldn't make it, and she'd be replaced by someone else.

-- Forbidden City Cop: Smart Dog --

Having wrapped up Future Cops two months ago, Wong Jing is off to direct another movie, this time a spin-off of Forbidden City Cop called 《大内密探灵灵狗》 which roughly means Forbidden City Cop: Smart Dog (or 009 onomatopoeically). This period comedy, starring Louis Koo, Barbie Hsu, Fan Siu Wong, Liu Yi Wei, Sandra Ng, Tong Da Wei, and Yuen King Tan, is currently undergoing production in a palace in Beijing.

Forbidden City Cop: Smart Dog takes place in some distant past, whereby the emperor (Liu Yi Wei) has 12 Secret Imperial Guards, who are named after the 12 Zodiac signs, to protect him around the clock. Louis Koo plays the Chief Imperial Guard known as Smart Dog, as his zodiac sign corresponds to that of the dog. He has emotional entanglements with swordswoman Hopeless, played by Barbie Hsu. Fan Siu Wong takes on the role of a wildly ambitious eunuch, who wants to usurp the throne. And to carry out his plan, he has to get rid of the 12 Secret Imperial Guards.  Chutian Metropolis Daily

-- Future Cops --

Future Cops is currently being filmed on in Huairou, Beiijng. According to Wong Jing, the movie timeline have been changed, it will take place totally in the future. A number of characters in the film are part-man, part-machine with superhuman abilities, such as the villain Tang Yi Fei, whose cybernetics accessories include scorpion tail, wings of bat, arms of praying mantis, and she also possesses speed of leopard, all of which will be handled by special effects.

Action director Ching Siu Tung, who's trying to be innovative in the action, says that the film's budget is over 100m yuan, and a significant portion of the budget will be spent on creating roughly 900 visual effects shots in post-production.

Andy Lau and his wife Fan Bing Bing are cops living in 2130, and Xu Jiao's their daughter. Barbie Hsu plays Andy Lau's romantic interest when he travels to 2080 and part of his memory is erased. Fan Siu Wong plays a terrorist leader who sends his men to kidnap scientist Ma Jing Wu, whom Andy Lau and Fan Bing Bing are assigned to protect, at a Tang Dynasty exhibition.

Photos: 1, 2 (Sina) | Short clip: Sohu

Perhaps, feeling upstaged by Hollywood in kungfu genre in the recent years, Chinese directors are responding with their answers to X-Men and Transformers. One is Future Cop, directed by Wong Jing, while another is Robot, directed by Jeffrey Lau.

-- Future Cops --

Director Wong Jing is teaming up with martial arts choreographer Ching Siu Tung on a loose remake of Future Cops, produced by Tsai Sung Lin. Future Cops (tentative) is budgeted at 150m yuan and Andy Lau and Barbie Hsu are playing leads. Andy Lau agrees to joining only after the script went through 19 revisions, and also picks Barbie Hsu, who showed excellent performance in Connected, as his co-star. 

Andy Lau was interviewed by Barbie Hsu sometime back, and thought that they would have great chemistry together. It's like a dream come true for Barbie Hsu to work with her idol. Andy Lau reprises his role as a cop from 2085 who accidentally returns to 2010, and teams up with a female cop Barbie Hsu to bust a criminal organisation.

Ching Siu Tung has been working on choreographing the film since the closing ceremony of Beijing Olympics, coming up with exotic moves for Andy Lau and Barbie Hsu.

Filming begins next month and is expected to be completed by end of the year, after which post-production, including special effects, will be carried out. They're planning to go to exotic locales like Dubai to do location filming. Future Cops is slated for year end release in 2009.   Sina