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In Tsui Hark's latest lavish epic wuxia/mystery choreographed by Sammo Hung, starring Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Tony Leung Kar Fai, Li Bing Bing, etc, Di Renjie, who is in exile, is summoned back to the court to investigate a series of mysterious murders that threatens the coronation of Empress Wu Zetian. Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame is competing at Venice Film Festival, held from September 1 to 11, and will be released on Sept 29, 2010.

Reportedly, Chen Kuo Fu, the producer and scriptwriter for the film, has already finished the screenplay for Detective Dee 2, and expect another trailer in the near future.

Trailer: Youtube

-- Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame --  

The trailer for Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, directed by Tsui Hark, action directed by Sammo Hung, starring Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bing Bing, Tony Leung Ka Fai, has just been posted on Sina. 

Even before the film is released, Huayi Brothers is already in the process of planning the script for Detective Dee 2, which might possibly be a prequel instead, focusing on Di Ren Jie's salad days.

This is confirmed by Tsui Hark, "This year marks the 25th anniversary of Film Workshop and Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame is Film Workshop's 50th production. I have not done any wuxia films in 5 years, and in this film, I'm fortifying my original wuxia heritage, and by combining suspenseful drama that is full of twists with perfect action, I hope my return to my roots would be approved by movie-goers. I have not thought of doing how many more Detective Dee sequels, but this will definitely become a franchise, so as to let this famous detective penetrate everyone's heart so deeply."

In the film, Empress Wu Zetian's coronation is threatened due to a spate of strange murders of the court officials. So, she summons Detective Dee, who is in exile, back to help solve the mysteries. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame opens on September 23, 2010.

Update: An English subbed trailer, shown at Cannes Film Festival, has just appeared on Sina and Youtube.

-- Detective Dee --

Based on the concept art, as well as confirmation from the crew, Tsui Hark is going for something very epic with Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame.

Over the past few weeks since production began, Tsui Hark has been working day and night, having barely 2 hours of sleep each day, and sometimes, he would even go without sleep for three days and three nights consecutively. With dark circles forming under his eyes as a result, Tsui Hark even earned himself the nickname pandaman.  And the production could hardly keep up with him. Andy Lau and Li Bing Bing are so worn out that they took a break from filming.  Sina

-- Detective Dee --

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, directed by Tsui Hark, has been filming intensively Hengdian for three weeks, with the production often working into the wee hours. The cast includes Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bing Bing and Deng Chao.

Each of the principal cast has at least three outfits. Aiming to create the most charming Di Ren Jie yet, as opposed to the portly figure historically, Tsui Hark has Andy Lau sporting a goatee and wearing a headdress. Andy Lau also has other outfits like nocturnal clothing, and something that looks like rags. Li Bing Bing would cross-dress for the most part, and in one outfit, carries a murderous and terrifying appearance, and she would be competing and fighting against Andy Lau again in their 2nd collaboration.

Andy Lau, who is working with Tsui Hark for the first time, is full of enthusiasm for the film, saying that Di Ren Jie is has a very charming personality, and that this will be one of his finest works yet.

Sammo Hung praises Andy Lau for his professionalism, saying that he's strives very hard in action scenes, and with his experiences and talent, fights pretty well. And he would not use any doubles, one of whom bears striking resemblance, for any action that he is able to handle himself. Sammo Hung adds that while the action scenes are poetic in nature, the actual fights are still on the realistic side, for he doesn't like flowery action.

-- Detective Dee --
Apart from Andy Lau who has long been attached to this production, Carina Lau, Li Bing Bing, Tony Leung Kar Fai, Lau Ching Wan are also joining Detective Dee directed by Tsui Hark.

Andy Lau plays the eponymous magistrate Di Ren Jie who's tasked by Empress Wu Zetian to look into a series of enigmatic deaths of court officials in this period suspense mystery set in Tang dynasty.

-- Detective Dee --

Tsui Hark will direct period martial arts suspense thriller Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame in Hong Kong, Beijing, Hangzhou and Henan beginning in May 2009, with proposed release in summer 2010.

With a $13 million budget, a script by Chen Kuofu and production by Chen Kuofu, Tsui Hark's wife and partner Nansun Shi and Peggy Lee, Tsui Hark and Huayi Brothers will bring to life an imagined case solved by a real Tang Dynasty detective Di Ren Jie, to be played by Andy Lau.

When the mysterious deaths of a series of loyal subjects threaten to delay the 690 A.D. inauguration of Empress Wu Zetian, China's only female leader, she summons the infamous Detective Dee back from an exile into which she cast him eight years earlier.

"They had such an interesting relationship of hatred, love and passion," said Tsui Hark, who is focused on finding the perfect empress to play opposite Andy Lau. "She was the sole one, the first and last empress in China, who claimed to be very iron-fisted, using all these cruel methods in handling her politics. At the same time she was very smart, using all the intelligent people she selected for her cabinet."

Detective Dee accepts the challenge and partners with gung-ho Commander Bei and the Ghost Doctor, a master of disguise, to solve the crimes. Tsui Hark has not yet chosen actors to play the rest of the historical figures.  The Hollywood Reporter

-- Kingdom to Heaven --

While spending years doing research on Journey to the West, Tsui Hark came across stories concerning Tang dynasty's super sleuth Di Ren Jie aka Judge Dee, sparking ideas on the film. The film's Chinese title will be 《通天帝国》 Kingdom to Heaven, and is set to begin production in May 2009. Huayi Brothers is producing.

Apparently, the initial draft of the script focuses on one major case, and it'll be an entirely original story. This time around, the astute and intelligent detective would be turned into a martial arts exponent, and the movie is never short of fighting scenes. Andy Lau is likely to play the protagonist Di Ren Jie.

To celebrate the silver anniversary of Film Workshop next year, Tsui Hark intends to hold a series of commemorative exhibitions, and there's also the intention to do a couple of remakes of classics from Film Workshop. To start off, Kwak Jae Young will be directing Shanghai Blues remake, with script written by Tsui Hark.  The Beijing News

Tsui Hark, accompanied by Shi Nan Sun, was at 13th Pusan International Film Festival on October 5 to give a talk "My Life, My Cinema". His cosmopolitan comedy She Ain't Mean/All About Women was to premiere worldwide at the festival but had to be withdrawn at the last minute as its approval from Mainland censors was delayed owing to National Day holiday.

To Tsui Hark, a filmmaker should keep exploring all kinds of possibilities, and hence he has been experimenting with different kinds of films such as Legend of Zu, Missing, and She Ain't Mean, rather than being limited to one genre, and trying out new technology and filming equipment. A filmmaker should experiment, reinvent, and find their own niche.

Tsui Hark directed Missing and She Ain't Mean for he believes that Mainland film industry needs more variety as most are just following the trend, which might lead to some awkward situations and saturation of the market.

Tsui Hark does have the intention of doing a remake of New Dragon Inn, which was announced several years back. However, as his other movie Di Ren Jie/Judge Dee is set to begin production next April, he is still debating if he should go ahead with New Dragon Inn due to time constraints. And the talented director has just completed the script of another comedy.  EastDay

-- Project D --
Huayi Brothers is investing US$20m on a movie based on Judge Di Ren Jie of Tang Dynasty. The movie with a working title of Project D, will be directed by Tsui Hark, produced by Chen Kuo Fu and written by Zhang Jia Lu. While Tsui Hark's wish of making Journey to the West, with intention of having Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia shaving her head to play Tripitaka, has yet to be realised, his research into Tang Dynasty led him to stories relating to real life character Di Ren Jie. This sparked his interest on the person and hence the film Project D. Tsui Hark had mentioned in December 2005 that Di Ren Jie would be his main focus after completing Seven Swords.

Di Ren Jie was a prime minister in Tang Dynasty when Wu Ze Tian was the female ruler. When he held office at the Board of Justice for a year, he cracked all cases left over by the previous officer, leaving no more grievances and appeals from the people unresolved, a testament to his wise, upright and just character. Shi Nan Sun says that Tsui Hark is designing Di Ren Jie as a detective in the movie. The cast has not been determined. Production may begin in March 2008.  Beijing Youth Daily

-- Seven Swords Sequels --

Ciwen Production's honcho Ma Zhong Jun announces that as Tsui Hark's Seven Swords meets their expectations and is an exceptional work of great quality, they are going to shoot the sequels starting from next year. There might be five or six sequels in all, depending on how Tsui Hark conjures up the whole story. But Ma Zhong Jun says that there might be a change of cast. Despite criticisms being levied against the movie especially in its lack of continuity resulting in some confusion (due mainly to movie been drastically reduced in length), it still does quite well at Mainland box-office, making over 26 million yuan in the opening weekend (29 to 31 July). The audiences are basically split rather evenly into three camps, those who favour it, those who are tepid, and those who are disappointed.  Beijing Star Daily

Faced with rampant piracy, GD Face has decided to release the DVD and VCD version of Seven Swords a week ahead of its original schedule of August 14. This Mainland version will only contain Mandarin track and is same as the 2.5 hr theatrical cut. Tsui Hark indicated earlier that he would like to release the 4hr version sometime in the future but so far, Film Workshop has not begun working on it.  Nanfang Daily

-- Seven Swords Director's Cut DVD --

Addressing to the concerns of movie fans, Tsui Hark says that there is a good chance of 4-hr Seven Swords Director's Cut DVD being released, but it depends largely on the distributor. Moreover, it will take quite some time as it would require some rework on post-production. Tsui Hark is also considering recording a 2-hr audio commentary (which may also include comments from the actors, scriptwriters and other production members) in which he talks about how he felt as he began crafting Seven Swords. Meanwhile, he would re-amend the script of Seven Swords 2 based on audience feedback on the first movie, which had made over 61 million yuan in two weeks. In November, Tsui Hark will direct a French production White Phoenix (tentative), which relates to Di Ren Jie of Tang Dynasty. Tsui Hark agreed to take up the production only after they've agreed to let him make changes to the script.  Sina