BEIJING -- A stuntman was killed and three people were injured during a battle scene on the John Woo-helmed pic "The Battle of Red Cliff," halting production on Asias most expensive movie.
Its the latest setback to the production schedule on Chinas biggest movie of all time, which has been hit by thesp-scheduling issues and appalling weather.
The 23-year-old stuntman was killed when a fire broke out early on Monday on the set in northern Beijing, after a small boat rammed into the set of an ancient warship, Phoenix TV reported.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
Pic has been a long time coming. Shooting officially wrapped Nov. 30, but some second unit work is still ongoing. Woo was in Hong Kong when the accident happened and the second unit director was in charge of shooting.
With a budget of $80 million, "Cliff" is the most expensive movie ever made in Asia, with funding coming entirely from independent producers in the region -- China's China Film, CMC Entertainment in Taiwan, Avex in Japan and South Korea's Showbox.
The production has been dogged by difficulties, many of them weather-related -- heavy rains washed away part of an outdoor set in Hebei in northern China -- but some linked to the revolving-door personnel changes on the film. Tony Leung Chiu-wai ("Lust, Caution") dropped out of the pic and he was replaced by Takeshi Kaneshiro. Soon afterwards, close Woo ally Chow Yun-fat ankled. Two days after Chow left, Leung was back in the lineup as lead actor, replacing Chow. The remaining cast includes Zhang Fengyi, Chiling Lin, Chang Chen, Vicky Zhao and Hu Jun.
The film, adapted from China's classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, is written as a four-hour film. For Asian territories, the pic is to be split into two parts, with the first released in July in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, and October in Japan. Auds outside Asia will get a single movie, expected to clock in at 21⁄2 hours, coinciding with the release of the second part in Asia in December this year.
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