Peter Chan

Get ready for an all-star Hong Kong action thriller. Local filmmaker Peter Chan is striving to ensure his new project, Dark October, will be a showcase of top actors.

Chan, who is producing the male-dominated film about the late revolutionary forerunner Sun Yat-sen, has been approaching best-actor winners of various film awards since last year, Sohu.com reported Thursday.

"He has this idea to make an all-star film," the report quoted a source close to Chan as saying.

Although Peter Chan and the film's director, Teddy Chen, have yet to confirm any actors to the media, Sohu quoted the source as saying that the cast will at least include Leon Lai, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Anthony Wong, Chang Chen, Simon Yam, Eric Tsang, and Wang Xueqi.

But none of them will play Sun Yat-sen, the report says.

Other likely cast members are Hu Jun, Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse and Aaron Kwok.

Dark October tells the story of a group of bodyguards protecting Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) from assassins in 1905 Hong Kong.

It is the first film to be made by Cinema Popular, a company Peter Chan launched with mainland director Huang Jianxin last month.

Director Teddy Chen has long been planning the film. He first announced the project in 1999, but had to call it off as promised investment failed to arrive. Five years later, Chen gathered Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok for the film, which was halted again following the suicide of its then investor, Ronald Tsang.

Trying it for the third time, Teddy Chen has gained 150 million Hong Kong dollars ($19.35 million) in investment. Shooting is slated to begin next month, according to the Sohu report.

(CRIENGLISH.com March 19, 2009)