Producer and director John Woo speaks at the launching ceremony of Jian Yu Jiang Hu in Shanghai on November 3 (SINA.COM)

Producer-director John Woo's new film Jian Yu Jiang Hu, literally "the rain of swords in the martial art world", has begun filming in Shanghai, Sina.com reports on November 3.

A co-production of Hong Kong's Media Asia and mainland's Galloping Horses Film, the new film boasts a stellar cast including Malaysian kungfu star Michelle Yeoh, South Korea's Woo-sung Jung, Taiwan's Chen Chang, and Hong Kong's Kelly Lin.

Yeoh plays an assassin who falls in love with a postman (Woo-sung Jung), neither is aware of the man's father was killed by her gang nor that he is a trained martial artist. Their love blossoms but then the past comes back to haunt them.

John Woo said it was his favorite martial arts screenplay over the years and he had been waiting for such a chance to cooperate with Michelle Yeoh.

Angeles Woo, daughter of the Face/Off director, got a minor role as a mysterious killer.

John Woo's long-time partner, Terence Chang of Lion Rock Productions, will also work alongside him.

Chang describes the film as a combination of Face/Off and Mr. and Mrs. Smith set in China's ancient Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

(CRIENGLISH.com November 4, 2009)