Filming of James Ivory's The White Countess will begin in Shanghai latter this week.

Based on an original screenplay by novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, the story is set in Shanghai from 1936 to 1937, when foreign refugees arrived in the city for a peaceful life and only discovered the Japanese was gearing up its war machine.

It centered around the relationship between a disillusioned former American diplomat (Ralph Fiennes), who lost his sight several years earlier, and an exiled White Russian countess (Natasha Richardson), who worked hard to support her late husband's aristocratic family.

The cast also includes Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, Kimura Takuya from 2046, John Wood and Madeleine Potter.

Filming will take place at a few historical houses and bars of the city as well as Shanghai Film Studio in Chedun, with recreated streets and buildings from the old Shanghai.

It is expected to wrap up by the end of this year and the production will move to Rome for the interior. Russia was also mentioned as a location.

The film is budgeted at near US$30 million by Merchant Ivory Productions, and Shanghai Film Studios, which will coordinate the filming in China, has put in about US$1.2 million.

 (CRI.com September 13, 2004)