Hong Kong filmmaker Hark Tsui has started working on a new movie, which will star actresses Zhou Xun, Zhang Yuqi and Kwai Lun-mei, according to media reports on Saturday.

Nv Ren Bu Huai, which literally means Women Not Bad is scheduled to start shooting on January 8. A launch ceremony is planned for the same day.

The comedy tells the story of three women in the twenty-first century, and is called a modern version of the director's film classic Peking Opera Blues. The 1986 film was set in China's chaotic 1920s and starred now retired actresses Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung and Sally Yeh.

South Korea's Jae-young Kwak, who directed the film My Sassy Girl, will work as one of the new film's screenwriters and direct a Korean version of the movie.

Nansun Shi, the movie's producer and wife of Hark Tsui, said the actresses are undergoing training for their roles.

"Kwai Lun-mei is studying boxing and experiencing life with an underground band," she said. "Zhang Yuqi is receiving etiquette training for her role as a career woman."

Although the two actresses are newcomers, they have been the sensations of the year. Kwai Lun-mei starred in Taiwan pop singer Jay Chow's directorial debut Secret, and Zhang Yuqi starred Hong Kong comedian Stephen Chow's sci-fi thriller Yangtze River VII.

"Zhou Xun is squeezing in time between shooting the movie Painted Skin to learn Qigong exercise for Nv Ren Bu Huai," Nansun said.

(CRIENGLISH.com, December 30, 2007)