Noted Chinese film star Gong Li, who is currently filming ace director Zhang Yimou's The City of Golden Armor in Beijing, has confirmed her next role will be in James Huth's English-language movie The Yellow M. 

 

Based on Edgar P. Jacobs' comic-strip characters Blake and Mortimer, The Yellow M will be an adventure thriller centering on MI5 agent Blake and brilliant physicist Mortimer who fight evil in 1950s London. 　　

 

Gong will play the enigmatic Dr. Li Mei, a scientist whose intelligence is matched only by her icy beauty, the Tianjin-based Morning Post reported.

 

　　

 

"The role is fresh to me and I have a lot of confidence in the director," Gong was quoted as saying. 　

 

Rufus Sewell (A Knight's Tale) and Hugh Bonneville (Notting Hill) will respectively play Blake and Mortimer. 　

 

Gong rose to stardom over a decade ago with art house hits like Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern. She recently carved a niche in Hollywood after appearing in Miami Vice, Young Hannibal: Behind the Mask and Memoirs of a Geisha.

 

Produced by the French company Telema with a budget of US$33 million, The Yellow M is reported to be set to go into production in Britain. 　

 

Gong first disclosed that she would participate in The Yellow M at the Venice Film Festival in 2002, but filming has been delayed until now. 　　

 

Huth's previously directed the French-language comedy Serial Lover.

 

(People's Daily April 4, 2006)