Hugh Jackman onboard Secret Fan with Li Bingbing
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Hugh Jackman, Li Bingbing and Jeon Ji-Hyun. The lineup for the film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan has been finalized after some small problems.
The Forbidden Kingdom star Li Bingbing has been confirmed to replace Zhang Ziyi in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which will be directed by Chinese-American filmmaker Wayne Wang, the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post reported Tuesday.
Li has arrived in Hengdian, a large film studio near Shanghai where filming is slated to kick off Tuesday, the report says.
South Korean starlet Jeon Ji-Hyun, who was previously reported to have withdrawn along with Zhang Ziyi, still stays in the cast. She has also arrived on the set.
Australian heartthrob Hugh Jackman, the movie's male lead, will join the entourage in mid-February, the report says.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a film adaptation of novelist Lisa See's 2005 book of the same name, which is set in 19th century China and depicts a lifetime friendship between two women.
The English-language film was to be co-produced by Zhang Ziyi, Wendi Murdoch and Florence Sloan, before Zhang's surprising resignation as producer and lead actress in late January.
Wendi Murdoch and Florence Sloan will continue producing the film. China-born Wendi Murdoch is the wife of News Corporation chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. Florence Sloan, a Malaysian-Chinese, is married to MGM chairman Harry Sloan.
Li Bingbing, who replaced Zhang Ziyi as lead actress, is well-known in China but didn't make her international debut until 2008, when she played a white-haired witch in the Jackie Chan-Jet Li film The Forbidden Kingdom.
