Zhang Yimou's next film will focus on the Nanjing Massacre, which cost the lives of some 300,000 people in 1937 during World War II.

Tentatively titled The 13 Women of Nanjing, the film is an adaptation of the book Jinling by Yan Geling.

Zhang will start the filming at the end of this year in Nanjing, a city in East China. A replica of old Nanjing city is now under construction.

It will be a much more complicated film than Under the Hawthorn Tree, Zhang's current release, the director said, talking with his fans recently.

Zhang wants a Hollywood A-list actor to lead the cast, but he has not revealed any details about the casting.