Tuesday December 26, 2006 China Japanese Actor to Play Historical Chinese Figure Japanese heart throb Ken Watanabe has controversially been selected to play the historical character of Cao Cao in John Woo's next big production "War of Red Cliff".[photo:QQ.com] The actors who will play the main characters in John Woo's next big production "War of Red Cliff" or Chi Bi, have recently been decided. Tianjin Daily reports the 50-million-dollar film will star some of China's most highly acclaimed actors, including Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung from Hong Kong, and Chiling Lin from Taiwan. Japanese heart throb Ken Watanabe has controversially been selected to play the historical character of Cao Cao. His appearance is expected to ensure good box office ratings in Japan. The movie is based the Chinese classic "Romance of Three Kingdoms". The newspaper reports that a number of Chinese film enthusiasts have expressed their concern over casting a Japanese actor for the role. One commentator said it will be strange to watch a foreigner playing a historic character like Cao Cao, no matter how experienced Ken Watanabe is. "War of Red Cliff" is slated to premiere in 2008. credits: crienglish, asianfanatics.
wow is the an american production and 50 million? is that in usd cuz no asian movie even comes near to 50 million in production. Ken as Cao Cao? he seems like a good choice to play him i have nothing against that. would like to see a large scale movie based on this!
