THR.com has a good piece on John Woo as he is in preparations for his planned Flying Tigers film. Woo has been in talks with both Creative Artists Agency and IMAX about taking his film to the really big screen: Woo said he had a CAA client in mind when mulling who should play
the lead role of U.S. Army Air Corp Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault
— the contentious American officer whose volunteer Flying Tigers
squadron trained the first generation of Chinese fighter pilots
taking on Japan in WWII.
“It’s got to be a star but it’s hard to find the right one, because
at that time Chennault was almost 50 years old. Ideally, I’ve been
thinking of Liam Neeson as the title actor,” Woo said. CAA
confirmed it represents Neeson but declined comment on “Flying
Tigers.”
In addition to LTG Chennault, there would be the character of a young Chinese pilot in training. Woo mentioned actor Liu Ye (City of Life and Death) or someone similar who could be considered. Woo is co-writing the project with writer Chris Chow for a planned start in early 2011 for a late-year release. You can click over to THR.com for more details.
Thanks to Brian for the tip.