Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who rose to fame in East Asia with "My Fair Princess" as Jinsuo in 1998-1999, will be part of the cast of "Meg," a sci-fi thriller film adaptation of Steve Alten's novel of the same name.
The 34-year-old actress will be playing Jason Statham's female lead in the movie, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The film adaptation centers on a Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 40-ton ancient kin of the colossal white shark.
The story follows former Naval Captain and expert deep sea diver, Jonas Taylor (Statham), whose military vocation ended in disfavor after his team encountered a 70-foot sea creature (Megalodon), believed to be extinct for more than a million years, in the unexplored openings of the Mariana Trench. The tragic incident earned him a dishonorable discharge, as he was compelled to prematurely abort his mission and abandon half of his crew.
Several years later, Taylor must face his fears and risk his own life, when Dr. Zhang Suying, chief oceanographer of an international underwater observation program, enlisted him to embark on a suicide mission. Carrying his ex-wife among the team onboard, Taylor must spare the lives of everyone caught in the submersible lie sunk and disabled on the base of the sea.
With an estimated budget of $150,000,000, the upcoming thriller film is helmed by Jon Turtletaub based on the script penned by screenwriter Dean Georgaris, Belle Ayery, and James Vanderbilt, Empire Online reported. It is said that the filming for the movie is set to begin later this year in China and New Zealand.
It will be produced by Colin Wilson, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, and Belle Avery, while Randy Greenberg, Barrie M. Osborne, Wei Wayne Jiang and Gerald R. Molen are executive producing the project. China Media Capital division Gravity Pictures will distribute the film in theaters across mainland China on March 2, 2018, while Warner Bros. Pictures' will distribute it throughout the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, fans can see Bingbing in the upcoming Hong Kong-Chinese-American action comedy film called "Skiptrace" along with Jackie Chan and American actor Johnny Knoxville. It was scheduled for release in China on July 22 by Saban Films. It also stars Leo Ku, Eric Tsang, Michael Wong, Eve Torres, Sara Forsberg and Temur Mamisashvili.
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