While Ang Lee has earned a fair share of buzz in the past couple of weeks for his gestating 3D version of “Life Of Pi,” which is awaiting a greenlight from Fox 2000 to begin production, he may already have another project up his sleeve if that one should fall through.
Lee has been authorized by the family of Chinese pop singer Teresa Teng, to film a movie about her life. Morever, Lee has apparently selected his “Lust, Caution” star Wei Tang to take the lead role. And good thing too, apparently Teng family believe she is “the only actress who could play” the role, as she apparently bears an uncanny resemblance and temperament to the late singer.
Teng was well known throughout the Asian world for her ballads and folk songs, and sang in a staggering number of languages including Mandarain, Tawainese, Cantonese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian and English. Teng was popular through much of the ’70s and ’80s, and though she long wished to perform in mainland China (she was born in Taiwan), she never got the chance, passing away tragically at the age of 42 due to a severe asthma attack. Many of her songs have become standards which are revered to this day (one of which you can hear below).
This project wouldn’t be the first time Teng has been the source for silver screen inspiration. 1996’s “Comrades, Almost A Love Story,” directed by Peter Chan, starred Maggie Cheung as one half a couple who fall in love with each other as a result of one of Teng’s songs.
No word yet, of course, on when the film might be going but apparently, investment company Polybona have said they will wait until Lee’s schedule is free for him to do the film. So even if “Life Of Pi” moves forward, Lee will have this project waiting for him.
–Written by Kevin Jagernauth