Although casting is underway, with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter star Benjamin Walker and the upcoming Man of Steel Henry Cavill leading, we’re going to have to wait a bit longer for Edward Zwick‘s return to the adventure epic. The Last Samurai director was set to shoot the period film The Great Wall this fall, but plans have changed.
Deadline reports that Legendary Pictures has adjusted the production start date to next spring, which likely means we won’t see this one until 2014. The switch actually has little to do with monetary reasons, rather that the spring weather in China and New Zealand will jive better with the production. The film will also certainly need to cast more local actors, so they’re already eying Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Zhang Ziyi in role and we can expect more to follow.
Legendary Pictures’ Thomas Tull created with the story with Max Brooks, author of World War Z, while Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz wrote the script that follows “warriors traveling through 15th Century China and happen upon the hurried construction of the massive wall. As night falls, the warriors realize that the haste in building the wall isn’t just to keep out the Mongols. There is something inhuman and more dangerous.”
Are you upset at the pushback? What other Chinese stars would you like to see join the film?