Liu Yifei to Co - star with Jackie Chan and Jet Li in Monkey King Movie

Chinese action stars Jackie Chan (成龙) and Jet Li (李连杰) will team up for the first time to star a new film inspired by legendary classical Chinese novel "Journey to the West" or "西游记" written during the Ming Dynasty.

According to investor Huayi Brothers Company, Jet Li and Jackie Chan will play two famous roles respectively: Monkey King and Monk Sandy, derived from "Journey to the West." However, the movie's plot is totally different from the original novel.

The two action stars will take on the challenge to play these two classical roles with brand new characteristics under a totally different plot.

The official name for the movie has not yet been decided.

Chinanews.com reported on Friday that the lead actress might be Liu Yifei (刘亦菲) and Disney animation "Lion King" director Rob Minkoff will be invited to direct the movie.

The story of "Journey to the West" is so popular in China that it has become part of the repertoire of Chinese operas, TV series and comic books.

The US$70 million-budget movie is scheduled to begin shooting later this year.

Source: CRI

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据悉，之前媒体报道称成龙将饰演蓝采和，李连杰扮演美猴王和沙僧的消息都不准确。华谊兄弟透露，其实最后李连杰和成龙都将在电影中一人分饰二角。李连杰将出演美猴王和蓝采和，而成龙将饰演沙僧和另外一个角色。不过故事并不是脱胎于《西游记》，只是借用了其中人物，然后用美国人看中国神话的视角展开故事，天马行空。所以，尽管在剧中，李连杰也会扮演成猴子状，但是其行为举止很可能像个现代人。而两位功夫巨星首次携手，片中打斗场面自然少不了，据悉，打斗场面比例将不低于 60%。

而影片女主角也最终确定下来由刘亦菲出演。刘亦菲在片中将饰演一个现代女子。影片将由一个小男孩入手，展现他幻想世界里面的故事。故事内容包含现代人回到古代邂逅美猴王，围绕一群人寻找金箍棒展开，跟取经没有什么关系。影片将是轻松的喜剧风格。刘亦菲在其中可能扮演这个幻想小男孩的女朋友。