Legendary has assembled its final shooting cast for the forthcoming historical epic The Great Wall, which promises to be the largest movie production ever to shoot entirely within China. Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe and Game Of Thrones’ Pedro Pascal are all locked in to star alongside a raft of Chinese actors attached to smaller supporting roles.
The Great Wall hails from Zhang Yimou, notable for his standout works House Of Flying Daggers and Hero, who will employ a range of old and new faces for the title. In addition to its leading English-speaking trio, Andy Lau, Jing Tian, Zhang Hanyu, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Lin Gengxin, Zheng Kai, Chen Xuedong, Huang Xuan and Wang Junkai are set to appear. Newbies Yu Xintian and Liu Qiong will similarly fall in line for a tale of mythic proportions.
The film takes place in 15th century China and revolves around the formation of the titular wall, which is interrupted when an elite force of soldiers discover the reason behind its creation: to keep out monsters. Together, they make a last stand for humanity against mythical creatures on the world’s most iconic structure.
In development for several years, at one point The Last Samurai’s Ed Zwick was eyed to direct with Man Of Steel Henry Cavill attached to lead.
Now that its full complement of onscreen and offscreen talent are established, The Great Wall enters pre-production ahead of its end of March start date. Yimou will direct from an original script by Legendary’s Thomas Tull and World War Z’s Max Brooks, which has since been retweaked by Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard, Ed Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz, and Tony Gilroy.