Genre: Action.
Studio:
Warner Brothers.
Production Company:
Unknown.
Project Phase: In Development.
Who's In It:
Jet Li (Romeo); Chris Rock (Rumored).
Who's Making It:
Mitch Kapner (Screenwriter); Joel Silver (Producer).
Premise: A businessman with ties to the Chinese and Italian mobs is asked to broker peace between the warring groups in New York City. That mission leads him to fall in love with the Italian don's daughter, which brings about all sorts of complications that enable Romeo to do some heavy-duty clock-cleaning.
Release Date: Summer 1999 (tentative).
Comments: Unknown.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
[Page draft submitted by 'Deadpool'.]
July 26, 1998... Warner Bros. brass, legendary for prizing their private jets, made a last-minute change in destination for action star Jet Li late last month. Scheduled to make the Universal film The Art of War, his followup to Lethal Weapon 4, Warners enforced an option it held on Jet and quickly locked him into a pay-or-play deal worth just under $3 million. He's now to star in Romeo Must Die, a film that could be described as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as told by Joel Silver. WB effectively grounded rival Universal's Jet vehicle after test screenings of Lethal Weapon 4 indicated that audiences went wild for the film's high-kicking villain, a five-time national martial arts champ of China.
The studio searched its action script artillery and came up with Romeo, a script by Mitch Kapner and originally conceived for a Caucasian star involving the Italian mob and Japanese Yakuza. The script is being redrafted under Silver's supervision. Jet, whose 25 Asian films have established him as a rival to Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat in the foreign marketplace, could still wind up starring in the Uni pic next year, as Warner Bros. has pledged to hire a director quickly so it can get his next film into production before year's end. [Scoop provided by 'Deadpool'.]
July 28, 1998... We may have just been scooped the director for this movie:
"Apparently from Jet's own mouth, Corey Yuen will direct RMD. Yuen did Jet's fights in LW4, and directed many of his best films, both Fong Sai Yuks, My Father is a Hero, and the Bodygaurd from Beijing. Yuen also directed Saviour of the Soul, a good candidate for the coolest movie ever made. He has a knack for both drama and comedy, and is one of the best choreographers in the world. In other words, this is damn good news, and let's hope they let him do it right." [Scooped by 'eirias'.]