‘The Great Wall Cast Now Complete’, Matt Damon In
Legendary Entertainment's The Great Wall, is now on track to begin shooting by the end of the month. The producers today announced they have locked the cast for what will be the largest film ever shot in China for global distribution according to Deadline. Confirmed in are Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and Willem Dafoe along with Andy Lau, Tian Jing, Hanyu Zhang, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Gengxin Lin, Zheng Kai, Chen Xuedong, Xuan Huang, Wang Junkai, Yu Xintian and Liu Qiong.
The film is set to be directed by Yimou Zhang from a screenplay by Max Brooks based on an idea by Legendary's Thomas Tull and from a script that was written by Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard, Ed Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, and Tony Gilroy. Tull is also producing with Charles Roven, Jon Jashni, and Peter Loehr. Executive producing for the project are Jillian Share, Alex Gartner, Bennett Walsh, La Peikang and Zhang Zhao. Shooting is expected to begin in China at the end of March 2015. A Legendary and Atlas Entertainment production, The Great Wall will be globally released in 3D by Universal Pictures on November 23, 2016.
The historical-fantasy film's plot, as gathered from previous reports, centers on an elite force making a last stand for humanity on the world's most iconic structure, which has secrets hidden beneath its stones. Set in 15th century China, The Great Wall, according to some accounts, is about British warriors who 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 the Mongols out - but also something inhuman and more dangerous. A more recent report by Digital Spy has it that Damon will play a soldier who is part of a mercenary group who are in China to get gunpowder they can bring back to Europe. The group then finds itself attacked by mystical beasts, and Damon's character finds himself in a war between a secret warrior clan and the creatures.