I admire Tarsem Singh as a visual stylist, even when he finds himself working with a script that may not be a match for who the director intends to realize it on screen. (Yes, Mirror, Mirror, I’m looking at you.) Singh’s next film is to be a telling of the life of explorer Marco Polo and the asian settings certainly lend themselves to the lush visual vistas he likes to create. Set to get in front of cameras sometime before the end of the year, Singh has now hired the first cast member for the project.
Screen Daily is reporting that Memoirs Of A Geisha actress Gong Li has signed on to play a Mongolian empress in the upcoming film. They also intriguingly report –
Gong has yet to meet Tarsem but said that he was just the kind of “audacious film-maker you need to make a film about Marco Polo.”
That seems fairly unusual but I hope that it works out for all.
