Is Gong Li Joining Wong Kar-Wai’s ‘The Grandmaster’ Afterall?

Presumably you’re now up to speed with “The Grandmaster,” Wong Kar-Wai’s biopic of Ip Man — the first Chinese man to teach the martial art of Wing Chun openly, training many major level students, including Bruce Lee.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai (“In The Mood For Love,” “2046”) is set to star, now that he’s healed from an on-set accident by a martial arts trainer during rehearsals (his arm was broken).

The film is now set to start shooting in December and will also star, Zhang Ziyi (“Memoirs of A Geisha,” “House of Flying Daggers,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”).

Rumors at one point had Gong-Li (Wong Kar-Wai’s “Eros” and “2046”) starring in the film, along with Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin (WKW’s “Ashes of Time,” “Chungking Express” and who essentially retired from acting in 1994, only acting sporadically in the last decade), but both of them seemed like they weren’t participating according to reports from Hong Kong.

But perhaps she’s still going to join the film? TwitchFilm has a sort of non-news report that says, maybe she will (god, we love when we start writing reports before we read them). It’s rumored she may come back on board, but it’s not confirmed as of yet. It would be Gong Li’s first appearance in a Wong Kar-Wai films since “The Hand,” the short film he directed as part of the 2004 omnibus film, “Eros” (which also featured shorts by Michaelangelo Antonioni and Steven Soderbergh).

Suffice to say, Twitch, the Playlist and all Wong Kar-Wai and Gong Li fans everywhere are hoping this happens. BTW, this report seems to suggest she passed on a role, but all of it is still rumor so far. Our hunch is if she hasn’t been reported officially yet, she’s probably not going to appear in the picture. At least not in a significant role.