Robert De Niro will produce a movie about the rise of Mao Zedong and communism in China based on Roy Rowan's memoir "Chasing the Dragon" for Universal Pictures.
- July 16, 2007
AceShowbiz -
Getting a new promising film project for his Tribeca Entertainment, veteran actor Robert De Niro is teaming up with producing partner Jane Rosenthal to set up "Chasing the Dragon" which will depict the rise of Chinese leader Mao Zedong and communism in China.
Pic reportedly will be developed at Universal Pictures based on a memoir by Roy Rowan, who is set to be a consultant for the flick, which has already had duo Jon Marans and Yuri Sivo onboard to pen its script with the latter one to also executive produce. It is said that the two are about to weave the story into an epic-sized drama with a love story.
Rowan, a young Dartmouth graduate and aspiring reporter in the 1940s, initially came to China to work for United Nations Relief, but later traded in the gig for a job as correspondent for the Shanghai bureau of Time and Life. Accompanied by photographer Jack Birns, he then covered China's civil war and observed close up the rise of Mao and his army, along the way falling for a Chinese interpreter who may have been a spy.
