Fill the City with Golden Armors (Golden Armors) -

Zhang Yimou's upcoming historical drama, Man Cheng Jin Dai Huang Jin Jia (literally meaning: Fill the City with Golden Armors) is based on four-act play Thunderstorm, written by Cao Yu in 1933. It tells the story of Zhou family during a summer day.

Zhou Puyuan is a mid-age wealthy mine owner. Thirty years ago, he was in love with a maid named Shi Ping and shortly after she gave birth too their two sons, Zhou Puyu, decided to protect his reputation, expelled Shi Ping and their younger son from his house. Fan Yi is Zhou's second wife and she has a son named Zhou Chong. Zhou Puyuan treats Fan Yi very badly because he cannot forget his first love. Fan Yi had an affair with her stepson Zhou Ping. The affair is over now and Zhou Ping is deeply in love with a maid named Si Feng. Looking for her daughter Si Feng and husband Lu Gui, now both work at Zhou family mansion, Shi Ping makes a surprise visit and meets Zhou Puyuan for the first time in thirty years. Lu Dahai, now leading a miners' strike, comes to Zhou Puyuan's mansion for a talk and clashes with Zhou Ping...

To adapt the play into a movie, Zhang Yimou has shifted the backdrop of the story from the 1930s to Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). Zhou Puyuan the mine owner has become the emperor, wich will be played by Chow Yun-Fat and his second wife Fan Yi has become the empress, which will be played by Gong Li. The emperor had two sons with a lower class girl when he was still a prince. He later expelled her from the court before he inherited the power. The older son remains at the palace and the younger son was taken away by the girl. She then married to someone, a rebel leader, khan of a foreign nation, or just an ordinary man. Years later, two brothers finally meet on battlefield. Liu Ye is in negotiation to play the older brother, the prince, and the young actress whose name is not given is up to the role of an imperial bodyguard, the prince's lover and half-sister.

According to a Chinese newspaper, play writer Cao Yu's daughter Wan Fang has approved the script of Golden Armors. She said it was very faithful to the original play, except the ending, which was changed creatively.

Major cast members from Hero and House of Flying Daggers will also be involved in Golden Armors, including action director Ching Siu-Tung, art director Huo Tingxiao, cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding and sound designer Tao Jing. Bill (William) Kong, the powerful film financier behind Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Dagger and Jet Li's Fearless, is also involved in the project