An Empress And The Warriors

The product of an investment of over HK$1 billion by UFO (電影人製作有限公司), Big Media Films (香港天下影畫有限公司) and Beijing Poly-bona Film Publishing (保利博納電影發行有限公司), An Empress And The Warriors <江山美人> (previously referred to as The Kingdom And A Beauty) will be released in Hong Kong and China in early 2008

The film's producer Zhong Zhen (鍾珍) made a trip to Los Angeles earlier to promote the film at the world's largest film mart event AFM (America Film Market). The English versions of the film posters were also released at this event, showing images of the four leading characters in the film - Donnie Yen (甄子丹), Guo Xiaodong (郭曉冬), Kelly Chen (陳慧琳) and Leon Lai (黎明) - wearing full body armour.The design of the poster was created by award-winning costume designer Chung-Man Hai(奚仲文), who designed costumes from The Curse Of The Golden Flower <滿城盡帶黃金甲> and Perhaps Love <如果。愛>, and 朱祖兒. The image design for the film took a year to complete and each of the thousand sets of body armour used in the film were made by hand. The four sets worn by the leads in the poster took two months to make. Hai said: "The design of the armour is not specific to any particular dynasty, this provides the viewer with a wider scope for imagination."Leading lady Kelly was full of admiration for the work on the armour and said: "This suit of armour was made to measure, so all the curves were perfect and it meant that all the actions could be completed with ease. It was also very fashionable, the waistline is totally fitting with the current trends."The stars loved their costumes so much that they have asked to keep their suits of armour as a keepsake. However, the producer has demanded that they are all returned for a special exhibition and said that consideration for personal keepsakes will only be made after all the promotional activity has ended.An Empress And The Warriors is a film by executive producers Eric Tsang (曾志偉), Li Guoxing (李國興) and Dong Yu (于冬) and boasts Ching Siu Tung (程小東) as action director. The film's storyline is set in a period where the country is at war and dukes of the different kingdoms battle for land and power. Kelly plays Princess Fei- er (飛兒公主) who is commanded by her dying father on the battlefield to defend their country with General Xue-hu (played by Donnie). The princess is later attacked and injured by the treacherous official Hu Ba (played by Guo), but is rescued by Leon's character Duan Lan-quan, whom she falls in love with. Faced with continued attack from outside and within, the princess must make some important decisions to ensure the survival of herself and her country.