Veteran Chinese actor Zhang Fengyi will play the lead role in Wang Quan'an's upcoming drama film "Bai Lu Yuan" ("White Deer Plain"), the Beijing News reports.

The film is adapted from Chen Zhongshi's 1993 novel of the same name, depicting the hardships of several generations living on the Bai Lu Yuan plain in northwestern China. The novel, which mirrors the radical changes taking place in the Chinese countryside for over half a century, won the Mao Dun Literature Award, China's highest award for literature, in 1997.

Zhang will play Bai Jiaxuan, a man who is on his seventh marriage, as his previous six marriages ended in the death of each wife. There will be many intimate scenes in the film depicting the protagonist's married life.

Filming is set to kick off in September.

Zhang's best-known film roles include the Peking opera singer Duan Xiaolou in Chen Kaige's Oscar-nominated film "Farewell My Concubine", and Cao Cao in John Woo's blockbuster "Red Cliff".

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