Gong Li, a Chinese mainland superstar actress, was given the OK by Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, to play a major role in a movie version of the classic 1980s television show Miami Vice.
   
Following his best actor Oscar for his portrayal of legendary singer Ray Charles in Ray at last month's Academy Awards, Foxx's new status has earned him the right to decide who stars alongside him - and he is more than happy to have Gong Li aboard.
   
Gong Li starred in Raise the Red Lantern and plays a part in the film rendition of the novel Memoirs of a Geisha, which is currently in postproduction. While she was making Memoirs with Rob Marshall, she came to the attention of Miami Vice creator Michael Mann.
   
Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell will star as ultra-cool undercover cops Ricardo Tubbs and Sonny Crockett in the film.
   
Shooting will begin this summer, once Foxx has finished his work on Sam Mendes's movie Jarhead. Ciaran Hinds, currently playing Julius Caesar in the BBC/HBO drama Rome, which is being filmed in Rome, will play another of the Miami Vice detectives.
   
Foxx said Miami Vice would be a "full-out dramatic film with action."
   
"It's not going to be one of those tepid adaptations of a hit TV show," Foxx said. "The people involved in this are experts and we've got a real good script and a story to tell."
   
The Miami Vice TV series in the 1980s is largely remembered for its stylish detectives Sonny Crockett (Donn Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Phillip Michael Thomas), its music and its distinct visuals, but beneath the veneer was a surprisingly dark cop show. The cocaine boom of the 1980s framed many stories about drugs and murder, with Crockett and Tubbs often having to resort to violence in the course of their work. Time magazine once called Miami Vice "TV's hottest and hippest cop show."

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2005)