Oscar-winning director Ang Lee will film a Chinese-language spy thriller set in World War II-era Shanghai, film company Focus Features said Thursday.

Set to begin production this fall, it will be Lee's first movie since his Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain, which failed to win the best picture award, but won Lee his first Academy Award for directing.

The movie, titled Lust, Caution, also marks the director's return to Chinese-language cinema after The Hulk and Brokeback Mountain. It will reunite Lee with the team behind his 2000 kung fu hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Wang Hui-ling, who worked on Crouching Tiger, will author the script, an adaptation of a short story by famed late Chinese novelist Eileen Chang. Bill Kong, who produced Crouching Tiger, will produce, Focus said in a statement.

The Taiwan-born Lee, 51, began his career with three Chinese-language films, including 1994's Eat Drink Man Woman. He first landed in Hollywood for Sense and Sensibility, which he followed with The Ice Storm and Ride with the Devil.

Focus, a division of NBC Universal, and which released Brokeback Mountain, did not announce any casting choices.

(CRI May 27, 2006)