Chow Yun-Fat says he slimmed down and rode horses to prepare for his role in the upcoming John Woo historical epic, The Battle of Red Cliff.

 

The battle of Red Cliff was a key war in A.D. 208 that determined the geography of the Three Kingdoms period, when China had three separate rulers. Chow said he expects to arrive in Beijing by late February for shooting. 　　

 

"To prepare for this movie, I lost weight ... and rode horses. I did a lot by way of preparation," the 51-year-old Hong Kong actor said Friday in Hong Kong. 　　

 

The cast includes Tony Leung Chiu-wai and model Lin Chi-ling from Taiwan. 　　

 

Chow recently filmed Chinese director Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower and Hong Kong director Ann Hui's The Postmodern Life of My Aunt. 　　

 

Asked if he plans to spend more time making Chinese movies, Chow, who has focused on Hollywood in recent years, said: "If there's a good script, it doesn't matter what language it's in." 　

 

He noted there appears to be a growing trend of making movies in China because it offers better backdrops. 　　

 

"It's a big country. The sets and venues look more impressive," Chow said.

 

(Shenzhen Daily September 25, 2006)