AKA: The Divide, Men of Destiny, The Line.
First rumored in: 2000
Status: In development. CYF still attached.
Who's making it: Lion Rock Productions.
Director: John Woo.
Other stars: Nicholas Cage (now unconfirmed)

Latest Development:

• 9 January 2003
  
  
  JOHN WOO'S UPCOMING PROJECTS

  "While promoting Paycheck in Hong Kong, John Woo has been talking to the local media about his upcoming projects. According to The Sun, "The Divide", the long-awaited project with Chow Yun-Fat about the constructing of America's transcontinental railway, is not coming out any time soon. After changing the writer three times, the script is still not ready. Woo said the script of "Rainbow 6" (Tom Clancy's novel) was done and he would do "Lost In Space", a series, for Warner Brothers in February next year. Other jobs waiting for him to do include a film with Japanese veteran actor Ken Takakura, more projects with Lion Rock, a game for Sage and Sony, and a big screen adaptation of classic Chinese novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

  Source: Monkey Peaches

  
  
  PLANS FOR ANOTHER PROJECT
  
  
  Director John Woo wants to do a film to explain Chinese culture to the West

  Hong Kong director John Woo, who's done plenty of police movies and Hollywood action-thrillers, wants to do a film that explains Chinese culture to movie-goers in the West.

  "I hope to unite talent from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong who can really act out our personality, our culture and our characteristics in one movie," Woo said Thursday while promoting his new film, Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman. Woo, who got his start in Hong Kong and then moved to Hollywood, says there's a lack of understanding of Asian culture in the West.

  "I've been living overseas for so long, and (I see) so many people misunderstand our Chinese culture," he said. "Now that I have an opportunity to work in Hollywood, I often feel I can serve as a bridge between cultures."

  Source: Canada.com

• 22 December 2003 - The Calgary Sun
  
  
  WOOED TO CALGARY

  John Woo insists he still has his eyes on Calgary. Earlier this year, Woo announced his next feature film would be Land of Destiny, a project he's been developing for several years. The story of a Chinese immigrant to America whose family has been sold into slavery to work on railroad construction is to star Nicolas Cage and Chow Yun-Fat.

  "I'm not satisfied with the current draft of the screenplay so I've got writers working on a new one," says Woo, whose sci-fi drama Paycheck opens Thursday. "I'm still looking at filming it around Calgary, but we won't scout for actual locations until we have a working script."

  Woo, who's a huge fan of Hollywood musicals, says he also has writers working on his original idea of "a gangster musical about a tough guy who is in love with two women.

  "I have also agreed to develop Tom Clancy's novel The Rainbow Six for Paramount. It's about six guys from different countries who get together as a team. It reminds me of The Dirty Dozen and The Magnificent Seven."
  
  Those projects will have to wait until Woo films a pilot for the WB network's proposed new series, Lost in Space, based on the '60s TV series. "We start prepping in Vancouver in January and begin shooting in March. There's no casting yet."
  

• 19 December 2003 - Moviehole.com:
  

  Interview excerpt:

  Q: Will you work with Chow again?
  JW: Yeah, I have a project working for a long time, The Divide. The story is of a Chinese and Irish immigrant. They're building a railroad in America in the 19th century. That movie is for Chow Yun-Fat.

  Q: Is that next?
  JW: I hope so. We are hiring another writer to work on the script.

  » Visit Moviehole to read the full interview.

• 12 December 2003 - MTV.com:
  
  Hong Kong director John Woo is busy filling his post-"Paycheck" time with a number of projects. He recently hired a writer to rework a script he'd like Nicolas Cage and Chow Yun-Fat to star in; he's relaunching the television show "Lost in Space" with a new pilot for the WB; and he's hard at work on a still-untitled action musical, a gangster film set in the 1930s and based on a true story. "It's a mixture of 'The Killer' and 'Cabaret,' " he said recently. ...

• 20 November 2003 - Question and Answer from the Tokyo Int'l Fantastic Film Fest Press Conference:
  
  Q: Are there differences in making movies between Hong Kong and Hollywood? Do you want to make the movie like made in Hong Kong with John Woo again?
  
  CYF: I think that the most important thing is to make good movies though there are some differences such as the working hours. I have appeared only in four movies in Hollywood. I must study English more though I felt I made little progress. It will be a long distance if I work in Hollywood. I will shoot my next movie which is called "Men of Destiny" with John Woo. It is a story about the construction of the railroad and a Chinese (man) by being sold as a slave. I expect the shooting will start in the winter next year.

• Straightening Out The Line
  It's not the same as John Woo's Land of Destiny!

  3 November 2003 - Evidently there has been a huge misunderstanding for a long time now regarding director John Woo's stalled historical epic Land of Destiny (p.k.a. Men of Destiny and The Divide). It has been reported by both the industry trade papers and online movies news sites that Land of Destiny began its development as screenwriter Tom Vaughan's The Line, which sold as a spec script to Propaganda Films back in 2001 as a starring vehicle for Chow Yun-Fat. But according to Monkey Peaches, which has posted a letter from Vaughan, "Land of Destiny and The Line are two unrelated projects and [Vaughan's company, R.O.I. Films] owns the rights to the latter one."

  "These are two separate projects. They are not the same script," explains Vaughan. "The Line is a fairly traditional Western with a non-traditional Chinese lead. It takes place around the building of the transcontinental railroad (there are only so many ways a Chinese man makes sense in the old west) and is a story about revenge, friendship, family and moving on. Chow Yun-Fat was attached to star in this project as well as Terrance Chang [sic] to produce along with Dan Halsted. ... Propaganda is no more, and the script is no longer set up anywhere." On the other hand, Vaughan says the separate "Land of Destiny is a drama about a Chinese immigrant working on the transcontinental railroad. John Woo attached himself to direct."

  Vaughan explains that when Woo came aboard to direct Land of Destiny, "Yun-Fat and Chang promptly dropped out of The Line and over to Land of Destiny" and that no one in the press "reported of his exodus to the Land of Destiny."

  "Daily Variety asked themselves, 'How many Chinese Westerns can there be with Chow Yun-Fat attached that use the transcontinental railroad as their backdrop?' Not unreasonably, they concluded that the two projects were one in the same and then promptly gave me writing credit for Land of Destiny, a project that I had nothing to do with. Throughout the Web, the projects were reported as one and that only the title had changed."

  For his blunt assessment of Land of Destiny, check out Monkey Peaches.

  Tom Vaughan is optimistic about his project's, er, destiny. "The Line is a smaller film [than Woo's], but more overtly commercial and will have to wait until a another Asian star appears and is interested." R.O.I. Films claims that The Line is budgeted at $25 million and that they've "developed 'The Big Road' draft designed to open up the casting for a non-Chinese lead actor, if necessary."

  
  Source: FilmForce