Tsui dives into romantic thriller

'Missing' expected to start later this month

By VICKI ROTHROCK

HONG KONG -- Tsui Hark, his crew and cast have completed a three-week intensive diving course in preparation for the "Missing" shoot.

Part of the romantic thriller will be filmed on ancient underwater ruins off Japan's Yonaguni Island. The $8 million pic concerns a man who hides an engagement ring in the ruins, then disappears during the dive with his girlfriend to retrieve it.

"Legends speak of an amazing lost city that sank into the sea 10,000 years ago, during the last ice age," Tsui said.

Now in pre-production, pic is expected to start lensing later this month and should hit theaters by either November or the March-April period, said Virginia Leung, senior manager for distribution at Mandarin, which will handle international sales.

Pic, which is fully financed, is a Film Workshop production and produced by Mandarin and China's Dong Tian Motion Picture Investment, Enlight Pictures and Beijing Polybona Film Distribution. Polybona will handle distribution in China.

Executive producers are Raymond Wong, Nansun Shi, Wang Chang Tian and Yu Dong.

Mandarin will rep the pic at Cannes along with the Wilson Yip-helmed "Flash Point."