US and Asia-based production company Bigfoot Entertainment plans to start shooting thriller Irreversi in Hong Kong next Monday. But the project has an unusual twist in that the two versions will have distinct casts and crews will be filmed simultaneously in Mandarin and English.

Bigfoot founder Michael Gleissner plans to direct both versions with a Hong Kong co-director Ken Siu on the Chinese version.

Cast for the English version includes Meiling Melancon (X-Men 3), Ian Bohen, Kenny Doughty and Caroline Carver. Chinese cast will be announced later this week.

"Both versions have the same story but I want the end result to reflect two different cultures and styles of movie-making," Gleissner told Screen.

The English version will be released in the West and the Chinese version in Asia, but the producers believe some people will want to buy both versions on DVD.

Set in Hong Kong, Irreversi tells the story of a dot-com millionaire who marries his long-term girlfriend, but the marriage turns sour when his new wife starts to suspect that he murdered her brother.

Bigfoot is fully financing the film that will be produced by the company's CEO Kacy Andrews and Hong Kong producers Chen Chu On and Elliot Tong.

Gleissner, who like the lead character in Irreversihas a background in IT start-ups, launched Bigfoot in 2004.

The first film financed by the company, Thom Fitzgerald's 3 Needles starring Lucy Liu and Chloe Sevigny, screened at Toronto last year.

The company, which has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and LA, has also opened a film school, the International Academy of Film and Television, in Cebu in the Philippines.,/P>