Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP) is currently scouting overseas locations for $22m martial arts blockbuster Enter The Master, which is scheduled to start shooting in January 2013.

Written and directed by Chan Hing-kai, the film will star Donnie Yen as a former martial arts expert who is living a quiet life as a language teacher in Chinatown. His quiet life shatters when he saves a young immigrant from a violent attack and gets caught between two rival triad factions. Nicholas Tse will play the young immigrant.

EMP is considering locations in the US, Canada and Australia for the film, which will also partly shoot in Hong Kong.

Yen will also head up the second unit as action director on the film. Director Chan Hing-kai has a string of credits as writer and director including the popular All’s Well, Ends Well comedies and La Comedie Humaine

“Donnie and Nicholas have worked well together before but Enter The Master will take the collaboration a step further by pitting the two directly against each other, both emotionally and physically. We’re confident that their chemistry will be even more riveting in Enter The Master,” said EMP CEO Albert Lee.

Enter The Master is tentatively scheduled for Asian release in autumn 2013.