The Flying Guillotine, a film produced by Peter Ho-sun Chan and handled by his We Distribution, has changed director from Teddy Chen (Bodyguards and Assassin) to Andrew Lau Wai-keung (Infernal Affairs).

Chan and Lau (pictured) made the announcement in Shanghai at a gathering held by Beijing’s film studio Stellar Group.

The project was announced in February but was delayed in early March due to script changes and the ongoing change of director. It was said among Beijing’s film industry circle that Chinese censors objected to the script. But Qin Hong, chairman of Stellar Group, the main investor of the film, declined to comment on the issue. He told Screendaily on Friday [17] that the script, after some revision, is now “a very good script”.

The film, set in the Ming Dynasty, will tell of the flying guillotine team who served the emperor and were trained to decapitate criminals or dissidents with flying blades.

Both Chan and Lau said the shoot was likely to take place in August. The previously announced cast of Taiwanese Ethan Juan (Monga), Huang Xiaoming (The Message) and Wang Luodan from mainland China shall remain the same.

Stellar Group, which invested in Peter Ho-sun Chan’s Wu Xia and The Flying Guillotine, also announced a slate of eight projects including The Flying Guillotine.

Stellar chairman Qing Hong said the group was developing a sci-fi international project with Pathe and had recruited seven directors on Chinese-language projects.

Guan Hu (Cow, 2009) has started shooting his Locarno Open Doors 2009 project Bloodshed, which is fully financed by Stellar Group. Filmmaker Zhu Jialing will direct a drama starring Vivian Hsu and Huang Xiaoming. Stellar will also work with Taiwanese Kevin Chu (Treasure Hunter) on a romantic comedy starring Vic Chou and Yang Mi.

Cao Baoping (The Equation Of Love And Death), Peter Ho-sun Chan, Lu Chuan (The City Of Life And Death) and Guan Hu will each work with Stellar again on their next drama projects.