The producers of the Matrix films are going to get a Hong Kong star in the franchise, one way or another.

Word is that Asian film star Jet Li, who broke through with American audiences this year with Romeo Must Die, is out of the Matrix sequels, and that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's Michelle Yeoh is in.

Variety's Michael Fleming reports that Yeoh is now being courted for the role for which Li was once being wooed by writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski.

According to Variety, Li is out of the running because the Wachowskis simply couldn't afford him after paying out a $30 million advance to Keanu Reeves, not to mention profit-sharing deals with producer Joel Silver and the Wachowskis themselves.

Reportedly, Li was asking for $13 million but was only offered $3 million and no share of the gross to work for 11 months on the two back-to-back sequels. Since he's already being paid $9.5 million in advance to star in The One, he didn't want to settle for $1.5 million per film.

Yeoh's English-language crossover film was the James Bond installment Tomorrow Never Dies, but the surprisingly feminist Chinese-language epic Tiger is proving to be a bigger career boost to Yeoh than the Bond flick, which didn't fully capitalize on her martial arts skills.

Coincidentally, Li turned down the role in Crouching Tiger that went to Chow Yun-Fat.

It turns out that you don't have to be "The One" to get a love interest in Matrix-ville. Jada Pinkett Smith is in talks to romance smooth-talking Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) in the upcoming Matrix sequels, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The size of her role isn't known, but doing the two films could be a major time commitment. The two sequels are being filmed back to back in a 250-day shoot that gets underway in March in Australia.

Original cast members Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Fishburne, and Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving are all back for the second and third rounds, with Jet Li mentioned to add some martial-arts whiz-bang to the proceedings.

Pinkett Smith next stars in Fox 2000's Kingdom Come and is currently on-screen in Bamboozled

Production Notes

From :http://www.usfilmproduction.com/ http://www.usfilmproduction.com/CA/FilmingNotice/upcomprodSF.htm

The Matrix 2 & 3 10/4/00
Start: March 2001; Shooting in: San Francisco, Chicago, Australia
Eon Entertainment, 200 Mildred Ave., Venice, CA 90291
ph: 310-578-2350; fax: 310-306-7771
Silver Pictures: 4000 Warner Blvd., Bldg. 90, Burbank, CA 91522-0001
ph: 818-954-4490; fax: 818-954-3237
Village Roadshow Pictures, 3400 Riverside Dr., Ste. 900, Burbank, CA 91505
ph: 818-260-6000; fax: 818-260-6001
Mystery Clock Cinema, 27 Renny Street , Paddington, NSW 2021
ph: 61-2-9361-6333; fax: 61-2-9331-4000
CAST: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Jet Li, Hugo Weaving
PRO: Spencer Lamm, Joel Silver, Bruce Berman, Andrew Mason;
DIR: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski;
UPM: L. Dean Jones, Jr.;
LINEPRO: Grant Hill

The Matrix 2 & 3: The winner is...Sydney. Keanu Reeves seem sure, now Producer Joel Silver finally confirms that Sydney has been selected as the location for shooting on the next two "Matrix" flicks. Silver says "We talked about possibly shooting in the UK, like we talked about shooting in Germany or Rome. But looking at all the different places, it was strictly a financial decision. It's all based on the economics. As we did the first shoot in Sydney and there were economic benefits to doing such, we decided to shoot the others there, too". Nevertheless Australia isn't the only location they'll be shooting - Chicago and San Fransisco are also on the list with small segments of the film to be shot in the Windy City and the Bay Area starting March 6th. Thanks to 'Jon', 'Glitch2000' & Know the Matrix.

Taking a page from George Lucas' playbook, the makers of the Matrix movies aren't taking any chances when it comes to leaks about the plot. Not only are most executives at Warner Bros. not yet allowed to see the screenplay for The Matrix 2, but prospective supporting cast members are being hired without seeing the script ? a practice used with the Star Wars prequels. The supersecret project reunites the original film's Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne.

The secrecy is justified, says Phillip Nakov, co-founder of countingdown.com, which provides fans with news, scoops and photos for films months before they open.

"The Matrix has an enormous, almost cultlike following," Nakov says. "It's absolutely red-hot. And I think that keeping it secret adds to the level of excitement and anticipation." Nakov says interest in Matrix 2 and 3 tops the other fan-favorite upcoming movies: Dungeons and Dragons, Spider-Man, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Jurassic Park 3 and Lord of the Rings. (The next Star Wars, he says, is in a class by itself.)

While the top stars return, filmmakers Andy and Larry Wachowski are quietly on the prowl to fill a number of smaller roles. Among them: a black woman, 25 to 35, for the role of a ship captain who had a relationship with Fishburne's wise resistance leader, Morpheus; a black man, 30 to 40, who can "hold his own" on screen with Morpheus; and an 18- or 19-year-old who looks up to Reeves' Neo character.

Shooting is expected to begin in January. Matrix 3 will be shot right after 2 is completed.

Cheerleading and racial conflict: Perfect together

The hyperenergetic trailer for the comedy Bring It On, opening today, has surprised moviegoers with a dramatic change in tone midway through. At first it appears to spoof heroine Kirsten Dunst and her sexy fellow cheerleaders, but then it concentrates on a surprisingly edgy racial angle ? black cheerleaders accusing a white team of ripping off their moves.

Racial conflict actually is played up in the trailer; it's not the focus of the film. Ironic, considering that Disney's marketing campaign for the Denzel Washington football film Remember the Titans, opening Sept. 29, is all about black-white racial tensions and its trailer plays them down.

"To us, (the racial theme) is one of the most compelling aspects of Bring It On," says Marc Shmuger, head of distribution at Universal. But the marketing department hit a roadblock.

Many moviegoers see cheerleaders as "goofy," Universal discovered in test marketing, and have a built-in resistance to caring about them.

So the trailer intentionally makes the heroines look silly , then throws the racial tension at moviegoers when their defenses are down. The idea was to capture a movie "that really respects and loves its characters" ? however goofy they may appear, Shmuger says.

The result is that young black, white and Hispanic women are equally interested in the PG-13 film, according to Universal research. "That is something I've never seen," Shmuger says. "Usually, a young female movie will be limited racially in its predominant appeal."

Not that Universal expects a Bring It On box office bonanza. The film only cost $10 million to make. If Universal's plan works even a little bit, Bring It On could make that back in two weekends.

Unconfirmed rumors (but then, they're the best kind) have French actor Jean Reno (Ronin) and another undisclosed French actress up for roles in the Matrix sequels. Apparently, one of the parts calls for a male somewhere in the 40 year old range. According to our scooper, someone has hinted at possibly reviving Jean Claude Van Damme's fading career. Also rumored to be in the mix is former British pop star Luke Gross who may be playing one of the agents. Gross' credits include the stage version of Grease, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and was one of the duel frontmen of the group Bros with his twin brother. Sure, they're all unconfirmed rumors, but other sources tell us the French characters and the new agent are indeed the real deal. [Thanks to 'C'; reported by Reg.]

NEW YORK -- For only the second time in his career after Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Keanu Reeves is preparing to do a movie sequel. Two of them, simultaneously.

"I'm looking forward to playing the part again," Reeves says of reprising his role in The Matrix in two sequels, which will both begin filming in November and continue shooting until the end of 2001.

"I had a very special time to make that picture," Reeves says of the original, which became a surprise megahit. "I had no expectation. I really didn't know how it was going to be received. When I saw it, it was better than the film I thought I had made."

As for the sequels, Reeves is over the moon about the possibilities. "It's an extraordinary circumstance. The films have an extraordinary opportunity and extraordinary ambitions."

Reeves will commit four months to training, and then 13 months for shooting. Scenes for both sequels will be shot at one time on specific locations that figure in both stories. With a year of post-production necessary, fans won't see the first of the sequels until late in 2002, Reeves says.

Keanu Reeves has the script for The Matrix 2 in hand, and he's giving it a big thumbs up.

"It's fantastic," he says. "It has even more ambitions than the first one. My character is more developed."

Reeves, whose career was kick-started by starring as Neo in the original, will start training for the physically grueling role in November. Two sequels are planned, the first for late 2002 and the second for summer 2003. They'll be shot back-to-back starting in late March or early April.

The Matrix, which grossed $171.2 million last year, was lauded for its sci-fi action scenes and unusual camera work.

Reeves says the stunts in Matrix 2 are even more elaborate. "There are a lot of physical demands in it," he says. "It's more sophisticated in the action sequences and fight sequences."

The brother team of Andy and Larry Wachowski, who also wrote and directed the first film, now is studying digital cameras and "trying to achieve certain camera perspectives," Reeves says.

The 35-year-old actor says The Matrix and its sequels are appealing because they aim to "synthesize the action spectacle and give it an emotional context."

So much so, Reeves says, that "I never thought of it as an action picture. I always thought of it as a drama."

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Carrie-Anne Moss has closed a deal to reunite with Keanu Reeves in the two sequels to ``The Matrix'' which are scheduled to begin back-to-back production next fall in a 250-day shoot

Writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski are again at the helm of the Warner Bros. project.

Moss has also inked to play Judi Dench's daughter in Miramax Films ``Chocolat,'' which co-stars Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche and Alfred Molina.

Lasse Hallstrom (''The Cider House Rules'') is poised to start directing the project next month in France and England.

Moss also co-stars with Guy Pearce in Cannes candidate ``Memento.'' She will next be seen in ``The Crew'' alongside Burt Reynolds (due in theaters Aug. 25), and in ``Red Planet,'' co-starring with Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore (due in theaters Nov. 10).

The Matrix II: A war is going on out there, with the prize being tens of millions of dollars being pumped into the economy of the winner's city. Despite Joel Silver's wanting to come back and Keanu Reeves indicating he'd like to return, The Daily Telegraph reports that it looks like Sydney has not been locked in as the location for filming of the upcoming two "Matrix" films. A spokesman for 'Ausfilms', the company which helps all major international film companies setup productions wishing to use Australian facilities (incl. the first "The Matrix" film), has said a deal has yet to be signed. Conflicting the decision are bids from London and Canada whose respective film industries desperately want the productions, and are offering large incentives to try and nab it - especially the Canadians. In related news, Jet Li talked with the London Evening Standard about his latest film "Romeo Must Die" seemed to confirm his position of "being a front-runner" to be involved in the production. Thanks to 'TopGunJedi'.