Jiang Wen, director of the highest-grossing Chinese film, Let the Bullets Fly, is set to appear opposite Donnie Yen in a biopic on an ancient general.

In The Lost Bladesman, Yen will play the legendary general Guan Yu and Jiang the ambitious Cao Cao, ruler of one of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220-280).

The movie is to be directed by Felix Chong and Alan Mak, scriptwriters of Infernal Affairs, on which Martin Scorsese based The Departed.

Mak said that Jiang would be one of the lead actors, with more than 20 scenes.

"Jiang marvels at Yen's fight sequences, and Yen admires Jiang's emotional interpretation," he says.

Singer Tan Jing sings the theme song.

The film will premiere on April 28.