Jan de Bont will be directing Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang in a new live-action movie that tells the tale of legendary Chinese soldier Hua Mulan, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

John Blickstead wrote the screenplay for Jan de Bont to direct from. The story about the female soldier who joined a Chinese all-male army dates back to a 6th Century poem and Mulan's tale was made popular by the 1998 Disney animated movie Mulan.

Mulan will start shooting this fall at Hengdian World Studios, which is three hours outside of Shanghai, with the production expected to run through January. Movie Plus Productions of Canada, Global Film Finance of the U.K., China's Bona International Film Group and SIMF Pictures are teaming up to produce the new live-action movie. It was said that the production is currently seeking both English-speaking and Chinese-speaking actors for the movie.