The first reports that Michelle Yeoh might be playing Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democaracy politician and Nobel Prize winner, came earlier this week after the actress visited Kyi, and one of the activists’ lawyers mentioned that the actress wanted to play her in a movie.
However what wasn’t known at the time was that things were already way beyond Yeoh hoping to play the much-incarecerated politician. Indeed it appears she’s already started shooting the movie, with Luc Besson directing, and that the the Asian part of the shoot, which took place in Thailand, is already complete.
It’s perhaps not a surprise they kept thing under wraps (cast and crew apparently had to sign a confidentiality clause in their contracts), as while Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest, there are still major tensions with the military junta which runs Burma, and it’s unlikely Yeoh would have been allowed to visit her if it was known what was going on (it’s not clear either whether Aung San Suu Kyi has had any involvement in the movie). Indeed, Besson and his Europcorp studio still haven’t officially said Yeoh is part of the movie, but the presumption is that it will be the Crouching Tiger actress, due to the visit.
The production, which has a working title of Into The Light, will now move to London, before a fortnight’s shoot in France. It’s not known exactly what part of Kyi’s life the film will focus on (or indeed whether it’ll cover all of it), although there’s plenty of meat for a movie, with Kyi struggling against the military rule in Burma as leader of the National League For Democracy. She won a 1990 election, but the military refused to hand over power, and has tirelessly tried to promote bringing democracy to Burma via non-violent means. Kyi was freed on November 15th, 2010, having spent 15 of the last 20 years under house arrest. She has become a pro-democracy icon, being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, among other honours.
Into The Light should be released next Spring or Summer. (Source: Variety)