John Woo Wants Liam Neeson For FLYING TIGERS

Via Hollywood Reporter, action director John Woo (Hard Target, Windtalkers, MI:2) has a new movie titled FLYING TIGERS , they’re not crouching!.. which he hopes will get to be IMAX friendly, he’s talking to CAA and IMAX to make that happen. But he also revealed that he wants to cast Liam Neeson in the film..

So what’s FLYING TIGERS about?
Here’s how the trade puts it down.. “based on the volunteer fighter squadron formed to help the Chinese fight the Japanese before the U.S. entered World War II. The film will tell the story of the special team set up by Lieutenant General Claire Chennault in Yunnan Province and how it fought against the Japanese Air Force in Myanmar and South-West China.”
The budget is $90 million, it’s 1940s bilingual movie and we can expect some hardcore aerial battle Woo-style!

Woo wants Neeson to play U.S. Army Air Corp U.S. Army Air Corp Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, “the contentious American officer whose volunteer Flying Tigers squadron trained the first generation of Chinese fighter pilots taking on Japan in WWII.”
Woo is thinking about actor Liu Ye to play a young Chinese actor to play a pilot in training
But both Neeson and Ye’s involvement with the project hasn’t been confirmed yet. Woo is co-writing the script with Chris Chow and production is expected to start in the Spring for a 2011 release