LOS ANGELES:

Australian actors Tess Haubrich (“Alien: Covenant”) and Callan Mulvey (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, TV’s “Underbelly”) have joined Jackie Chan in the cast of Chinese-Australian scifi thriller “Bleeding Steel.”

The official start of production was announced Thursday at a ceremony at Sydney Opera House involving the state of New South Wales’ acting premier Troy Grant and minister for skills John Barilaro.

Producers repeated the assertion that “Bleeding Steel” is the biggest budget Chinese film ever to shoot in Australia. However, despite repeated inquiries by Variety, the producers refused to disclose any details that might substantiate such a claim — the overall production budget, the proportion that will be spent in Australia or the scale of the subsidies from Australian state and federal sources.

The film, which has actually been shooting in the streets of Sydney for the past few days, is backed by China’s Heyi Pictures and by Village Roadshow Pictures Asia. Filming will continue in mainland China and Taiwan.

The film is written and directed by China’s Leo Zhang. Zhang’s script sees Chan as a special force agent who becomes embroiled in a huge conspiracy, while protecting a young woman who is an important witness for a major case. Years later, after the publication of an epic sci-fi novel, the parties behind the conspiracy resurface. (RTRS)