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A scene from What time is it there

Taiwanese film director Tsai Ming-liang, born in Malaysia but relocated to Taipei in his early 20s, has made a name for himself on the international cinema scene with movies as diverse as “The Hole” and “What Time Is It Over There?” has a new project up his sleeve and its working title is “Le Visage” (The Face). He plans to shoot the film in Paris, at the Louvre museum, no less, where “The Da Vinci Code” was also shot in 2006. Tsai’s location shoot gets underway in early November, according to industry sources.

Tsai recently visited the Louvre with French actress Laetitia Casta and Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng to meet with Henri Loyrett, the museum’s director. The group gathered in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “St. John the Baptist,” the face, or “le visage” of Tsai’s new project.

The movie is projected to be a tribute to French “New Wave” cinema of the 1960s and 70s, and according to Tsai, the story will involve a film within a film. According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, a semi-government news agency, “Le Visage” will depict a Taiwanese filmmaker who goes to the Louvre to shoot a film that revolves around the myth of Salome and her request to her father Herod that St. John the Baptist be beheaded.

Tsai told Loyrett during their meeting in Paris that he hopes the painting of St. John the Baptist can be exhibited in Taiwan when the film appears in movie theaters there.

Loyrett also hopes that Tsai’s movie will help boost attendance at the Louvre, especially from travellers from Taiwan and Japan. The release in 2006 of “The Da Vinci Code, ” starring Tom Hanks, which showcased the Paris museum in a number of its scenes, boosted the Louvre’s popularity, with over 80 million visitors visiting last year.

“Le Visage” will be a French-Taiwanese production, with additional funding coming from the Netherlands and Belgium, according to sources. Tsai plans to spend three months shooting in France and then film the remaining scenes in Taipei in early 2009, with a debut screening at Cannes Film Festival in the spring.

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