Kevin Spacey to star in upcoming Chinese film

HONG KONG -- Two-time Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey will play an American expatriate in an upcoming Chinese drama.

Spacey will play a character who befriends a young man with a troubled work and domestic life in director Dayyan Eng's "Inseparable," Xinhua Sports and Entertainment Ltd. said in a statement Wednesday.

Shooting will start this month in southern China, the statement said. Xinhua Sports and Entertainment publicist Joy Tsang declined to reveal which city Spacey will be shooting in, saying filmmakers did not want public interest to interfere with the shoot.

Spacey will be costarring with Chinese-American actor Daniel Wu and Chinese actress Beibi Gong.

She said Xinhua Media Entertainment, a subsidiary of Xinhua Sports and Entertainment, put together the project with China's Colordance Pictures but that the film is mainly being funded by Fantawild Pictures, a subsidiary of Chinese theme park operator Hua Qiang Group.

Tsang said she didn't know the budget.

Spacey's credits include "The Usual Suspects," ''L.A. Confidential," ''American Beauty" and "The Life of David Gale."