Ang Lee’s ‘Gold Mountain’ Begins Filming — With Chedi Chang, Sophia Xu, Yao, Zine Tseng, and Owen Teague

Finally, Ang Lee’s “Gold Mountain,” which last year quietly pushed its production start date to qualify for the next batch of California tax-incentivized productions, has started shooting in California.

Sadly, Fala Chen seems to have dropped out, and the rumored Zhang Ziyi was, well, just a rumor. Instead, we’ll have to settle with Chedi Chang, Sophia Xu, Yao, Zine Tseng, and Owen Teague.

Chang-rae Lee, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, wrote the latest draft of the script.

As mentioned a few weeks ago, Emmanuel Lubezki (“Tree of Life”) is no longer onboard as DP. He’s been replaced by Joshua James Richards, whose credits include three Chloé Zhao films—“Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” “The Rider,” and “Nomadland”—all of which were influenced by Lubezki’s photography in his Terrence Malick films.

So, Lee is clearly going for a specific look on “Gold Mountain,” which is set during the dying embers of the American Gold Rush and tells the story of two orphaned Chinese American immigrants navigating a brutal, unforgiving Western frontier.

With his Bruce Lee film in limbo, Lee recently pivoted toward “Gold Mountain,” an adaptation of C. Pam Zhang’s acclaimed debut novel “How Much of These Hills Is Gold.” Originally conceived as a limited series, the project has since evolved into a feature film under Lee’s direction. It marks the “Life of Pi” filmmaker’s first narrative outing since 2019’s “Gemini Man.”

Set during the dying embers of the American Gold Rush, “Gold Mountain” tells the story of two orphaned Chinese American immigrants navigating a brutal, unforgiving Western frontier.

There’s something comforting about Lee returning to this kind of material—personal, historical, and rooted in feeling. The Taiwanese auteur behind “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Sense and Sensibility,” and “The Ice Storm” has always worked best when exploring cultural dislocation and identity. The story being told in “Gold Mountain” feels right at home.