Chen Kaige, the world-renowned film director who has agreed to make "Mongyudowondo," held a press conference on Friday at Seoul Plaza Hotel. "Mongyudowondo" is based on the Korean myth that King Gaero of the Baekje Kingdom sends one of his soldiers Domi to go to fight in a war so that he could take his beautiful wife Arang.

Chen said that the reason he accepted to direct the film was the idea that Asians could work together to present a film on the international stage and this intrigued him. He will begin shooting the film from early next year with a budget of about W8 billion.

Chen produced "Farewell My Concubine" in 1993, which won the Cannes International Film Festival golden prize. Early this year, he advanced to Hollywood with "Killing Me Softly."

(Lee Dong-jin, djlee@chosun.com )