You'll love 'Bodyguards and Assassins' even if you don't love Sun Yat-sen

Hong Kong director Teddy Chen's 'Bodyguards and Assassins' arrives in Hong Kong cinemas December 18. The film is about a group of bodyguards who protect Sun Yat-sen, the 'Father of Modern China,' from an assassination attempt by the Qing government in 1905 Hong Kong. Audience members should prepare themselves for a few shocks.

There's the shock of seeing Bodyguard and Assassin's all-pretty boy cast in various unexpected guises -- Leon Lai as a haggard beggar, Donnie Yen as a shifty gambler, Nicholas Tse as a lowly rickshaw puller! And there's the shock of finding out who the mystery actor is who will play the role of Sun Yat-sen.

As part of an ingenious promotional gimmick, director Teddy Chen has kept the Sun Yat-sen actor a secret. And we're falling for it. We can't wait to go see Bodyguards and Assassins to find out, and to see the biggest 1:1 reconstruction of 1900s Hong Kong ever built, the construction process of which is shown in the Youtube video above.

Bodyguards and Assassins

A group of dedicated bodyguards protect Sun Yat-sen from an assassination attempt in 1905 Hong Kong.

Opens across cinemas in Hong Kong December 18.