Ang Lee heads back to China

The next movie for Oscar-winning director Ang Lee will be a Chinese-language spy thriller set in World War II-era Shanghai, film company Focus Features said Thursday.

Set to begin production this fall, it will be Lee’s first project since “Brokeback Mountain,” which failed to win the best picture Oscar but won the 51-year-old native of Taiwan his first Academy Award for directing.

The movie, “Lust, Caution,” also marks the director’s return to Chinese-language cinema after “The Hulk” and “Brokeback Mountain.” It will reunite Lee with the team behind his 2000 kung fu hit, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

Wang Hui-ling, who worked on “Crouching Tiger,” will write the script, an adaptation of a short story by the late Chinese novelist Eileen Chang. Bill Kong, who produced “Crouching Tiger,” will produce, Focus said.