By LOUIS B. HOBSON --

HOLLYWOOD -- Like every one else in Hollywood, director John Woo is waiting for Tom Cruise to finish filming Stanley Kubrick's erotic-drama Eyes Wide Shut.

Cruise has been working on the project for almost 18 months.

"Tom and I have been talking about filming a huge epic in China called The Devil's Soldier," explains Woo best known for such action films as Broken Arrow and Face Off.

"It's based on a true story of a 19th century adventurer who had a love affair with China and a Chinese girl. The Chinese have even built a temple in this man's honor.

"It would be my most ambitious film ever and one of the biggest films every shot in China. It would be like a Chinese Lawrence of Arabia but it all depends on Tom's commitments. That could mean waiting several years before we could hope to shoot."

Cruise is committed to filming a Mission Impossible sequel with Oliver Stone.


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