Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat poses during a photo call to promote his latest film "Curse of the Golden Flower" in Singapore December 12, 2006. [File Photo: Reuters]

Just one day after John Woo's long-anticipated big budget epic "Battle of Red Cliff" started shooting, news has come that Hong Kong's super star Chow Yun-Fat has been dropped from the star cast.

This is the second HK international super star who has for various reasons been made to leave the film production team following Tony Leung's earlier turn-down of another major cast in this film for "what it is said his incompetence in speaking proper mandarin Chinese".

Beijing Evening News reports it received an official phone call confirmation on Chow Yun-Fat's case from the film's production team on Sunday night.

The production team alleged that Chow Yun-Fat put forward "nearly one-hundred unreasonable demands", which they said "they are unable to tolerate". Meanwhile, they also alleged that Chow Yun-Fat is "far beyond the age of his role in the film" and they have got what they call "negative feedbacks from the public on the point".