A little over a month into production, John Woo attended a press conference to discuss how shooting on his latest film, The Crossing, is going. Already touted as the “Chinese Titanic” and sporting a hefty-for-the-region budget of $48.6 million, Woo’s film is a romance based on the historical sinking of the Taiping, a vessel that sank en route from China to Taiwan.

The boat collided with a cargo ship and capsized, resulting in the loss of about 1,000 lives. Like James Cameron, Woo’s going to personalize the disaster by zooming in on three couples. Cannily, the cast is stacked with actors from China, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, serving as a hook for viewers from all those countries. Woo’s quick press-conference remarks stressed his long-term desire to make both an “epic” and “a romantic drama about China and Taiwan.”  “This is a film that celebrates the power of love in the age of turbulence,” he promised. Surely neither the Chinese nor Taiwanese governments will be upset about or agitated by this film at all, which looks to hit theaters starting at the end of 2014.