Gordon says the reason Zhang loves the story so much is that the character she plays is so different from her stereotyped image.

Gordon says one day when they were on the roof of the Marina Bay Sands, the luxury hotel in Singapore, looking at the playback, Zhang said: "In my whole career I never dreamed I could be in such a movie. I always wanted to be in a movie that would star Anne Hathaway and Julia Roberts, I just never had the chance."

"I think she means a movie that is sort of a madcap adventure," Gordon explains. "We sent her off on a James Bond adventure."

Starting her acting career in 1999 in a Zhang Yimou film, Zhang has been known to her audience as a smart, tough lady. Gordon thinks the role of Sophie brings out the little girl inside her.

"I have seen her with her little niece, daughter of her brother, you will know Sophie is part of her inside," says Gordon.

Gordon's next Chinese project is the remake of Go Lala Go, a hit film from 2010 about a young career woman's life and love.