Hong Kong action film director to shoot pro cycling movie in Italy - and it's called Breaking Wind (+ videos)

A Hong Kong action film director is turning his attention to professional cycling for his latest venture, but its name, Breaking Wind, may need a rethink if it is to be released in the UK and US markets - and not just to avoid confusion with seminal American cycling flick, Breaking Away.

Due for release in 2015, the movie is scheduled to begin shooting in Italy in June and will follow a group of pro cyclists as they prepare for races, says Yahoo! News Singapore.

The film is the work of Dante Lam, a leading director in the Hong Kong action film genre, whose past work includes the 2008 movie, Beast Stalker, which won him a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director.

His 2013 film Unbeatable was the highest-grossing movie of the summer in Hong Kong and won praise from audiences and critics alike.

Stars of his forthcoming cycling-related film include Eddie Peng, Ethan Ruan and Carlos Chan, and Lam is said to have brought Hong Kong’s London 2012 women’s Keirin bronze medallist Lee Wai Sze – also known as Sarah Lee – to help train the actors.

Lam said: "Eddie's muscle tone is not compatible with a professional cyclist at the moment, and he needs to lose more weight."

Given the director's martial arts and action movie pedigree, we'd like to think there would be a re-enactment of that infamous 2010 post-finish line fracas between Carlos Barredo and Rui Costa.

Breaking Wind is not to be confused with the 2012 straight-to-DVD spoof of vampire franchise The Twilight Saga, which got a less than favourable reception from the critcics – “nothing prepares you for the ineptness and crassness of this ‘Twilight’ parody,” said Time Out.

Here's a trailer for Lam's latest film, That Demon Within, which is due to bring the 38th Hong Kong International Film Festival to a close next month.

Finally, here's the trailer for 1979's Breaking Away, a perennial favourite among many cyclists.