Actor Ken Watanabe, nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the 2003 film "The Last Samurai," will star in the movie adaptation of the international best-selling novel "Memoirs of a Geisha," according to the film's producers.
Production will begin in Japan and Los Angeles in September.
Watanabe will portray The Chairman, a powerful businessman with whom Sayuri, a beautiful geisha and the story's heroine, falls in love.
Sayuri will be played by Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, who was praised for her performance in the 2000 Academy Award-winning film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."