SHANGHAI, Sept. 8 -- OSCAR-WINNING Taiwanese director Ang Lee has chosen veteran Hong Kong pop singer Jacky Cheung to record the theme song to Lee's spy thriller "Lust, Caution," a news report said today.

Taiwan's China Times newspaper quoted Cheung's manager, Chan Suk-fun, as saying Lee's staff approached Cheung while "Lust, Caution" was being filmed.

"Jacky listened to the song and thought it was quite good, so he recorded it," Chan said, according to the report on China Times' Website.

The report did not identify the song or who wrote it. It will be played during the film's closing credits, the report said.

Lee's assistant did not immediately respond to e-mailed questions about the song. Calls to Cheung's Hong Kong offices went unanswered.

"Lust, Caution," based on a short story by famed Chinese writer Eileen Chang, is about a group of patriotic students who plot to assassinate the intelligence chief in the Japanese-backed Chinese government during the World War II era.

The movie marks Lee's return to Chinese-language film after the success of the gay romance "Brokeback Mountain," which won him last year's Oscar for best director.

Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays the intelligence official Mr. Yi, while newcomer Tang Wei plays the Chinese student Wang Jiazhi, who seduces Yi to pave way for the assassination. The movie also features Joan Chen from "The Last Emperor," and Chinese-American pop star Leehom Wang.

The movie has drawn attention because of its explicit sex scenes. It received the strictest US rating of "NC-17," which bans viewers younger than 17.

Separately, manager Chan was quoted as saying Cheung, one of Chinese pop's biggest acts, is recovering from a cold that forced him to cancel the last two shows of his recent concert series in Hong Kong last week.

Chan said Cheung, currently in the middle of a world tour, performed as scheduled in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun.