HONG KONG -- A Hong Kong movie company said Monday it plans to make a biographical movie about Bruce Lee's late kung fu master Yip Man, announcing a project similar to a film planned by famed art-house director Wong Kar-wai.

Carmen Cheng, a publicist for Mandarin Films, said the company is still negotiating the rights to make the film and that the cast and budget haven't been decided. She also said it wasn't clear when the movie will start shooting.

Wong had earlier announced a similar project, casting veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, but there is no sign that he has started shooting the movie.

He also has another outstanding project, "Lady from Shanghai," starring Nicole Kidman.

Wong recently shot his English-language debut, "My Blueberry Nights," which stars Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz and Norah Jones.

Hong Kong's Next magazine reported last week that Wong's five-year rights to make the Yip Man biopic had expired and that Mandarin Films had stepped in.

A spokeswoman for Wong's production company, Jettone Films, didn't immediately return a call. A man who answered the phone at a studio where Yip's eldest son, Yip Chun, teaches kung fu, said Yip Chun wasn't in.

Bruce Lee grew up in Hong Kong, where he studied martial arts from age 13 with Yip Man, before moving to the U.S. While there, he got married and won the part of Kato in the "Green Hornet" TV series. He later returned to Hong Kong to make movies.

Lee died in 1973 in Hong Kong from swelling of the brain at age 32.