BEIJING, June 5 -- One of China's top actresses, Zhang Ziyi has signed on for three movies to be produced by Harvey Weinstein, including a film about Chinese folk heroine Hua Mulan and a remake of the Japanese classic "The Seven Samurai."

    Zhang confirmed she would star in the three movies when she met leading U.S. producer Weinstein at Cannes, the Chinese-language news Web site www.sina.com said Friday.

    The report did not say what the subject of the third film would be.

    Zhang will play women disguised as men in both the Chinese and Japanese stories, the report said. As Mulan ¡ª a well-known Chinese folk heroine who became the subject of Disney¡¯s animation of the same name ¡ª she will play a young girl who goes to battle in place of her ailing father.

    In the remake of ¡°The Seven Samurai,¡± Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic, Zhang will play a village girl who dresses as a man to protect herself from bandits.

    Zhang was last seen in Hollywood¡¯s ¡°Memoirs of a Geisha.¡± Her new movie, the Chinese-language Hamlet-inspired ancient court drama ¡°The Banquet¡± is due for release later this year.