Production of the Weinstein Co.'s period piece Shanghai is looking to relocate to Thailand and England, after is was denied a shooting permit from China.

According to Variety, Harvey Weinstein considered Hong Kong and other Asian locations but said, "Hong Kong doesn't have the colonial era setting we need; it is difficult to find a building here less than 50 stories high. So we will be going to Thailand and, believe it or not, England."

The picture is to be directed by Swedish helmer Mikael Hafstrom from a screenplay by Hossein Amini and will star John Cusack, Chow Yun-fat, Gong Li and Ken Watanabe.

Hafstrom last month learned that the picture, which was in pre-production in China, had been denied the shooting permit it expected to receive. TWC had spent nearly $3 million building sets.

Set in 1940s Japanese-occupied Shanghai, the story involves an American who stumbles across government secrets while investigating the death of his friend.

Shanghai was released in 2011 and stars John Cusack, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, David Morse, Franka Potente, Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun-Fat, Li Gong, Rinko Kikuchi. The film is directed by Mikael Håfström.