that month, Cohen mentioned that Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh would star in the film although the official confirmation wasn't published until May. In April, Brendan Fraser re-joined the cast for the film. Weisz did not, citing "problems with the script" in addition to having just given birth to her son. The film was shot in Montreal and China. The film was originally reported to be titled The Mummy 3: Curse of the Dragon. In April, Luke Ford was cast as Alex O'Connell, replacing Freddie Boath in the role and in May, Maria Bello was cast to replace Weisz in the role of Evelyn. Bello commented during an interview that the new "Evy" is different from the original "Evy". "She has the same name, but she is quite a different character," said Bello. At a news conference in Shanghai, Bello told the audience that Rob Cohen has "created a new Evelyn. In the first two Mummy movies she was all actiony and lovely, but this Evelyn might be a little more... forceful in terms of her martial art skills and shooting skills". Filming Principal photography started at Montreal's Mel's Cite du Cinéma. There, the Eye of Shangri-la scenes were shot by production designer Nigel Phelps. The team then shot on the courtyard set of gateway to Shangri-la. The courtyard was dressed with fake snow, created by effects supervisor Bruce Steinheimer's team. At the city's ADF stage, Phelps's team created sets of the Terra Cotta mausoleum. Set decorator Anne Kuljian designed 20 different statue heads that were sculpted by 3D Arts team and interchanged between shots. One soldier and horse statue was bought from China, and copies of it as well as "The Dragon Emperor" were made (Jet Li's statue was sculpted by Lucie Fournier, Tino Petronzio, and Nick Petronzio in a workshop in Montreal). Propmaster Kim Wai Chung supervised the making of the horses’ bridles and mausoleum ornaments in China. Meanwhile, at Mel's, the brutal battle between the Emperor and Rick was filmed, the first scene shot with Jet Li. On October 15, 2007, the team moved to China. At Shanghai Studios, a set depicting the city in the 1940s was used for the chase sequence and was shot in three weeks. General Yang's camp was filmed in a Ming village near Tian Mo. At the studio, Chinese cultural advisers aided Cohen in depicting the Qin Dynasty language and ceremonies.