Denounced as a feudal thinker just decades ago, Confucius is getting the star treatment in communist China, with Chow Yun Fatt cast as the ancient philosopher in a $27 million Beijing-backed biopic. Best known for his iconic gangster roles in Hong Kong films, Chow will swap his trademark trench coat and pistols for scholarly robes and scrolls in the production which is to start shooting in about three weeks. The movie is part of a recent revival of Confucius.