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Monday, August 30. 2004
-- SPL --Three generations of martial artists have joined forces for Wilson Yip’s upcoming action drama SPL (working title), which is nearing the end of a four-month shoot in Hong Kong. Produced by Carl Chang with backing from Abba Chan’s Abba Movies, the US$3.8m (HK$30m) film stars martial arts veteran Sammo Hung along with Donnie Yen and upcoming star and wushu champion Wu Jing. Simon Yam, whose credits include Tomb Raider II and Johnnie To’s PTU, also has a lead role in the film. Described by Chang as a dark action drama, the film revolves around the psychological battle between a ruthless mafia boss (Sammo Hung), who has killed off the family of a police witness, and a cop (Simon Yam) who has taken it upon himself to raise the one surviving family member.
Continue reading "Martial Arts Stars Align for Wilson Yip Action Drama SPL"
Sunday, August 29. 2004
-- Seven Swords The Movie Press Conference -- Photos of Tsui Hark, Liu Chia Liang, actors Lu Yi, Leon Lai, Sun Hong Lei and actresses Charlie Yeung and Kim So Yeon at the press conference: Sina, Sohu, Tom. Seven Swords will begin shooting on September 1, 2004. Interview Videos (Netease; In Mandarin; Real Video) Seven Swords Beijing Press Conference At around 25th minute are footages of Tsui Hark scouting locations in Xinjiang, a horse-riding and swordplay training session, and a real-time preview of the online RPG game. Tsui Hark, Liu Chia Liang
Kim So Yeon In Korean with Mandarin translation
Lu Yi and Sun Hong Lei
Charlie Yeung
Tuesday, August 24. 2004
-- Seven Swords Press Conference --
Press conference for the movie version of Seven Swords of Mt Tian will be held in Beijing at 13.30pm (GMT + 8hrs) on August 29 and will be beamed live on the web by Sina Entertainment. Liu Chia Liang, Charlie Yeung, Leon Lai and Lu Yi are expected to be present. Sina Ent The event will also be broadcast through Netease, and live transcript, in Chinese, will be made available with installation of Popo software. Run Popo, register as a member and login to Distinguished Guest Chat Room (嘉宾聊天室), the third icon, which is a microphone, on the left and choose Seven Swords of Mt Tian 《七剑下天山》. Questions or comments for the production may be left at this Sina page. URL for live broadcast of the event at Netease: rtsp://202.108.34.60:554/encoder/7swords.rm URL for live broadcast of the event at Sina: http://vipchat.sina.com.cn/vip/new/3/vsimple.html
Monday, August 23. 2004
-- Journey to the West Remake -- Recently, the studio behind Seven Swords of Mt Tian, Beijing Ciwen Oriental Digital Film and TV Production (Wenlian Studio), announced its plan to shoot a 60-part TV adaptation of Journey to the West next year. The series has been in pre-production since two years ago. In order to outdo the CCTV's classic starring Liuxiao Lingtong, after much debates, they came to the conclusion that they have to seriously rack their brains on the script above everything else. CCTV's Journey to the West TV series was such a classic due to its fidelity to the original novel. So, Ciwen Oriental Digital is adopting a conservative approach by sticking to the original novel, and currently the draft script has been completed. The script will focus on character development and highlight the humour of the novel by providing scintillating dialogues. Besides being entertaining, it will also be didactic by exploring the meaning of life.
Continue reading "Ciwen Digital Plans Journey to the West Animated Series"
Sunday, August 22. 2004
-- Sha Po Lang --
"Hopefully in this next film, I can regain some respect [for Hong Kong]," he says. Going back to an old-fashioned police-versus-triads plotline. Donnie Yen plans to put in some show-stopping fight scenes in the movie. Taking the lead role himself, Donnie Yen's character will be squaring up against a villain played by a local legend: Sammo Hung. "I've never worked with him before, so I'm really looking forward to it," says Donnie Yen. "It'll be fun working with Sammo. I just can't wait to see the rushes!" Donnie Yen admits he had cut back on his martial arts training in recent years while he focused on directing. But he says he has been pulling out the stops for this new film, and not just in the gym. "I'm trying to stay focused," he says. "Not so much on the physical martial arts training, because that is a given- it's not to be taken for granted, but it's a given. Physically, I'll be prepared for this film, but mentally. I have to stay focused. I want to do something with this film I've never done before. I want to take local action films up to another level." As if to accentuate his strength of purpose, Yen's gaze gathers intensity, and the star grows increasingly more excited and animated as he discusses his plans. "Twins Effect 2 is a big commercial film and most likely it will be very successful. But will it be a groundbreaking action film? Probably not," he says. "So, is my next movie going to be really successful at the box office? I don't know- I hope so! But that is not the goal I'm setting. The goal is to produce the best action movie we possibly can, then worry about the box office." In Donnie Yen's opinion, that's the order moviemakers' priorities should always be in. And he sees the fact that they tend to be the other way around in Hong Kong these days as one of the reasons for the decline in quality. Donnie Yen's unconventional take on the importance of box office results becomes clear when he talks about high points in his career. B International June 2004 Cover Story, DonnieYen.us
Sunday, August 22. 2004
-- Himalaya Singh -- Wai Ka Fai will soon be directing Chinastar's Himalaya Singh 《喜马拉雅星》 (aka Strange Encounter in India / Joyful Journey), a festivity celebratory film starring Lau Ching Wan, Cecilia Cheung, Cherrie Ying and Ronald Cheng. Currently, the script is being vetted by Chinese censorship board. In 2003, Wai Ka Fai worked with Johnnie To on Running on Karma. In that movie, the Indian yogi's incredible contortion and bone-shrinking skills had the audience fascinated. At the same time, Wai Ka Fai formed a keen interest in Indian culture. He decided to exploit that theme and that's how Himalaya Singh was born. Ronald Cheng plays a yoga practitioner who spends years in retreat in The Himalayas. By order of his parents, he leaves the mountain to marry Indian Beauty. Lau Ching Wan, a Hong Kong tourist who gets lost in India, is inadvertently mistaken by Beauty as her husband and relations develop between the two. However, Ronald Cheng's appearance disrupts this relationship. Netease
Sunday, August 22. 2004
-- Seven Swords of Mt Tian TV Series -- On 13 August, 4 pm, Xinjiang City Daily's reporters accompanied Producer Wang Yong to the set of Seven Sword of Mt Tian series at Tiechanggou. On the set were Sang Wei Lin, Qiao Zhen Yu, Wang Li Kun and child actors Liu Xiang Yu and Tang Kai Cheng, etc. On that day, they were shooting at a sunflower meadow. Liu You Fang (Wang Li Kun) has just mastered the arts and descended the mountain, and Mu Lang (Qiao Zhen Yu), in order to test her skills, asks her to pierce at him, "just like piercing the sunflowers." Liu You Fang is hesitant, for the fear of hurting her lover. Under Mu Lang's encouragement, Liu You Fang eventually attacks with her sword... and the two begin an exciting duel. This scene which lasts for two minutes were shot repeatedly for countless times. Newcomer Wang Li Kun was rather nervous and had difficulty entering her role, and her lines were not delivered without errors. The director Clarence Fok was especially patient.
Continue reading "Seven Swordsmen: Production Progress Reports"
Saturday, August 21. 2004
-- Shaolin vs Evil Dead 2 -- While little is known of the release of Shaolin vs Evil Dead (Shaolin Vampire), My Way Film Co is already planning a sequel. Shaolin vs. Evil Dead Part II, a sci-fi actioner starring Gordon Liu, Fan Siu Wong, Shannon Yao Yao and William Hung, is slated to begin shooting in December with a budget of HK$7 million. The film will mark action choreographer Yip Wing-kin's first outing as director. William Hung Official Site
Saturday, August 21. 2004
-- Seven Swords of Mt Tian-- Tsui Hark is planning to make a documentary on Chinese wushu. Jackie Chan has agreed to host the documentary. With the help from Chinese Wushu Society, Tsui Hark intends to spend two years travelling across various regions in China visiting wushu legends' hometowns and interviewing their descendants. In the meantime, he's busy with Seven Swords of Mt Tian 《七剑下天山》. The TV version was originally planned to be 30 episodes, however, as Tsui Hark felt that in order to go into the specifics of each of the Seven Swordmasters of the First and Second Generations, it's necessary to extend the teleplay to 60 episodes, or 74 as it's the case now. He felt that it would be too short with 30 episodes, the pace would be too rushed, with little room to describe each swordmaster's tales, their dreams and pursuits, as well as their swords. Soon, Korea and Japan investors were attracted to the material and the franchise soon snowballed into various projects, such as comics and online game. Then, someone mooted the idea of doing the movie as well. Thus, Tsui Hark began formulating the film structure. However, because of the scope and length of the novel, it's certainly no mean task. Eventually, they took out the relevant elements and came up with the movie script. Seven Swords of Mt Tian will focus on the nature of each of the seven rare swords, their relationships with their owners, their owners' feelings for the swords, how they learn, through the swords, the way of humanity, the growth of each swordmaster, from the beginning when they start using using their swords. Nanfang Daily
Friday, August 20. 2004
-- The Seven Swords -- Tsui Hark landed in a tight spot when Korean actor Song Seung Hun backed out at the last minute. Fortunately, on learning the gravity of the situation, Donnie Yen immediately agreed, without any hesitations, to take over Song Seung Hun's role as Chu Zhao Nan. Donnie Yen had to turn down other works because of this. Having a tight schedule, he will not be attending Seven Swords of Mt Tian 《七剑下天山》 press conference at the end of the month and will join the production in Xinjiang after completing Sha Po Lang. Having Donnie Yen playing Chu Zhao Nan has two distinct advantages: He is a genuine martial artist compared to Song Seung Hun, and is an internationally renowned actor, having already made a name in Hollywood, unlike Song Seung Hun, who's fandom is limited to Asia. Jiefang Daily, Kungfu Cinema
Thursday, August 19. 2004
-- Sha Po Lang -- Sha Po Lang 《杀破狼》 is currently being filmed in Hong Kong. The movie will wrap up in early September. Donnie Yen, the film's lead star and martial arts choreographer, said that martial arts movies nowadays tend towards over-reliance on CGIs, but Sha Po Lang bucks the trend by returning to wire-free fights done by actual people, with little or no use of stunt-doubles, to showcase the power of traditional kungfu. Donnie Yen revealed that ShaPoLang is a modern police kungfu movie, Simon Yam and him are colleagues in the police force and Donnie Yen's character possesses peerless skills. Donnie Yen, Simon Yam and Sammo Hung's roles respectively take after Killing, Obliteration and Avarice as per Sha Po Lang constellation. The three would engage each other in a battle of wits and fists. Sammo Hung plays the boss of a triad, his most capable assassin Wu Jing would have an ultimate duel against Donnie Yen. Meri Paper
Monday, August 16. 2004
-- The Seven Swords Movie -- Song Seung Hun has originally agreed to act in Seven Swords of Mt Tian movie. However, being tied up with other projects, he had to relinquish the movie. Song Seung Hun felt bad about it too, for he had looked forward to doing this movie which would help him break into the international market. 21st Century Life Mainland actor Lu Yi has been undergoing training in horse-riding and swordplay to prepare for his role in the movie version of Seven Swords of Mt Tian next month. He said he's playing the most junior member of the Seven Swords. Wnhui-Xinmin United Press
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