The Happenings

-- Duel --

Daniel Lee announces his two future projects 《比武》 Duel (tentative) and 《将军》General/Checkmate (tentative) at a press conference in Beijing on 25 Feb. One is slated to be filmed in October, while the other at the end of the year. Sammo Hung will play the leading man in Duel. He agreed to joining due to the emphasis on drama. Daniel Lee also hopes to invite 70s martial arts stars Hwang Jang Lee and Wang Ing Sik.

The film is about two wushu practitioners who made a pact in their early years to challenge each other's martial arts skills. Subsequently, one lives overseas in USA while the other in China. To fulfil their obligations, the two have been waiting for over half a century, until they are in their seventies. It also examines the conflicts between the aging wushu practitioner and his kids, their differences in thinking and their generation gap, cultural differences, family ties, the traditional Chinese beliefs, trust and being true to one's word, exploring human relationships through the spirit of wushu.  Sina

Director Du Xiao Shares His Visions and Goals

When China's multiple awarding director Du Xiao read the script of A Legend of Shaolin Kungfu, he approached it with reminiscence. As everyone is aware, Jet Li's version of Shaolin Temple is known throughout the world for its authentic portrayal of martial arts scenes, their elegance and practicality.

The kungfu culture developed rapidly following that, and films like Swordsman and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon brought about a different school of martial arts choreography, tending towards surrealism, etherealness and gracefulness.

-- Legend of Shaolin Kungfu II: Thirteen Warrior Monks --

Anecdote: Li Yuan says that pertaining to this training scene, he had a little dream when he was very young. Back then, when he just started training in swordplay, he hoped that one day, he would have the chance to using his own interpretation to perform swordplay on the screen. And finally, after ten years of hard work, here's the result...

Video of Li Yuan doing something similar to Drunken Swordplay: Li Yuan's Blog

-- Tai Chi --

One of TVB's heavyweight dramas of the year, Tai Chi, shot in HD in exotic locales of Yunnan, begins airing on HK TVB Jade station on February 25. While this isn't Zhao Wen Zhuo's final work, he says that he'd be focusing his career on the film industry after Tai Chi, and he'd also work more behind the camera.

Zhao Wen Zhuo, who's also behind the martial arts choreography of Tai Chi TV series, hopes to share his inference and insights on martial arts through Tai Chi, "I hope to show the audience what Taichi is, many people do not understand it very well, such as whether Taichi is an effective means of combat. Taichi is a superior internal style of martial arts, many wushu techniques, such as joint-locks were derived from Taichi. Above all, it's a form of philosophy, an approach to life, to survival."  Nanfang Daily

Plot: Orphan Wu Ma (Zhao Wen Zhuo) grows up in the mountain, being adopted by his mentor who teaches him Tai Chi. Being abandoned by his parents, he's filled with animosity towards the world. To rid Wu Ma of his feelings of inequities and resentment, his mentor sacrifices himself.

To repay his mentor, and to fulfil his father's wish to glorify wushu, Wu Ma seeks the highest level of attainment in Tai Chi. He challenges the strongest sect's leader Duan Xiao Xing (Raymond Lam) to a duel, only to be defeated. So, he sees defeating Duan Xiao Xing as his ultimate goal in life. Moreover, because of a girl and an ambitious Southern exponent Lu Qiu Ao (Kwok Jing Hung), the two inevitably get into more fights.

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