Film News

Video preview of exchange between Jet Li and Jackie Chan: IGN (40s)

Lu Yan is like the Drunken Master in his carefree take on life and his drinking habit. When he encounters Jason and reluctantly becomes his bodyguard, escort and kungfu teacher, the never serious Lu Yan shows his martial arts skills and his relentless honor and humor. Lu Yan bears strong character resemblance to a few of the Eight Immortals as according to the Chinese Taoist legends.

As for the old Chinese pawnshop owner named Old Hop, whose shop Jason frequents back in Boston, Jackie Chan has this to say, "Those were my favorite scenes. I was imitating Marlon Brando in The Godfather - in both the way he talks and walks but added in a little Jackie Chan style." Chan was never told Old Hop's age so he continued to interpret the character as he saw fit with no objection from the director. His main gripe was with the heavy layers of makeup to age his face and body.

-- Legendary Assassin --

Some shots from Legendary Assassin, directed by Wu Jing and Nicky Li, courtesy of Heaven Ho's Blog. Ronald Cheng mentions that he'd have a cameo in this film.

-- Yip Man --

Zhang Yan Bin, casting director for Yip Man, which began production on March 4, says that casting for the production, which took three months, is settled; his job with the production is done and he's proceeding to other projects. He also mentioned earlier regarding looking for someone to fill up the role of adolescent Bruce Lee and teaching lead child actor(s) acting. Below is the cast list.

-- Forbidden Kingdom --

Behind-the-scenes footage showing Jackie Chan and Jet Li working Yuen Wo Ping to create the martial arts sequences: Yahoo (2:12 min)

Brief encounter between Jackie Chan and the soldiers: Youtube

Forbidden Kingdom pages at Alive Not Dead

The movie's gala premiere will be held in Beijing on April 15 or 16.

What are your five favorite martial arts films of all time, and why?
Donnie Yen: (I like) Enter The Dragon and Fist Of Fury, because they star my all-time idol, Bruce Lee. Prodigal Son,, starring Yuen Biao, directed by Sammo Hung. In terms of Wing Chun kung fu on camera: Sammo set the bar with that one. And we're trying to raise it (the bar) again with our new film, 'Yip Man'.

(I like) Drunken Master, with Jackie Chan, directed by my Sifu, Yuen Woo-ping. That created a whole new style of kung fu comedy. Heroes Of The East, by Lau Kar-leung. This is a classic Shaw Brothers film about a kung fu master who marries a Japanese woman, and finds he has to fight her relatives, all of whom know different Japanese arts. (It's a) Great concept, and someone should remake it. (It's not technically a kung fu movie, but I loved the last Rocky film, Rocky Balboa! Very touching, and the last fight was amazing.)

You must get along with Wilson Yip. Flash Point is one of many collaboration with him and you have more collaborations ('Yip Man') in the works.
Donnie Yen: I have a great time working with Wilson. We did SPL (Killzone), Dragon Tiger Gate, Flashpoint and now we're shooting Yip Man. (As I mentioned above, Painted Skin was directed by Gordon Chan). Wilson's very quiet, very focused. When we work together, he really helps me keep on track in terms of the story and character development. We make a great team, and I hope to work with him again!

Tell us more about your latest project, 'Yip Man'!
Donnie Yen: We're shooting 'Yip Man' now, in Shanghai. Sammo Hung is the action director. I've wanted to do this film for years. I've been training in Wing Chun kung fu, and especially working on the wooden dummy, so I can do justice to this story and this character. We have the full support of Yip Man's family, which is great. Having just done Flash Point, it's great to do a completely different style of action for this film.

-- 'Yip Man' --

Before he could finish work at his charity school that provides free education and lodging for talented teens with financial difficulties, Li Qi Long received call sheet from the production of 'Yip Man', directed by Wilson Yip. So, he arrived on the set of 'Yip Man' in Shanghai on Feb 17 morning. After having finished his makeup in the afternoon, Li Qi Long met Donnie Yen on the set. They previously collaborated on Painted Skin over a month ago.

After briefly greeting Donnie Yen, he proceeded for training with Sammo Hung. The Martial arts choreographer Sammo Hung asked the Shaolin disciple Li Qilong to display his skills, so that he could choreograph the martial arts sequences accordingly. Li Qi Long hopes that he would have outstanding performances in the film.  Li Qilong's Blog

 Cast update: Zhang Yan Bin, who's the casting agent for 'Yip Man', lists Fan Siu Wong and Xing Yu as part of the production too, playing Jin Shan Zhao and Martial Fanatic Lin respectively, while Li Qi Long takes on the role of Green Dragon and HK Changquan champion 杜宇航 To Yu Hang, 27, plays Hu Wei.