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Last month, Taiwan singer Elva Hsiao Ya Xuan, who went on a vegetarian diet in 2003 as a healthier living option, specially invited Wu Jing to join her music video More More More, which combines dance with wushu. Elva Hsiao specifically picked Wu Jing to star opposite her due to his excellent wushu skills as well as his exalted status as a martial arts star.

Elva Hsiao was coached by Wu Jing, who also choreographed the action. While a little maladroit initially, Elva Hsiao picked things up quickly thanks to her background in dancing. Elva Hsia, who aims at breaking into the film industry as a female action star this year, managed to meet Wu Jing's demands quickly, and she was able to handle to action like wirework and kicking conversantly.  HK Headline

On May 8, the press was granted a visit to the set of Grand Master Yip Man on a Shanghai soundstage, where filming of Butterfly Lovers/Butterfly Swords, starring Wu Zun and Charlene Choi as the re-incarnations of the star-cross lovers, with choreography by Ching Siu Tung, is also going on nearby.

They were filming a scene whereby Yip Man (Donnie Yen) goes shopping with his wife Zhang Yong Cheng (Lynn Hung) and son Yip Chun (Li Ze) in the bustling streets of Foshan. However, owing to unexpected drizzle, filming was affected. At one end of a street is the congregation of all kind of martial arts schools. The set will be altered at a later stage to give a worn-down, grim and dismal look following Japanese invasion and occupation.

Gordon Lam plays constable Li Zhao and while enforcing his duty, he inevitably comes into conflicts with Yip Man. It's Li Zhao's duty as a constable to ensure law and order, but those martial arts practitioners are constantly taking on each other. Thus, they are a perennial threat to public security as well as a headache to the police force. In other words, Gordon Lam's character per se may be a wet blanket to the audience for potentially disrupting any matches.

More photos at: Sina. Here are the videos from the set visit at Sina: Shopping, Interviews with Donnie Yen, Wilson Yip, Lynn Hung, Gordon Lam

-- Grandmaster Yip Man --

Videos from May 7 Shanghai press conference featuring Donnie Yen interview with some film footages from Sohu/Sina/QQ: A, B, C, D, E, F

During the press conference, director Wilson Yip explains the reasons for focusing on Yip Man's life in between the 1930s to 1940s.

As Yip Man came from an affluent family, he could afford the time and energy to engross himself in the studies and research of martial arts. He did not have the cares of the world on his shoulders, was not particularly concerned about anything around him. He's a refined, well-cultivated person.

But at the age of 30, Yip Man's family underwent severe changes. At that time, Foshan fell to the Japanese. His tranquil and quiet life was shattered, his family became impoverished, and he was at his lowest ebb. It's at this point that Yip Man began to realise to importance of his family and his friends, and he started to take a completely different outlook and perception.

Out of love for the people as well as his continual and dawning realisation of the essence of wushu, Yip Man gradually snapped out of the limitations as a martial arts fanatic, and amidst countless battles and struggles without any ego, took on the new onus of restoring the flag of the nation.

 
"To me, this period marks a significant turning point in his life, at the same time, it is a detailed portrayal of the values of Yip Man wushu spirit, as such, our movie is based largely on this portion of his life." explains Wilson Yip.  Sohu | Photos: TheFirst.cn, MTime

-- Grandmaster Yip Man --

 Press conference for 《一代宗师·叶问》 Grandmaster Yip Man (tentative), budgeted at around 80m yuan, was held on May 7 afternoon in Shanghai, attended by producer Raymond Wong, director Wilson Yip, the cast Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Gordon Lam, Lynn Hung, Xing Yu, etc. Grandmaster Yip is the fourth collaboration between the "golden team" Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen.

 Both Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen indicate that they're taking a more down-to-earth approach in portraying on the screen the life of this legendary grandmaster of martial arts as well as his rich spiritual world, as well as presenting a scintillating, fresh martial arts choreography, courtesy of martial arts choreographer Sammo Hung.

-- Forbidden Kingdom Sequel --

Having raked in US$70m in all worldwide, Huayi Brothers announces that they will be collaborating with Hollywood studios to produce Forbidden Kingdom sequel, with Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), Silent Monk (Jet Li), Jade Warlord (Ngai Sing), White Hair Demoness (Li Bing Bing) making a return.

Just before production began, Jet Li, as one of the film's investors, had an agreement with the Hollywood producers and bank that if the film makes less than US$40m worldwide, it's considered at failure; if it hits US$50m, they would talk about making a sequel; if it makes US$70m within 2 weeks of its opening, it's a confirmation.

While the script for Forbidden Kingdom sequel is far from completion, it's possible that the scenes giving background to White Hair Demoness, her past relationship, her hatred towards men that were cut from the original will be put back. Jet Li, who hopes to introduce Monkey King to the West, says casually that they could even have Monkey King battling DC comics superheroes like Superman, Batman in the sequel.

Apart from Forbidden Kingdom sequel, producer Casey Silver also intends to make another pic Legend of Lin Chong, with possibly either Jet Li or Chow Yun Fatt cast as the eponymous hero Leopard Head Lin Chong, one of the 108 heroic outlaws from Water Margins.  Beijing Times