Film News

-- Wushu --

Jackie Chan, who was in Cannes a few days ago to promote the movie 'Wushu', directed by Antony Szeto, never forgot the victims of Sichuan Earthquake. Sharing the same sentiments as Jet Li, he says that relief effort is a long term work, and it would take a long time to rebuild everything and heal the minds of the affected.

In 'Wushu', Sammo Hung plays a wushu coach, but he's just a big supporting role. The leads are the five real life young wushu athletes. The movie is about the growth and development of the two brothers who have been studying at a wushu school since young, and how they overcome hurdles and unfavourable conditions, eventually making some headways, and emerging tops at wushu competitions.

'Wushu' is slated for release in China in September/October, according to Antony Szeto.

Jackie Chan says that after the reality TV programme The Disciple is concluded in June, he would be shooting a martial arts movie starring the winners, again presenting Chinese wushu to the audiences in various parts of world.  Sina

-- Grandmaster Yip Man --

Hong Kong's Long Fist gold medallist 杜宇航 To Yu Hang started his training in wushu at the age of six at Hong Kong Wushu Union's classes, before subsequently becoming Hong Kong Wushu Team member. He has recently taken part in Hong Kong leg of Olympics Torch Relay 2008 as one of the local 120 Torchbearers.

To Yu Hang has just made his screen debut in Wilson Yip's Grandmaster Yip Man, "Once, I was on a TV programme on the bus that introduced Hong Kong athletes, it happened that the boss of the a talent agency saw it, got in touch with me, asking if I would be interested to join the showbiz. We talked for a long time, he lamented about the dearth of martial artists on screen, and invited me to develop my career as an action star. I thought, since I'm still young, I should try out different things, and so I joined my agent's big family."

-- Legendary Assassin --

Twitch has just posted a preview of Legendary Assassin's promo reel at this year's Cannes Film Festival:

"Also up on the Hong Kong action tip, I got to check out a promo made up of completely raw footage for Wu Jing’s Legendary Assassin. Beyond the fact that it was still in very rough form and graced with one of the most hilariously over the top bits of English narration ever – apparently done a bit tongue in cheek – it looks decently well shot and there is certainly no shortage of action in this movie. Nope. And it’s all old fashioned Hong Kong ass whuppin – fists and feet meeting faces. Wu must’ve been tired."

Besides Legendary Assassin, Twitch also reports on two Donnie Yen projects - Painted Skin and Legend of Yip Man - being marketed at Cannes:

"Anyway, there were still good things to be had.  Such as?  The promo for Ip Man, the Wilson Yip directed, Donnie Yen starring bio pic of Bruce Lee’s mentor.  The current promo is largely behind the scenes footage but also includes some final work and it all looks very, very impressive.  Donnie looks strong - you’d expect a strong effort from him considering how highly he regards Bruce Lee - as do the production values and the supporting cast. Fans of Fan Siu Wong - who we talked about a little while back thanks to his part in The Moss - will be glad to know it looks as though his role is pretty significant."

The Mummy 3 trailer has been unveiled and may be viewed online on Yahoo, MSN, or IESB.

In the third instalment of The Mummy directed by Rob Cohen, Jet Li plays a ruthless ancient Chinese emperor, previously entombed, together with his army, in terra cotta clay by a double-crossing sorceress (Michelle Yeoh), that has been awakened and is going to take over the world and enslave the entire human race. Can Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his son Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford) stop him?

Wu Jing, making a cameo as one who makes an assassination attempt on the emperor, appears for a split second at around 1:24 to 1:25 (or alternatively 1:33 to 1:34) in the trailer fighting Jet Li right after the latter was introduced.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens in theatres on August 1, 2008.

-- Missing --
Four Missing posters have been uncovered at a press conference marking the launch of Sina Missing site on May 15. Missing will be released on June 12 and proceeds from its premiere on June 8 in Beijing will be contributed towards Sichuan earthquake relief. In addition, Tsui Hark and Guo Xiao Dong have each donated 100 thousand yuan.

Both tried to contact their friends in Sichuan but telephone lines were cut off. Tsui Hark says that it's imperative to monitor psychological problems of the victims who have gone through such traumatic experience. He would give some help when there's a chance.

More donation links may be found at Jet Li's Blog and AliveNotDead.

Related Links:

Missing Official Site

Missing @ Sina

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

-- Yip Man --

After busy shooting on the set of 'Yip Man' for the entire May Day holiday, Xing Yu has finally completed his role as Martial Zealot Lin by the following day. He wishes everyone a happy May Day and says that he has benefited tremendously from working with Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip again, his acting and screen fighting ability being taken to the next levels. Xing Yu would be resting for a few days before joining another film. He says he'd continue to work hard and strive to present more quality works.  Xing Yu Blog