Wu-Jing.org

The Bund, May 6, 2008
Li Jun

The world's foremost martial arts choreographer Yuen Wo Ping is often called Eighth Master. However, among his siblings, he's the eldest brother. How did he come to be known as Eighth Master within the entertainment circle?. Yuen Wo Ping explains, this is because when he joined the film industry in the stunt profession when he was over ten years old, there were 8 sworn brothers then, and he was the youngest.

-- More More More --

Music video from More More More, part of Elva Hsiao's album 3-Faced, has just made its debut recently. Wu Jing was specially invited to choreograph the action as well as training Elva Hsiao for 7 days prior to filming.

The dance queen says it was very tough doing the action, "I trained till I sweat profusely, martial arts scenes really aren't suitable for girls. Even when doing difficult stunts like flying, I still had to wear a relaxed look on my face. However, after seeing the fantastic results, it was worth the effort."

Even after such a hectic experience, she still develops an interest in becoming a female action star, "If any action movie director finds me fitting, please come look me up. If the script is good, and the director is good, I don't mind going through the pains again for the sake of art."

The music video may be viewed at Youtube.

-- Hands of the Dragon --

Earlier on, Philip Ng was in India for three months to shoot the US-India co-production Hands of the Dragon. Philip Ng, who stars as Jack Lee, an elite police force member left for dead in a covert operation but reappears in India later to track down his killers, has non-stop action scenes in the film. However, it was a gruelling experience on the set due to relapse of an old ailment in the waist.

"The film had a very tight schedule, what I did in one day was equivalent to three days' worth of filming. Moreover, I had to fight from beginning to the end. One day, suddenly, while filming, I couldn't move at all. Fortunately, the production got a Chinese physician who applied acupuncture on me. After the treatment, I was mobile again. It was miraculous." says Philip Ng, whose mindset towards traditional Chinese medical treatment has changed.

He also expresses deeper understanding for Indian culture: "It turns out that there's a great disparity between the rich and the impoverished. Many poor have to live in the streets. I feel my injury was insignificant compared to them, I hope to do something for them in the future."  The Sun, Philip Ng Blog

According to Nilanjan Das, "Working as a consultant for the Hollywood action flick Hands of the Dragon was really interesting. The entire working process and the outcome gave me immense creative satisfaction because of only one reason – it really worked the way it was visualized."

-- Ip Man --
Owing to controversy over the film title, Mandarin Film's martial arts biopic on Yip Man will still be called Ip Man rather than 《一代宗师·叶问》 Grandmaster Yip Man, thanks to unpleasantries from Wong Kar Wai who claimed conflicts with his very version that still remains in development limbo despite being announced several years ago.

Raymond Wong explains, "Actually, all along, we have called our film 《叶问》 Ip Man, but our mainland investors said that Yip Man was a great master of his times, so we changed our title to Grandmaster Yip Man out of respect for him. Yet, this brought about a series of debates over the title. To settle this matter amicably, after discussions with our various investors, movie consultant Yip Chun, director Wilson Yip, we changed back to our original title."

He also believes that it's not worth arguing over a name, "The title is of secondary importance, our main aim in shooting the film is to propagate Wing Chun. All studios should cooperate with and support each other, especially in a time when the film industry is not doing well."

Tony Leung says, "Our film will still be produced. I think Donnie Yen's version will be more focused on martial arts, of younger age, but the Yip Man I'm playing will be more drama-oriented, and it deals mainly with the latter half of his life. The two are definitely completely different works."

Production of Ip Man has wrapped up in Shanghai, after around three to four months of filming. Ip Man, directed by Wilson Yip, featuring action by Sammo Hung and starring Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Fan Siu Wong, Xing Yu, Li Qi Long, To Yu Hang, is targeted for a Christmas 2008 release.  Shanghai Daily | Posters: Eastday

-- Missing --
Missing gala premiere was held in Beijing yesterday, graced by Tsui Hark, Guo Xiao Dong and Angelica Lee Sinjie, while Isabella Leong was unable to attend.

Missing, which starts with horror and suspense high on shock factor that has the audience screaming, and changes drastically, with a purposeful mismatch in look and feel, into romance in the last 20 minutes that the audience finds a bit slow yet heartbreaking, is about a marriage proposal underwater that goes awry as the would-be groom Guo Xiao Dong goes missing while the would-be bride Angelica Lee loses part of her ROM, RAM, harddisk, memory card and suffers from mental breakdown. Missing opens in theatres in Asia on June 12.

-- Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 2: Thirteen Cudgel Monks --

After almost six months of intensive filming, 40-part series Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 2: Thirteen Cudgel Monks has finally wrapped up on June 2. Very few productions today would spend more than 3 months on filming, let alone 6 months. This is a testimony to how meticulous, committed and dedicated the production is, and the amount of time spent on filming the martial arts sequences to ensure quality delivery, just as the first Legend of Shaolin Kungfu.

As Li Yuan says on his blog, June 2 is a memorable day for the production, for they completed the final scene on that day, bidding farewell to the days of sweat and blood brushing against the shoulder. It's not easy to produce a great work, and everyone has made lots of sacrifices, physically and emotionally, for Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 2. They have worked even harder in Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 2 in order to give the audience an even more thrilling show.

On looking back, before doing any action scenes, Li Yuan would say, "Brothers, let's do our best, go for it, and strive to get through with one take." For, in a realistically constructed fight scene with full physical contact, each additional take would mean more risk and injuries. In order to reduce the risk, they would put in all their might, from fist to fist contact, to bodily clashes, to bruises and blood, to eventually a mental contest. As the director says, the last man standing would have become a dehydrated skeleton. And the beastly addresses from the martial arts director have become their catchphrase...

Finally, Li Yuan extends his appreciation and thanks to the director Du Xiao, the martial arts director Yuen Bun and Li Cai, and the brothers and sisters who fight alongside with him as well as all the crew. It's because of them they he has matured a lot. Li Yuan is currently resting in his home in Beijing, enjoying a moment of quietness.