The Happenings

-- Ip Man --

Recently, Fan Siu Wong's getting seen more frequently on the silver screen. He makes a very brief appearance in Benny Chan's Connected, a remake of Hollywood's Cellular, as kidnapper Liu Ye's henchman. The film is about a guy (Louis Koo) receiving a distress call for help from a stranger ("Big S" Barbie Hsu Hsi Yuan) about her being kidnapped.

Fan Siu Wong also has a part in Butterfly Lovers remake, about the reincarnated ill-fated lovers in a wuxia world, again not being able to be together.

 However, it's with Wilson Yip's Ip Man that Fan Siu Wong not only gets a more significant role but also has a chance to flex his wondrous martial arts muscle, as choreographed by Sammo Hung.

In Ip Man, Fan Siu Wong plays a ruthless gang boss Jin Shan Zhao who's out to dominate the martial arts world, except he's thwarted by Yip Man (Donnie Yen). However, he's not going to take it lying down and will do anything he can do get back at latter.
 

More Ip Man photos on Fan Siu Wong Facebook.

-- Legendary Assassin --

On her latest blog entry, Celina Jade shares her experiences working on the set of her first film Legendary Assassin.

Celina Jade talks about being caught off-guard by Wu Jing and thrown about helplessly in a wushu-dance-bonding scene, of getting a big bruise on her face in her first fight scene, and, in another scene, gliding through the air and slamming against the wall, getting a sprained leg while her coccyx hit some hard structure inside the sofa.  Celina Jade Blog >>More<<

-- Legendary Assassin --

Celina Jade has just posted the more action-packed international version of Legendary Assassin trailer (Cantonese), which comes with English subtitles and narration, on her blog.

A brief look at the plot, as provided by Celina Jade:

Holly (Celina Jade) is a small-time cop born and bred in an outlying island in Hong Kong. She takes pride in her job even though crime is minuscule there. Every day life as a cop comprises of dealing with the odd villager complaint, bar fights, and lost and found reports. It may seem like a boring life to some, but a responsibility she doesn’t take on lightly.

One seemingly ordinary day, she finds her cat trapped in a tree and climbs up to rescue it. One careless step and she finds herself falling through the air and into the hands of a stranger, Bruce (Wu Jing).
 
A typhoon unravels and Bruce alongside all the villagers are stuck on the island, he is welcomed by Holly and taken around the island until the two are disrupted by a coincidental confrontation with four convicts on the run. Meanwhile, Holly finds out that Bruce is in fact a Kung Fu Master who has yet again saved her life.

He becomes the praise of the town and she is grateful as he gives her the first big break of her career, the goal of someday becoming a CID in the city is now closer to her grasp. Bruce and Holly begin to bond and a subtle yet deep connection is felt between them, although often unspoken. Bruce in his interaction with Holly starts to reflect on his life choices and contemplates the meanings of life...

-- Champions --
Trailer for old school martial arts film 《夺标》 Champions (Duo Biao), directed by Tsui Siu Ming, starring Dicky Cheung, Wong Tsui Yu, Debbie Goh, Xie Miao, Yu Rong Guang, Xu Xiang Dong, unveiled at Hundred Flowers Film Festival, is now up at MTime.

Champions is about an underdog wushu athlete played by Dicky Cheung who takes part in a martial arts tournament in order represent China in a martial arts performance at an Olympic Games so as to win the heart of a national sprinter, the girl he's in love with.

Champions, which showcases various schools of martial arts ranging from Praying Mantis Boxing through Eagle Claw to Taichi, is due out in November 2008.

-- Legendary Assassin --

The much awaited Legendary Assassin trailer was shown during a press conference for the film at Golden Rooster Hundred Flowers Film Festival earlier today and is now available on Sina.

Trailer may be downloaded from our site for those having trouble accessing Sina videos. 

Filming has already been completed and the film is scheduled for November release. Directed by Wu Jing and Nicky Li, starring Wu Jing, Celina Jade, Kou Zhan Wen, Alex Fong...

-- Beggar Su --

While no further development was heard of Iron Mask since May, Yuen Wo Ping has actually been furtively working on another project, 《苏乞儿》 Beggar Su (tentative), a remake of Hero Among Heroes in spirit. Beggar Su has already begun production without any fanfare in Beijing suburbs Mi Yun on August 28.

-- Shaolin Temple --

On Wednesday night when he received honorary professorship from Savannah College of Art and Design, Jackie Chan revealed that he is producing a 30-part New Shaolin Temple series featuring a number of finalists from The Disciple.

Jackie Chan, who just signed up 16 candidates from The Disciple, is all set to groom them.

On being enquired, Jackie Chan's firm in Beijing confirms that Jackie Chan is collaborating with Beijing TV to produce a modern-day version of Shaolin Temple.