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Tuesday, September 29. 2009
-- Young Ip Man --  Following his appearance as Liu Bei in Light-transcending Pandora's Box, Jeffrey Lau's parody on Red Cliff, Yuen Biao is joining Young Ip Man, produced by Sin Kwok Lam, directed by Herman Yau, this November, while the prolific Jeffrey Lau would start filming another work around the same time.
Yuen Biao would be playing Ip Man's senior Ng Chung Suk, responsible for further training Ip Man after their master Chan Wah Shun passed away.
 Young Ip Man, which traces Yip Man's life between age of 11 to 28, also stars To Yu Hang, possibly as Yip Man, Fan Siu Wong, who has recently been training Wing Chun daily under Sin Kwok Lam, and Huang Yi as Yip Man's girlfriend.
As such, owing to schedule conflicts, Yuen Biao could only make a cameo in the ongoing production Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3. The role he'd be playing is still undergoing negotiation.
Meanwhile, Tony Leung, who is back to Wing Chun training, still feels some pain when exerting him arm as it takes 3 months before his fractured arm would fully recover. Producer Ng See Yuen says The Great Master by Wong Kar Wai and apparently with Yuen Wo Ping as the martial arts choreographer, which, coincidentally, is about Yip Man's life after his migration to Hong Kong and his relations with other sects, has to begin filming in November - come what may. But who knows it'd be pushed back yet again. Ng See Yuen is forbidding Wong Kar Wai, who's facing tremendous pressure, from altering the script on the set, "The script must be finalised first, can't let him keep changing the script as he shoots the film." Sina, Chongqing News
Sunday, September 27. 2009
-- Fantastic Four Detectives --
 《四大名捕》 Fantastic Four Detectives (tentative), a contemporary Chinese Western actioner on a team of four cops travelling miles to track down a group of criminals, is beginning production in Dunhuang in a few days. The cast includes Duan Yi Hong, Ni Da Hong, Wang Bao Qiang, Wu Jing, Francis Ng, Barbie Hsu, Feng Yu Xi, Zhang Li...
Director Gao Qun Shu says that the inspiration for the film came from an actual event that took place in Guizhou whereby a convict escaped to the deep mountains and the police force pursued him relentlessly. To prepare for the film, the cast members have been training in various stunts and firearms.
Duan Yi Hong plays the captain of the four cops, a smart, resourceful leader who is skilled in Tae Kwan Do, and an expert in guns and all sorts of pyrotechnics.
Wang Bao Qiang plays another cop, who despite his unexceptional looks, is a hero specialising in Shaolin Fist and car stunts, and is also a crack shot. For the first time in his showbiz career, Wang Bao Qiang, a Shaolin disciple, gets to flaunt his martial arts skills onscreen.
Fantastic Four Detectives will take around two months to shoot and is scheduled for May 1, 2010 release. Sina Cast Updates: Charlie Yeung Choi-Nei and Zhang Li will also be in this film. However, Barbie Hsu, who's doing another film Hot Summer Days, couldn't make it, and she'd be replaced by someone else.
Sunday, September 27. 2009
-- Way of Tai Chi --
Scriptwriter Lang Chen says that he can finally hand in his assignment, the screenplay for 《太极道》 Way of Tai Chi (tentative), to Wu Jing on September 27 for him to go through. He says that it's a script that wore him out immensely - he has never spent such a long time working on any script before but it's well worth the effort.
While Lang Chen is the one penning the script, the story idea originated from Wu Jing. Wu Jing was brimming with ideas, some of which he came up with on the spot. Wu Jing filled him in eloquently on every little detail on how he wanted the film to be like. It's not known when production would begin at this moment, though it won't be any earlier than 2nd quarter 2010 as Wu Jing has other commitments.
Sunday, September 27. 2009
-- The Sword and the Pugilistic World -- The Sword and the Pugilistic World by John Woo is slated for production in Shanghai end of October. They'd move location to Taiwan in December or January. John Woo and Terence Chang are producing this film with Su Chao Bin directing, Stephen Tung Wai as the action director, and Emi Wada as the costume designer.
In The Sword and the Pugilistic World, Michelle Yeoh plays an assassin wishing to retire from the pugilistic world. She meets a guileless, sanguine guy Jung Woo Sung in a town, settles down with him and hopes to lead a peaceful life. However, due to her possession of some precious artifact, she can't have her cake and eat it.
Director Su Chao Bin says that while the story sounds hackneyed, he hopes to inject something new, and shoot something redolent of wuxia spirit.
He adds that Barbie Hsu, who's training for the Gu Long style wuxia film, is playing the 2nd most important female role, an assassin. She will have many fight scenes. Kelly Lin will play an important role, but won't have as much screen time. John Woo's daughter Angeles Woo, who's trained in fencing, cameos as yet another assassin. Min Sheng Daily
Tuesday, September 22. 2009
Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction (Oct 2, 2009)  In this romantic action comedy directed and written by Jeffrey Lau, Alex Fong, the newly invented android with emotions and reasoning ability being, gets planted in a remote town, under the charge of sheriff Hu Jun, to test its functionalities. Being a "perfect human", Alex Fong soon becomes the town's idol, with Sun Li falling for him. But he's forbidden by his programme codes to fall in love. Soon, Hun Jun and Alex Fong are sent to track down Wu Jing, an android seeking independence and questioning the orders of his creator. With box-office takings of 50m yuan, the film was better received in China than Hong Kong.
Order YesAsia: Blu-ray, DVD | Related products: Soundtrack CD, Making-of Documentary Book HKFlix: Blu-ray, DVD
Continue reading "Coming on DVD in September/October 2009: Kungfu Cyborg, On His Majesty's Secret Service, etc"
Tuesday, September 22. 2009
-- 36 Manoeuvres of Love --  Chie Tanaka plays a career woman who works at an advertisement firm. She's independent, strong-willed, and detests scions. She wants to depend on herself to make a living. Her boyfriend Daniel Chan is her colleague and they are very happy together. However, with the appearance of Impediment Quintet, she discovers her boyfriend's secret by accident.
Wu Jing, dressed glamorously in pinkish outfit, says that he's making guest appearance in the film due to his friendships with the director and producer.
 In 36 Manoeuvres of Love, Wu Jing takes on dual roles - one as himself, a martial arts star Wu Jing, another as a reflexologist who's a Wu Jing lookalike. So, Liu Hua, chief of the Impediment Quintet, notices the reflexologist's star potential when he goes for foot massage and engages his service in the sabotage scheme. He plans to make Chie Tanaka's heart go wow and flutter with a fake celebrity, making use of the scandalous affair to sow discords, thereby dealing a severe blow to Daniel Chan.
Wu Jing displays his comedic flair on the set as he role-plays a Wu Jing lookalike who tries to impersonate Wu Jing. In order to allay Chie Tanaka's suspicion, he spouts off little secrets of other celebrities. And to express his sincerity, he promises to groom her to stardom. However, Chie Tanaka sees through all these tricks eventually. Sina
Friday, September 18. 2009
-- New Shaolin Temple -- Representing Shaolin Temple's investment in the film New Shaolin Temple that Benny Chan is directing, producer Fu Yang Hua, head of Shaolin Cultural Communications, says that their negotiations with Andy Lau for a year have been fruitful, and he'd be playing a feudal lord's son who's a crack shot [While it could also be referring to spear in Chinese, gun is more likely given that the persona belongs to the military ruling class] if all goes well.
While Jet Li denies involvement, Fu Yang Hua says they're still trying their best to persuade Jet Li, hoping to bring about a pleasant surprise, "Even if we succeeded in bringing Jet Li on board, he won't have too many scenes, it's basically a cameo."
 There's a good chance of Wu Jing, who was at One Foundation C1 Charity Race, organised by Jet Li, in Chengdu last weekend, joining too.
New Shaolin Temple, which showcases exotic Shaolin martial arts and involves the participation of real-life Shaolin martial monks, begins production in December 2009 and would wrap up by April 2010. Shanghai Morning Post
Wednesday, September 16. 2009
Recently, Raymond Wong has stepped down as the chairman of Mandarin Films to set up his own film studio which is teaming up with Mainland investors to produce a modern actioner at around HK$150m in mid 2010. The film will be directed by Ringo Lam. Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa are being invited to star in the film and they would have a series of fights. Raymond Wong hopes to unite the two international screen giants despite the high fee of US$3m (HK$23.4m) commanded by Tony Jaa, "I'll talk about the new firm at a later date. It'd be great to have to the two appear in the same film, but I'll only talk about it when things are finalised."  Donnie Yen's currently filming Wilson Yip's Ip Man 2 with Sammo Hung, Fan Siu Wong and Huang Xiao Ming. He recently fainted on the set due to fever and over-exhaustion. He has been discharged from hospital and would resume filming in a day or two. 21cn
Tuesday, September 15. 2009
 42-part kungfu series 《少林寺传奇３—大漠英雄》 Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3: Heroes of the Great Desert has finally begun production in Gansu on September 7, and filming will go on for 5 to 6 months. The TV series is helmed by Du Xiao, with screenplay by Wu Han and Lu Jian, while Li Cai provides the martial arts choreography.
Continue reading "Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3: Heroes of the Great Desert Begins Production"
Monday, September 14. 2009
 Lensing ceremony for 《西游记》 Journey to the West TV series, produced by Zhang Ji Zhong, directed Zhang Jian Ya, with Zhao Jian serving as the action director, was held in Gansu on September 12. Filming will wrap up in around May 2010, with a release sometime in 2011, after months of post-production.
Continue reading "Producer Zhang Ji Zhong Embarks on Journey to the West"
Friday, September 11. 2009
-- Don Quixote --  Don Quixote, China's first 3D wuxia film with a runtime of 100 minutes, budgeted at 70m yuan, produced by Filmko, directed by Ah Gan, is expected to begin production in Chang'an later this month.
Professional crews are being hired from US and Germany to help in shooting the live-action film entirely in 3D, as opposed to Yuen Wo Ping's True Legend, scheduled for early 2010 release, in which only action scenes are in 3D. Xiong Xin Xin, who provides the action direction, finds filming of action scenes in 3D to be very challenging.
Towards the end of last month, they have already begun filming the trailer at the cost of 3m yuan, with all 40 shots revolving around a manmade volcano crater measuring 14 square km that took 3 months to build. Guo Tao, Huang Bo, Liu Hua would star in the film. Guo Tao will portray the Chinese version of Don Quixote.
The film will be set against the backdrop of ancient Chang'an, whereby knighthood spirit of the original novel is being altered into a more wuxia-esque kind of chivalry. Beijing Youth Daily
Tuesday, September 8. 2009
 Wu Yue has just finished filming an espionage series 《出生入死》 (Going Through Life and Death Together), where he and his colleagues are dispatched to Chongqing on a covert operation, and after countless battles, they completely neutralise the enemies.
 Wu Yue says his Sept 7, 2009 blog entry that filming in Chongqing was like being in a furnace, to the extent that he hadn't the slightest inkling of how to write cooling. He started to pay attention to healthcare, and has been on a vegetarian diet for quite sometime.
After turning vegetarian, Wu Yue feels that he's getting healthier, fresher and more compassionate, energetic and youthful. He has no problems keeping up with daily martial arts training routine, and he remains as fit as when he was in wushu competition back in those years.
 While dining out with some members of production, Wu Yue bought all the tortoises from the restaurant to prevent them from being slaughtered for meal and set them free in a river on the way back to the set, in turn influencing the production to minimise taking lives.
Recently, there's been some rumours on Wu Yue being cast as Sun Wu Kong in Zhang Ji Zhong's TV remake of Journey to the West, which is beginning production soon. However, both Zhang Ji Zhong and Wu Yue are keeping mum on this matter.
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