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With True Legend's release date drawing nearer, more and more videos and stills from the film are surfacing. The gala premiere will be held in Beijing on January 31, possibly attended by some Hollywood personages. In addition, True Legend, as well as Little Big Soldier, will get a special screening at 60th Berlin International Film Festival in February.

Continue reading "True Legend: More Images, Footages, and Yet More Yuen Wo Ping Pep Talk"

-- Legend of Chen Zhen --
After watching a sample reel and production stills from Legend of Chen Zhen, the producers, being very happy with the results, are increasing the budget by 20m yuan to 120m yuan, for use mainly in post-production, as they intend to hire Hollywood special effects team to give the film a more polished look.

When conceptualising Legend of Chen Zhen, Gordon Chan hoped to do something that has never been done by Chinese directors, but he felt very pressurised after finishing the script, "After having the script written, I dared not direct by myself, so whom should I work with? Andrew Lau and Donnie Yen came to my mind. Even though during the initial meetings, we had very fierce debates over the script and the nature of the character, but it was precisely because of such a tense atmosphere that we quickly developed a great rapport, fast turning it into a very happy collaboration.

"When I first talked to Donnie Yen on this film, he asked me if there was such a need to take such a risk. For the story and the character are all new, and it's a very audacious move. I told him, if we were not enterprising enough, and simply go about shooting a Huo Yuan Jia or Chen Zhen story that everyone is familiar with, we would just be repeating ourselves, it's not creativity and challenge.

"Everyone's doing a pretty good job on this film, but the biggest surprise to me comes from Donnie Yen. In this film, Donnie Yen has yet elevated himself to another level, whether it is drama or action. He is bound to become a superstar in 2010, and be crowned Best Actor at Hong Kong Film Awards the following year.

   

"This film is more drama oriented. We don't have minor brawls strewn all over the film. We are concentrating on a few more important fight scenes."

 

Producer Zhang Zhao says, "The action in this film is rather unusual, it's like Spider-man, going from top to bottom, or going up from below, something like that."

 

Andrew Lau says that they hare having a great time working together on the set, and both he and Donnie Yen are eager to shoot a sequel.  Sina

Video: This is like Spider-man, say the producers  Sohu

It had long been the wish of Sin Kwok Lam, a longtime martial arts practitioner and shrewd businessman and capitalist who is a major player in Hong Kong financial sector and has even published a controversial book on big corporations swallowing up small firms last year, to bring the account of his grandmaster Yip Man to screen, but he couldn't find any filmmakers willing enough to take the risk as Yip Man was little known. Continue reading "And thus, Ip Man, The Legend, is Born"

《西风烈》

Director: Gao Qun Shu

Screenplay: Gao Qun Shu

Cinematography: Du Jie

Art Direction: Xiao Hai Hang

Action & Car Stunts: Nicky Li

Composer: Han Jae Kwon

Principal Photography: Late Oct 2009 to May 2010 (with breaks in between)

Release: September 2010

Cast: Duan Yi Hong, Ni Da Hong, Wu Jing, Zhang Li, Francis Ng, Yu Nan, Charlie Yeung, Xia Yu, He Tie Hong, Ma Guo Wei

Cameos: Ma Su, Wang Shuang Bao, Luo Luo, Ma Zi Han, Biao Zi

 

Plot Synopsis:

On the vast and boundless desolate desert in the Western part of China, Zhang Ning (Xia Yu) and girlfriend Sun Jing (Charlie Yeung) are facing great difficulties staying afloat: on the one hand, four super sleuths are pursing them relentlessly; on the other hand, a pair of male  and female assassins are mercilessly hot on their heels too...

Continue reading "Tempest of The Westerly Winds Information"

-- True Legend --
In True Legend, Andy On takes on the role of a cold, callous, vicious, power-hungry and anaemic-looking Yuan Lie, Zhou Xun's brother, and Zhao Wen Zhuo's god-brother who sells him out. He dabbles in a very dark kungfu, and coupled with his Witch-hazel Jade Armour, which is sewn onto his body, grants him immunity against weapons and normal attacks.

However, the Witch-hazel Jade Armour, specially crafted by a makeup artist from Thailand, was very cumbersome and uncomfortable to be put on, taking 2-3 hours in makeup, and requiring touching up every now and then in between takes, and needs another 1 hour to remove.

Andy On recollects that when he did his first film, Black Mask 2, Yuen Wo Ping was the martial arts director. Yuen Wo Ping was very unsatisfied with his performance in action scenes at that time, often giving him very severe dressing-downs. Andy On says that he wasn't very sensible back then, and really hated Yuen Wo Ping, but in their second collaboration, both had grown out of it, and Andy On had also improved quite a bit.

He was pretty curious about Yuen Wo Ping's nickname as Eighth Master and asked a friend in Hong Kong, if it was because he was the eighth child. His friend told him in Cantonese, eight relates to troublesome. However, he found Yuen Wo Ping to be rather adorable on the set in True Legend.

Andy On learned much from Zhao Wen Zhuo, who gave him tips on protecting himself from injuries when shooting action scenes. And he was very impressed with Zhou Xun's acting, who was able to help him get into his character.

 

Video: Forging Andy On's Armour   Sina