As with the first, Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3 is divided into a few story arcs. In each arc, director Du Xiao is taking great pains in casting, hiring such top veteran martial arts stars as Yuen Wah, Yuen Biao, Gordon Liu from Hong Kong, "I want to let the 8 monks keep fighting from beginning to the end, and their opponents will be these martial arts exponents."
In the first story arc relating to an escort mission commissioned by Emperor Kangxi, Yuen Wah takes on the role of the antagonist Little Zhuge, a brigand leader hired to secure the chest the seven (of the eight) monks - Li Yuan, Xie Miao, Xu Ming Hu, et al - are delivering to Western Regions. While he nearly kills them all, everyone is calling him the most adorable villain.
Yuen Wah relates, "He may be a bad guy, but what he does is very quaint. He is a little foolish, he wants to steal the treasure, but doesn't have the ability, and even leads to his wife death. I try to make this character more lively, but I won't crack jokes on purpose."
Among the actors whom Yuen Wah works with the first time, he is especially fond of the kid Xu Yong Jun, who plays the youngest monk, "This kid is especially interesting, everyday on the set, I'd see the coach coercing him to practise kungfu, reminding me of those days when our mentor was training us. And he'd always be asking why are we always shooting the same scene over and over again. It's quite amusing, since it's his first show."
Yuen Wah says that it's wonderful to be on the desert but doing action scenes can be quite a challenge as the sand tends to give way as you exert yourself, you would sink, so it is very hard to keep your footing, and execute the moves properly. And as age is catching up with him, there are stunts that he could no longer perform or he would risk injuries.
Video: Sohu