TV News

-- Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3 --

As the ultimate villain in Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3: Heroes of the Great Desert, Sammo Hung is playing general Wan Shou Shan from the fallen Ming Dynasty who spends his entire life going against the Manchu empire. Sun Hui Ning describes that while their collaboration was rather short, everyone was able to feel the prowess of Sammo Hung, imparting such domineering presence worthy of a general of Xilu Society, he is indeed an actor with real strength.

 

Wan Shou Shan is extremely cunning, scheming, devious and ruthless, and would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, even at the expense of the lives of his children. He wields great military powers, and is responsible for the death of the Ming prince, thus becoming the only remnant Ming loyalist in power to reclaim the throne.

 

Time and again, he sends assassins after the present ruler Emperor Kangxi. Emperor Kangxi, who wishes for peace and prosperity of the nation, doesn't wish to take up arms, and intends to grant amnesty and recruit him instead, but Wan Shou Shan would rather perish than yield to the court, and the uprising continues...  Sohu

-- Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3 --

After over 7 months of intensive and gruelling filming, Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3: Heroes of the Great Desert, directed by Du Xiao, has successfully wrapped up in late April 2010. Following the tradition of Legend of Shaolin Kungfu series, the final instalment features various martial artists as Shaolin monks, including Li Yuan, Xu Peng Jun, Xie Miao, (who was simultaneously filming a kungfu comedy Fist Club 《拳馆》 with Kou Zhan Wen in April), Xu Ming Hu, Cao Jun, etc.

 

Veteran martial artists like Yuen Wah, Gordon Liu, Xu Xiang Dong, Sammo Hung, etc are specially hired to take on villainous roles, to ensure that both sides are evenly matched, rewarding the audiences with numerous authentic and intricate fights. Sammo Hung is playing the final villain Wan Shou Shan. In addition, veteran actor Bao Guo An, the wonderful abbot from the first instalment, is back, by popular demand. Rounding up the cast are Sun Hui Ning, Yuuki Moami, Ji Chun Hua and Wang Zhi Gang.

Here are some pics from the blogs of Xu Ming Hu, Xie Miao, Li Yuan and Xu Peng Jun:

Continue reading "It's a Wrap for Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3"

Sina has released yet another bunch of stills from True Legend, this time containing a few images of Gordon Liu. Gordon Liu plays the role of Whitebeard, a mischievous elderly who is a doyen of martial arts. Seeing through Zhao Wen Zhuo's heart, he helps him gain deeper understanding of the essence of martial arts, pushing him to new heights. 

 

Continue reading "Gordon Liu in True Legend and Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3"

-- Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3 --
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." Continue reading "Yuen Wah Goes Against The Monks in Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3"

--  Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3 --
Li Yuan is playing one of the 8 main Shaolin monks in Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3: Heroes of the Great Desert. He's also the most highly skilled among the 8, and is especially proficient in unarmed combat.

Li Yuan says, "The 2nd senior I'm playing is very similar to the first, but he's more determined, and also a bit more affectionate. To me, it's not merely a roundup of Legend of Shaolin Kungfu trilogy, but also my comprehension of the character after four years of filming, as well as a summing up of my understanding of kungfu productions.

Continue reading "Li Yuan, the Most Powerful Shaolin Disciple in Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3"

Yuen Wah is playing Little Zhuge, one who is highly skilled, and also a very humorous person. Yuen Wah says that he has a sunny disposition, and he doesn't let anything unhappy affects him. As such, he hopes to cheers up the audience with this character. Yuen Wah describes his character as a minor villain, one who often overrates himself and does many foolish things.

Continue reading "Meeting Yuen Wah and Ji Chun Hua On Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 3: Heroes of the Great Desert"

-- Journey to the West --

Some shots of Tripitaka, Monkey King, Pigsy, Sandy, Dragon Prince, and Bull Demon King from Sina

 

-- 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

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"

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"

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.

-- New Master of Tai Chi --
Recently, Huayi Brothers announced their 15 upcoming productions, one of which was kungfu comedy 《新太极宗师》 New Master of Tai Chi (tentative) TV series, which would possibly be directed by Cheung Sing Yim, and martial arts choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping, along with Tan Qiao. Wang Bao Qiang, who trained at Shaolin Temple when young, and Lee Min Ho are set to star.

Due to polar differences, Gu family's only son Ji Wu and adopted son Bao Qiang make different choices on their paths of life. While martial arts fanatic Bao Qiang doesn't possess exceptional talent, he still becomes of great master of Tai Chi through perseverance and gradual realisation. While romance obsessed Ji Wu is very intelligent, he enters the wrong path and ends up becoming a beggar.