Wu-Jing.org - The Happenings

A Rising New Wushu Star by the Yellow River - Li Yuan

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:35:27 -0400

Born in 1982 in a village in Dongming district, Shandong, Li Yuan is the youngest among his siblings of 3 brothers, 2 sisters. His father Li Chun Sheng is a martial arts fanatic, with deep foundation in Plum Blossom Fist and Western Boxing.

Under his father's influence, Li Yuan and his three elder brothers began training in martial arts since young. Eventually, his 2nd brother Li Bing Lei and he walked on the wushu path, becoming professional wushu practitioners.
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Wushu the Film Characters and Cast

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:32:04 -0400

Li Kui (Sammo Hung)
40, widower. Has been researching Sanda for many years, the characteristics of his martial arts are countering movement with stillness, countering power with gentleness. The father of Li Yi and Li Er. A coach at Yonghua Wushu School, the alma mater of he, his wife and his wife's good friend Zhang Ting.
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Wong Jing to Direct Future Cops Next Month

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:57:00 -0400

-- Future Cops --

Director Wong Jing is teaming up with martial arts choreographer Ching Siu Tung on a loose remake of Future Cops, produced by Tsai Sung Lin. Future Cops (tentative) is budgeted at 150m yuan and Andy Lau and Barbie Hsu are playing leads. Andy Lau agrees to joining only after the script went through 19 revisions, and also picks Barbie Hsu, who showed excellent performance in Connected, as his co-star.

Andy Lau was interviewed by Barbie Hsu sometime back, and thought that they would have great chemistry together. It's like a dream come true for Barbie Hsu to work with her idol. Andy Lau reprises his role as a cop from 2085 who accidentally returns to 2010, and teams up with a female cop Barbie Hsu to bust a criminal organisation.

Ching Siu Tung has been working on choreographing the film since the closing ceremony of Beijing Olympics, coming up with exotic moves for Andy Lau and Barbie Hsu.

Filming begins next month and is expected to be completed by end of the year, after which post-production, including special effects, will be carried out. They're planning to go to exotic locales like Dubai to do location filming. Future Cops is slated for year end release in 2009. Sina

Tsui Hark Ponders Over Doing New Dragon Inn or Di Ren Jie First

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:19:57 -0400

Tsui Hark, accompanied by Shi Nan Sun, was at 13th Pusan International Film Festival on October 5 to give a talk "My Life, My Cinema". His cosmopolitan comedy She Ain't Mean/All About Women was to premiere worldwide at the festival but had to be withdrawn at the last minute as its approval from Mainland censors was delayed owing to National Day holiday.

To Tsui Hark, a filmmaker should keep exploring all kinds of possibilities, and hence he has been experimenting with different kinds of films such as Legend of Zu, Missing, and She Ain't Mean, rather than being limited to one genre, and trying out new technology and filming equipment. A filmmaker should experiment, reinvent, and find their own niche.

Tsui Hark directed Missing and She Ain't Mean for he believes that Mainland film industry needs more variety as most are just following the trend, which might lead to some awkward situations and saturation of the market.

Tsui Hark does have the intention of doing a remake of New Dragon Inn, which was announced several years back. However, as his other movie Di Ren Jie/Judge Dee is set to begin production next April, he is still debating if he should go ahead with New Dragon Inn due to time constraints. And the talented director has just completed the script of another comedy. EastDay

Painted Blue: Vicky Zhao Wei Gets Depressed

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:03:45 -0400

During the filming of Painted Skin in winter, the director and crew ignored the Chinese actress to help her get into character.

Chinese actress Vicki Zhao had a miserable, really miserable winter in China late last year. The usually vivacious Zhao had been cast in the Hong Kong fantasy action film Painted Skin, as Peirong, the despairing wife of a general (Chen Kun) bewitched by a demonic temptress (Zhou Xun).
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Ip Man Official Site Launches

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:57:16 -0400

-- Ip Man --

Ip Man official site has been launched, currently available only in Chinese, with English version coming soon. As you move the cursor over the menu, Donnie Yen performs different Wing Chun moves on the wooden dummy.

Right now, only the following are active: a press conference + behind-the-scenes footage, a characters section (containing major spoilers) with mini-preview clips, and gallery.

Film Fighting Techniques

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:57:10 -0400

Here's a highly insightful and interesting article The Art of Fighting, as pointed out by Celina Jade:

Perhaps the greatest misconception in the martial arts world today is the more powerful and skilled a fighter becomes the greater are his chances for rivaling Bruce Lee. With all the facts pushed aside, this is not altogether illogical: if a man masters the art of kicking and punching at high speed, and can control with minute precision his own power, why shouldn't he be cut out for the movies? If we ignore minor details--like his inability to act his way out of a sopping wet paper bag--and pay close attention to the more technical aspects of filmmaking, we'll soon see why all his fighting skills are actually a handicap for an acting career.

Fighting on flim requires an entirely new type of martial skill which is completely foreign to both those practicing in the dojo and those pounding each other on the ring. It can be harder to learn this type of skill than to spot an opening in an opponent's tight defense and drive home a shattering blow. For movies you must not only be an expert martial artist, but also dance to a choreographer's tune, and look better than anyone else in the process! Ray Horan >>More<<

Fan Siu Wong in Ip Man

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:12:49 -0400

-- 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.

Donnie Yen Shows His Whimsical Side in Painted Skin

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:12:47 -0400

-- Painted Skin --

As Painted Skin, directed by Gordan Chan, opens in theatres today, Donnie Yen gets interviewed by The Star, telling those looking to see him in action to wait for his next film (Ip Man):

“I’ve never had a chance to really show that I can be funny as well [except for Mismatched Couple, Drunken Tai Chi]. No director in Hong Kong has ever dared to give me a role like this, one that allows the audience the chance to see another side of Donnie Yen - the playful and happy side of me,” he said. “This time around, the director, whom I’ve known for a long time now, decided that we should try and show audiences my playful side.”

“Frankly speaking, this (Painted Skin) was more of an experiment for me. I wanted to test whether the audience could accept me in a role like that. I’ve already established myself as a martial arts actor after all these years, so I will still continue to do those kinds of movies.”

“As an actor, I must be able to respect my character first, before talking about how much money I’ll get. Of course, if you gave me a lot of money to do something, then I might consider it but I will always try to keep to my principles, and choose characters that mean a lot to me. I don’t think it’s worth doing a role that means nothing to me or one that does not have a positive message on society in general.”

The Other Side of Wushu

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:03:35 -0400

Producer Jackie Chan says:

It's an honour to work with action actors. The sense of honour, the selfless contributions, the camaraderie between martial artists mean much to me.

At the same time, nurturing wushu elites of the new generation, creating new wave kungfu are very important to me as well. And so, Wushu, which explores the story of Chinese wushu and Sanda, enlists new blood.

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Celina Jade on the Interesting and Painful Moments in Legendary Assassin

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:35:22 -0400

-- 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 International Trailer

nospam@example.com (Scoops Guild) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:33:13 -0400

-- 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...