Wu-Jing.org

 -- Tai Chi and Hollywood Project --

Zhao Wen Zhuo says that it's by chance that he got to work with TVB on "Tai Chi", "Once, in Beijing, I met producer Tommy Leung. We talked about Tai Chi, and he had the intention to shoot a drama serial concerning it. Later, he showed me the synopsis. Perhaps it's because I have been training in Taichi since young, I was very keen."

He says that after having read the entire script, he was happy with it, saying that the story was well written and within logic. And it would also introduce Tai Chi to the audience. Perhaps, it's the dreams of countless actors to enter Hollywood, and now, Zhao Wen Zhuo gets such a chance. He says that the movie would begin production in Beijing in September. It's a martial arts movie and he'd be playing the lead role. And he has spent over a year in US studying English to prepare himself.

Zhao Wen Zhuo has already settled down, having married Mainland actress/Peking Opera performer Zhang Dan Lu, who now take cares of the family fulltime, in the previous year. He says that having a family gives him a motivation, that he can only succeed, and cannot afford failures. Currently, Zhao Wen Zhuo has two kids, one son and one daughter.  67.com

-- Tai Chi --

One of TVB's heavyweight dramas of the year, Tai Chi, shot in HD in exotic locales of Yunnan, begins airing on HK TVB Jade station on February 25. While this isn't Zhao Wen Zhuo's final work, he says that he'd be focusing his career on the film industry after Tai Chi, and he'd also work more behind the camera.

Zhao Wen Zhuo, who's also behind the martial arts choreography of Tai Chi TV series, hopes to share his inference and insights on martial arts through Tai Chi, "I hope to show the audience what Taichi is, many people do not understand it very well, such as whether Taichi is an effective means of combat. Taichi is a superior internal style of martial arts, many wushu techniques, such as joint-locks were derived from Taichi. Above all, it's a form of philosophy, an approach to life, to survival."  Nanfang Daily

Plot: Orphan Wu Ma (Zhao Wen Zhuo) grows up in the mountain, being adopted by his mentor who teaches him Tai Chi. Being abandoned by his parents, he's filled with animosity towards the world. To rid Wu Ma of his feelings of inequities and resentment, his mentor sacrifices himself.

To repay his mentor, and to fulfil his father's wish to glorify wushu, Wu Ma seeks the highest level of attainment in Tai Chi. He challenges the strongest sect's leader Duan Xiao Xing (Raymond Lam) to a duel, only to be defeated. So, he sees defeating Duan Xiao Xing as his ultimate goal in life. Moreover, because of a girl and an ambitious Southern exponent Lu Qiu Ao (Kwok Jing Hung), the two inevitably get into more fights.

And the same time, the gap between Wu Ma and his confidante Sang Qing (Melissa Ng) widens as he walks closer towards achieving his goal.  Sina

-- 8 Min Tai Chi Trailer --

Here's a longer trailer of Zhao Wen Zhuo's Tai Chi at Youtube.

The series is going to be released early next year.

-- Taichi Trailer --

The trailer to Zhao Wen Zhuo's Taichi has been posted at YouTube.

--  Taichi --

After around 5 months of filming, TVB's 《太极》 Tai Chi TV series, starring Zhao Wen Zhuo, Raymond Lam, Myolie Wu, Melissa Ng and Lau Siu Ming, has just wrapped up. It's now in post-production in Beijing. TVB is very happy with Zhao Wen Zhuo's performance in the series and has invited him to dub his own character.

Besides playing the lead role, Zhao Wen Zhuo also served as the martial arts adviser, coming up with various exciting action scenes that avoid the use of wires and special effects, returning to the roots of kungfu, bringing out the most realistic wushu moves and wushu culture to the audience.

Taichi is a form of martial arts that Zhao Wen Zhuo specialises in. Since young, he has come into contact with the different schools of Taichi. Zhao Wen Zhuo elaborates that while each school has its own unique qualities, their philosophies remain the same. The most important aspect of Taichi  is the cultivation of the body and mind rather than the moves, steps, and stances.

With the successes of such action stars Jet Li and Jackie Chan abroad, foreign studios are also starting to take notice of Zhao Wen Zhuo, inviting him to join their productions. Zhao Wen Zhuo, who also has the intention of showing his martial arts ability to the West, is, after some negotiations, gearing up to enter the foreign market. The choice of studio, script, director and crew for his international blockbuster is in the process of being finalised.  China News

Related Links:

Taichi Zhao Wen Zhuo Interview   Jayne Stars

Taichi Raymond Lam Interview   Jayne Stars

-- Taichi --

Zhao Wen Zhuo, who's currently filming Taichi TV series, produced by TVB, says that he'd be taking a break from period TV series for some time. Zhao Wen Zhuo, who has not done any movies in the past few years due to various reasons, says that he is planning to do a high quality movie this year, his biggest focus for the year.

While Taichi isn't his final work, like Jet Li, Zhao Wen Zhuo, who offered his input on the script, also wishes to draw his conclusive views on kungfu through the series. Zhao Wen Zhuo, who also doubles as martial arts choreographer for the series, hopes to do away with the flowery effects seen too often in most wuxia series nowadays. He defines Taichi series as a return to the roots. He says that Taichi series is some kind of educational work on Taichi which provides an explanation to Taichi, a superior form of internal kungfu. Most importantly, Taichi is also a branch of philosophy, an approach to life. To raise the awareness and provide more thorough understanding of Taichi, Zhao Wen Zhuo and the production looked up various historical references on Taichi, researching the developments of various schools of Taichi, as well as the delivery of each move. As the martial arts director, he hopes all the actors involved in the production would also experience some of the subtle natures of Taichi and that they would pick up some Taichi skills.  Beijing Evening News, Heilongjiang Daily Press

-- Taichi Behind-the-Scenes and Interview Footage --

Video: QQ

-- Taichi TV Series --

Production of Taichi TV series has begun without much fanfare (being a closed set) in January. Following the positive response from their Wing Chun based Real Kung Fu TV series starring Yuen Biao, Leung Kar Yan, Yuen Wah, TVB again engaged another martial arts star to play the leading role of Wu Ma. This time round, it's Zhao Wen Zhuo and apparently, TVB had this series tailor-made for him. Taichi is set in the early 1900s and tells of how Wu Ma, through the practice of Taichi, gains an understanding of the philosophy of using gentleness to counter hard-hitting moves. And all these would not be complete without TVB usual dosage of the protagonist's multiple romantic interests. Other cast members include Raymond Lam and Myolie Wu.  Nanfang News