Wu-Jing.org

-- Legendary Assassin --

Wu Jing is soon making his directorial debut with an action thriller Legendary Assassin (or Wolf Fangs in Chinese), which he's co-directing with Nicky Li Chung Chi. The film has been picked up for worldwide distribution by Arclight Films' Asian label Easternlight Films at Filmart. The deal, which excludes Hong Kong and China, is the first between Easternlight and Paco Wong's production company Gold Label Pictures from Hong Kong.

Wu Jing also heads the cast of the $HK30m film along with Alex Fong, newcomer Celina Jade, Sammy Leong and a few martial artists (whose names are not available at this time). This marks the screen debut of the singer-songwriter-model Celina Jade, who appears to have some trainings in Tae Kwon Do.

Set in a remote island, the story revolves around a small-time cop investigating a murder with a mysterious martial arts master as chief suspect. Legendary Assassin is due for filming soon, with an expected year-end release.

Wu Jing has starred in Fatal Contact, SPL and the recent Fatal Move, which have all been acquired by Easternlight previously.  Screen Daily

-- Fatal Move --

A 10-minute Fatal Move behind-the-scenes footage is up at Youku.

As of March 10, Fatal Move has grossed HK$4.27m over 12 days in Hong Kong theatres. It topped the boxoffice on its opening weekend, but dropped to the third spot last weekend, with the opening of 10,000BC (HK$6.8m) and Shamo(HK$1.49m).  Netvigator

Bey Logan's Blog has been updated recently with a number of articles on recent martial arts movies as well as martial arts legends. Firstly, there are interviews with filmmaker, martial arts director, Hung-gar master Liu Chia Liang, a Hung Gar legend Lam Cho, and a trip down the memory lane with Golden Harvest's Raymond Chow.

Next up is an audio commentary session with Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue and Andy On for Dragon Dynasty's Invisible Target DVD, a brief moment with Sammo Hung at Fatal Move Premiere, and, in conjunction with the production of Mandarin Film's "Yip Man", directed by Wilson Yip, action directed by Sammo Hung and starring Donnie Yen, takes a look at Wing Chun lineage and related films.

As a side note, Coming Soon interviews Donnie Yen as Flash Point gets limited release in US this week.

-- Interview: Dennis Law on Fatal Move --

Patience is a virtue for the steady moving director of Fatal Move.
Like many others with a passion for the movies, Dennis Law chose to study filmmaking at university. On his return to Hong Kong he decided to bide his time, rather than try to immediately put into practice what he had learnt at film school in Los Angeles. In an interview with bc, the one time chairman and executive director of Milkyway Image talked about having realized that, unlike those – especially actresses in Chinese cinema – who work before the lens, “There is no age limit for a director or anybody who works behind the camera.”

Consequently, Law, who frankly describes himself as “a very cautious person”, felt no rush to make films and was, instead, content to wait for the right chance and right person to come along. “Then,” he continued, “because life had a different [plan] for me, I started working in real estate.” All the while, however, “I never gave up my chance to meet film people, to get to know them and try to seek some opportunity to learn or invest,” even though he spent the next decade making his mark in the property industry. BC Magazine >>More<<

-- Fatal Move --

The gala premiere of Fatal Move on Feb 26 was attended by director Dennis Law, producer Charles Heung and his son Jacky Heung, most of the cast members including Sammo Hung, Simon Yam, Ken Lo, Wu Jing, Maggie Shiu, Tien Niu, Carisa Yan, Lau Kam Ling, etc.

Simon Yam appears especially excited. He greets the audiences effusively and also provides autographs prodigiously. He says that at Berlin Film Festival, the film was sold to an India distributor and he was invited to do promotions in India in May.

Sammo Hung appears quieter and more stoic, and he doesn't forget to promote the younger generations. He says that Wu Jing is one with very bright future, but timing is not favourable due to lack of martial arts films being produced. Sammo Hung hopes that, given his skills, Wu Jing would carve out a niche for himself in the film industry.  

Video: Sina, Sohu | More photos: Tom, QQ, Mop

-- Fatal Move --

A brief look at filming of the exchange of metal pole and sword between Sammo Hung and Wu Jing, some other scenes and brief notes from the director, Sammo Hung and Wu Jing may be viewed at Youtube, courtesy of WuJing.hk

-- Fatal Move --

In a bid to bringing freshness to the audience and to re-invigorate the market, director Dennis Law makes the HK$20m Fatal Move an action-packed film that is full of extreme violence and gore, to the extent that it receives a Category 3 rating in Hong Kong. And by the same token, it won't be released in Mainland theatres as Dennis Law refuses to compromise by editing a tamer version that conforms to their strict censorship. 

Dennis Law instead sets his sights on the Western market, with an assembly of cast familiar to them - Sammo Hung, Ken Lo, Simon Yam, Danny Lee, where Chinese martial arts film DVDs are selling very well. He believes that the martial arts scenes are the strongest asset of Fatal Move, in particular, the major weapon fight scene between Sammo Hung and Wu Jing.

-- Wolf Fangs --

Wu Jing's next film is expected to begin production in middle of March. The film, tentatively titled 《狼牙》 (Wolf Teeth), tells the tale of an assassin. The production would try to get theatrical release in Mainland, as opposed to the Category III rated Fatal Move, which can only be released on home video there.

Wu Jing will be in Hong Kong on February 20 to take part in Gold Label Management's Lunar New Year celebration, and will be attending Fatal Move's gala premiere on February 26. Wu Jing's Management

-- Wu Jing's Upcoming Project in 2008 --

During a chat with his fans on Dec 23rd, Wu Jing says that he's very busy working on his next project right now. He reveals that it should begin production in Hong Kong in around March 2008 or so. The martial arts sequences are expected to be extremely "rigorous". However, he says it is not for certain that he'd be directing. He'd be working with Nicky Li. The cast has not been confirmed yet. But, basically, those coming into contact with him must be able to fight, as they'd be doing very demanding action scenes.

However, it's not all plain-sailing as the script is not up to their expectations. They often hold meetings, collect information, watch matches, and might possibly incorporate some Mixed Martial Arts elements. So, sometimes, they'd feel mentally exhausted. They intend to do something big, and hope it'd be able to be released in Mainland and Hong Kong at the same time. As such, they'd have to make the film not too violent as to be rejected by Mainland censors. They're occupied with all these. Let's hope they iron out all wrinkles on the script by end of February so that production may begin on schedule.

-- Wu Jing's Future Works and Fatal Move --

After attending Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, Paco Wong comforts Wu Jing, telling him not to be discouraged for not winning the award. Wu Jing is not disheartened, saying that it's already a big encouragement to be nominated, a form of confirmation to his acting. So, he's already very happy. At least, his effort and diligence has not gone down the drain.

In the recent years, Wu Jing has stood out in action films, gaining attention from within and without Mainland, and has also been approached by US studios occasionally. Wu Jing has been working hard on improving his command of English, so that when the right opportunity comes knocking, he'd not miss it.

His manager Paco Wong says that he'd be producing a martial arts film next year and Wu Jing would not only be starring in it, but he'd also let Wu Jing be the director, so that he can show his understanding and prowess of wushu on the silver screen.

Global Chinese Kungfu Jubilee 2007

Sohu, 13 October 2007

Global Chinese Kungfu Jubilee, organised by Shenzhen Satellite TV, Shaolin Culture, TVB, China Wushu Association, was held at Shenzhen Bao-an Stadium on the October 12 evening and was graced by various luminaries in the film industry who's involved in martial arts productions. The evening kicked off with red carpet walk by Jackie Chan, wuxia novelist Jin Yong, Liu Chia Liang, Ching Siu Ting. Cheung Sing Yim, Peter Pau, Yuen Biao, Cheng Pei Pei, Anthena Chu, Jay Leung, Josie Ho, David Chiang, Gordon Liu, Wu Jing, Tony Jaa, Yasuaki Kurata etc.