Wu-Jing.org

Owing to low temperature and onslaughts of tempest, filming progress of Legendary Four: Tempest of the Westerly Winds, directed by Gao Qun Shu, choreographed by Nicky Li, is stymied. But, according to Lang Chen on his blog, the film should be wrapping up pretty soon.

Lang Chen, who was commissioned by Wu Jing to write Way of Tai Chi, is personally planning another work 《战士》 Warrior (tentative) for Wu Jing. He's writing the script with Wu Jing in mind and he would also be directing, though it is still quite far off before production begins.

He says that he mentions Wu Jing very often on his blog because he likes Wu Jing very much, for his simplicity, for his dedication to filmmaking, for the vulnerabilities and sensitivities within his heart.

It was when he first talked to him, for a few hours, that changed the way he looked at Wu Jing, who was but a kungfu star to him, a sunny person, and one with pride. When chatting, it is inevitable to gossip, to speak ill of others, yet in those few fours of talk, any word that came from Wu Jing's mouth did not involve anything negative about anyone.

And that is the type of people Lang Chen respects and adores. "Wu Jing is an actor, and has also become a director, I'm a director, and also a script writer, so, in our interaction, our topics mostly revolve around those things we that shared most passions on. He had his own views, and in fact, he had never-ending streams of ideas. Being in the industry of over 10 years, working till he's all burned out, was perhaps what he would desire most. I would augment his ideas, and also got rectified by him, I brought out new ideas... and the time passed quickly."

-- Bad Blood --
Bad Blood official site has been launched officially. This upcoming action film directed by Dennis Law is about internecine conflicts among the triad members following the death of their boss.

Trailer isn't ready yet but there's a 4:38 minutes making-of which shows highly intense and complex martial arts sequences being done by the various cast-members Jiang Lu Xia, Ken Lo, Xiong Xin Xin, Andy On and Bernice Liu, under the choreography of Nicky Li who seems to have scored a hit this time.

Legendary Assassin, directorial debut of Wu Jing and Nicky Li, will be released on DVD on January 22. The cast of the action film includes Wu Jing, Celina Jade, Aoyama Noriko, Kou Zhan Wen, Kara Hui, Alex Fong, Lam Suet, Ken Lo, etc.

Wu Jing stars as a cool and lethal hitman with a heart of gold being marooned on an outlying island due to an incoming typhoon and befriends a small-time cop Celina Jade. Meanwhile, the Aoyama Noriko, wife of the crime boss Kou Zhan Wen, is out for vengeance as well as wanting to recover his corpse after discovering he was killed on the island, with his head missing. Preorder at YesAsia.

-- Legendary Assassin --

Following Legendary Assassin's Beijing premiere, Nicky Li, Wu Jing, Celina Jade and Paco Wong proceeded to its premiere screenings in other Chinese cities including Nanchang, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc. In Hong Kong, they were joined in by Ken Lo, various Gold Label artistes Ronald Cheng, Alex Fong, Stephy Tang, etc. while Celina Jade sang the theme song on the stage.

-- Legendary Assassin --

Legendary Assassin premiered in Beijing on November 28. The main team, including  Paco Wong, Nicky Li, Wu Jing, Celina Jade, went to several cinemas to meet the audience and gave a brief talk. So far, feedbacks on the film have been pretty encouraging, not just on action, but also on drama, with Wu Jing and Celina Jade being commended on their acting, and the soundtrack and sound effects.

On November 20, Nicky Li, Wu Jing and Celina Jade were invited for a chat hosted by Sina, sharing the joys and pains on the set of Legendary Assassin.

The subjects brought up include the frustrations of waiting passively for chances in Hong Kong, the reasons for opting for a simple story, their approach to action, preconceived notions on action stars' acting, one's respect to the profession, the tricks to crying, the difficulties of working with the giant wrestler, injuries and box office outlook.

Legendary Assassin opens in cinemas on December 10.

In conjunction with next month's upcoming release of Legendary Assassin, directed by Nicky Li and Wu Jing, the informative 136-page Legendary Assassin Graphic Novel, essentially a coffee table book in Chinese containing multiple photos of the movie in front of and off-camera, and includes interview with the director, has been launched, and is now on sale at YesAsia.

At a Legendary Assassin press conference in Beijing, Wu Jing reveals that he'd direct two to three more films: a period movie, a modern actioner, and a comedy, after which he'd step down as a director and just be an actor. And these plans are close to a state of being realised.

He won't be affected by Legendary Assassin's box office takings, which the distributor Mei Ah estimates to be around 60m yuan. If the film doesn't do well enough and no one is willing to finance his movies, he will invest himself.

Wu Jing says that being a director is an important step in his career, and is very grateful to his manager Paco Wong for giving him such a chance. Things went on very smoothly for his directorial debut with Nicky Li.

But Wu Jing next step would be "ditching" his partner, and directing independently. He is ready to move on, returning to that which launched his film career and in which he excels: directing a period martial arts film with Tai Chi as the main theme. The script is almost ready, and it may perhaps let everyone get to know martial arts in a different light. It involves not only Tai Chi handwork, but also weaponry such as Taichi Sword.

Should you haven't already seen this little gem, you're strongly encouraged to get Master of Tai Chi, a milestone in martial arts productions.

Legendary Assassin will hold its premiere, to be attended by Nicky Li, Wu Jing, Celina Jade, etc., in Beijing on November 28. Sina, MTime

-- Legendary Assassin --
10 minutes Legendary Assassin behind-the-scenes: Sina
 

See also Legendary Assassin site @ Sina

-- Legendary Assassin --

To promote Legendary Assassin, which opens in China on December 5, Wu Jing and Celina Jade arrived in Guangzhou on October 30 to do publicity.

Speaking to the press, Wu Jing says that it's not until after being a director did he understand the constraints and difficulties faced when doing martial arts films due to budget. However, he is not giving himself pressure regarding the film's box office takings, and he has no intention of seeking overnight fame through Legendary Assassin. He leaves the criticisms to the audience, and wishes to see how far he can go with this step.

-- Legendary Assassin --
In one scene, shot in a rural village in Sai Kung, Wu Jing gets into a brawl with the giant wrestler Jiang Bao Cheng. Due to the sweltering weather, everyone was perspiring even before the camera rolled. But Wu Jing remained unaffected by the weather, and kept conferring with Nicky Li on the details of this scene.

To shoot this scene, Wu Jing had been going through the moves with Jiang Bao Cheng, and to achieve best results and create more impact, after looking at the playback, he would keep on discussing with Nicky Li and working out various ways of fighting. For each action, Wu Jing would only be satisfied after having done many takes. Jiang Bao Cheng, whose costume, wet with sweat, had long dried up, ran out of patient and bellowed, "So hot, so tiring."

Wu Jing immediately called Jiang Bao Cheng over to watch the playback together. It was only then do we see a big smile on the redoubtable giant's face. Even Paco Wong, who visited the set, was lavishing praises after seeing the playback.  HK Headline

Legendary Assassin, a HK$31m film directed by Nicky Li and Wu Jing, with a cast including Wu Jing, Celina Jade, Kou Zhan Wen, Alex Fong Lik Sun, Aoyama Noriko, Jiang Bao Cheng, Sammy Leung, Lam Suet, Shui Hung Hui, Mark Cheng, Ronald Cheng, etc. was introduced at Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival in Dalian, Liaoning on September 11 afternoon.