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Have had enough of Wing Chun already? Here is something softer for a change: there is a wave of Tai Chi related films in the pipeline. Firstly, there are Stephen Chow's Tai Chi, which is hopeful of beginning production early next year, Tiger Chen's Taichi Tiger, produced by Keanu Reeves, Wu Jing's Way of Tai Chi, which is set in Japan and the script of which has probably been completed for months but is being delayed in favour of a military film, and Yang Zi's Master of Tai Chi, that was announced recently, as well as Wang Bao Qiang's New Master of Tai Chi TV series, that is being choreographed by Tan Qiao.

And despite measures to keep it under wraps, the cat is out of the bag that Jet Li is toying with the idea of producing and starring in period kungfu film film 《耍太极》Doing Tai Chi (tentative) in April 2011, with a year-end/Lunar New Year release. Jet Li often encourages everyone to practise Tai Chi, as he feels that Tai Chi is not only good for health but also a form of self-cultivation. He hopes to have Huayi Brothers producing and hire Feng Xiao Gang as the director.

 

Jet Li even paid a visit to Yang Lu Chan's birthplace in Henan recently to better understand history of Tai Chi. Doing Tai Chi calls for the participation of many young Tai Chi practitioners that will be picked from various wushu schools. Feng Xiao Gang's assistant and a Huayi rep were contacted but they neither confirmed nor denied it, "Not very sure," while Jet Li's assistant said, "I couldn't tell you anything yet, it's too early."  21st Cn

-- A Chinese Odyssey: Tripitaka Subdues Demons --
《大话西游之三藏伏魔》 A Chinese Odyssey: Tripitaka Subdues Demons (tentative), a co-production between Stephen Chow's Bingo Group and China Film Group, is scheduled for production in February 2011. While Stephen Chow is producing the film and writing the script for this prequel, he might not necessarily be appearing in it.

 

Reportedly, Stephen Chow is looking into hiring 72 actors, young, old, male, female, and even foreigners such as Will Smith and Jaden Smith, for the 72 transformations of Sun Wu Kong, while his original self might be played by Ruan Jing Tian, and Maggie Cheung is being approached for Queen Mother. 

 

However, director Kwok Chi Kin, who has to push back King of Comedy 2 to work on this fantasy comedy, that has been in pre-production for three years, is not revealing names right now, "It's Stephen Chow who's negotiating with the celebrities, I'm merely awaiting his notification, but there are indeed some big-time Hollywood and Chinese stars on my initial cast list."

 

Inspired by A Journey to the West, A Chinese Odyssey: Tripitaka Subdues Demons revolves around Tripitaka and Sun Wu Kong in their youths, how they become acquainted with each other and the beginning of their journey westwards to acquire sutras from India.  QQ, Southern Metropolis Daily

-- Tai Chi --
Stephen Chow has not done any films since 2008. While he was invited to play Kato in Hollywood film, they soon parted ways due to creative differences. And now, it seems that Stephen Chow is ready to make another venture into Hollywood with 《太极》 Tai Chi (tentative) that he would be directing and starring in. Budgeted at US$60m, the film, co-produced by China Film and an independent US studio, also stars Jack Black and Anne Hathaway. 
 
Based loosely on Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon, Stephen Chow plays a Chinese immigrant living in Chinatown, US, working as a dishwasher. The area is overrun by triads, who oppress the Chinese, such as collecting protection fees from the restaurant Stephen Chow is working at. Stephen Chow, who is actually a Tai Chi master living in anonymity, is compelled to set things right and teach the triad members a lesson they'll never forget. The Chinese can finally live in peace and they all come to seek tutelage under Stephen Chow, beseeching him to set up a martial arts school and propagate Tai Chi.
 
Reportedly, Stephen Chow has hired a teacher to teach him English as the entire film is in English, and also to facilitate communications with Western actors. However, when asked about the project, Stephen Chow declines comment, "At this stage, I have nothing to say on this."
 
Tai Chi is slated for production in June. While there was some casting news on King of Comedy 2, Stephen Chow may not necessarily be involved directly in the film. Stephen Chow would also be producing Hail the Judge remake later this year.   Information Times 

 As the martial arts director for Wong Kar Wai's The Great Master, what do you think of Ip Man trend?
 Yuen Wo Ping: It might bring back the kungfu film wave, when there are so many Ip Man related films. Actually, the first was Wong Kar Wai, he talked about it for years, but only started shooting now. They have already finished filming Ip Man 2, yet he hadn't even started. I have to hand it to him, such patience, taking such a long time to do the preparation. I don't dawdle, dawdling grinds people to death. Continue reading "Yuen Wo Ping on Ip Man Trend and Those He Has Worked With"

Light-Transcending Pandora's Box is currently undergoing production in Guangzhou (video) and, despite some similarities, director Jeffrey Lau clarifies that he won't repeat what he has done previously: Light-Transcending Pandora's Box is a completely different story from Chinese Odyssey.

 

In fact, it's closer to Eagle Shooting Hero in that it's a laugh-out-loud nonsensical comedy throughout the entire film, with romance being sidelined. Light-Transcending Pandora's Box is a burlesque on Red Cliff, much as what Eagle Shooting Hero is to the original Jin Yong novel.

Continue reading "Light-transcending Pandora's Box: Jeffrey Lau Calls Forth Other Film Characters"

-- On His Majesty's Secret Service --

Production for Wong Jing's period comedy On His Majesty's Secret Service (Forbidden City Cop: Smart Doggie), starring Louis Koo, Barbie Hsu, Fan Siu Wong, Liu Yi Wei, Sandra Ng, Leung Kar Yan, Lam Tse Chong, Sang Wei Lin, Chen Jia Jia, Zheng Yi Tong etc., has just wrapped up. On His Majesty's Secret Service will be out on either July 30 or August 6, with sequels being planned if successful.

Inevitably, comparisons are being drawn to Forbidden City Cop with Stephen Chow. Wong Jing, who wrote the scripts for both, says that the two are completely different, "In the older version, Stephen Chow is a self-assured inventor, but in this one, Louis Koo is one with low self-esteem, and is not confident about his inventions. And we have a Chinese kind of humour here."   Sina
 

   

Continue reading "On His Majesty's Secret Service Wraps"

-- Forbidden City Cop: Smart Dog --
In Forbidden City Cop: Smart Dog, Louis Koo's character, Imperial Guard "Dog", will be somewhat similar to Stephen Chow in the original, where he's more into cranky inventions than martial arts and believes that technology will overcome latter. However, his outlandish contraptions never seem to work and he's often snided by the other Imperial Guards. Continue reading "Quick Look at the Various Roles In Forbidden City Cop: Smart Dog"

Yu Yuan Qi of a Chengdu cultural firm reveals that they're doing a wuxia comedy with Stephen Chow and a Beijing studio. He says that they have reached an initial agreement with The Stars Overseas after a few negotiations with Tin Kai Man, and Tsang Kang Cheung is writing the script for the untitled wuxia comedy.

 

Being concerned about the rebuilding of Sichuan since the devastating earthquake last May, Stephen Chow has always hoped to do something for her. Hence, he agreed to work with Yu Yuan Qi to shoot a wuxia movie showcasing various locales in the region, including Mt Ermei, Leshan Grand Budhha, Mt Qingcheng and Jiuzhaigou, to help boost tourism.

 

Being in scripting phase, the storyline and Stephen Chow's part in the film are kept secret at the moment. The tentative cast include Sammo Hung and Zhang Yu Qi plus other artistes from The Star Overseas, as well as two important female roles that might be selected from Sichuan. The film, with an estimated budget of over 100m yuan, is expected to begin production at the end of the year or in early 2010 once Stephen Chow is happy with the script.  EastDay

-- HK Filmart 2008 --

Hollywood Reporter is on scene to cover this year's Hong Kong Film Mart. The first 2 days include interviews with Stephen Chow, Ching Siu Tung, a look at HK visual effects industry, the upcoming Storm Riders 2, review of An Empress and The Warriors, the release of Shaw Brothers titles on Blu-ray...

CJ7

 

Straits Times

6 Feb 2008, Boon Cheng

 

 

Comic Relief

 

Stephen Chow conquered the East - and West - with his nonsensical humour in Kungfu Hustle. Will he have the last laugh for taking risks in his new family-oriented film?

 

Never work with children or dogs, goes the old showbiz saying. Comedy king Stephen Chow Sing Chi works with both in his latest film, CJ7, which opens here tomorrow. But neither the child star nor canine character reared their heads at his press conference here earlier this week. Instead, the director-actor shared the limelight with Chinese starlet Kitty Zhang Yu Qi, in the process dispelling rumours of a rift between the two.

Continue reading "Stephen Chow's Play: CJ7"

-- China Film Group to Co-produce Hollywood Action Films --

China Film Group announces that it's currently in talks to collaborate with Hollywood studios on three movies. The first plans on getting Will Smith and either Stephen Chow or Jackie Chan on board, with either of the latter playing a Chinese stuntman who changes the life of a withdrawn American kid. The kid would be played by Will Smith's son while he may take on a villainous role.

The second is Taichi Tiger, a project planned by Keanu Reeves to fulfill the wish of Tiger Chen. He'll play a supporting role while Tiger Chen the protagonist. Keanu Reeves, accompanied by Tiger Chen, visited Sichuan recently for location scouting.

The third is Disney's remake of Snow White, whose cast is so far unconfirmed, though some names have been mentioned. Yangcheng Evening News

-- Yip Man vs Yip Man --

Wong Kar Wai announced a project on Bruce Lee's master Yip Man, a legendary practitioner of Wing Chun, 5 years back, with Tony Leung being cast as Yip Man. The project, tentatively called Grandmaster, traces Yip Man from leaving his hometown of Foshan in China's Guangdong province to teach Wing Chun in Hong Kong, to taking Bruce Lee as a disciple when he was in his 60s. Tony Leung has already started learning Wing Chun for the role. However, so far, there has been no sign of the film beginning production.

 

Now, another studio, Mandarin Films, is also planning to make a biopic based on the same person, with Donnie Yen being invited to play Yip Man. Raymond Wong confirms that Mandarin Films has just decided to shoot this movie and is in initial stage of production, gathering information on the life of Yip Man, and in coming up with a script. Raymond Wong says that there won't be any conflict of interests between Wong Kar Wai's Grandmaster and his version for they would be taking a different approach. The main focus of Mandarin Films version would be martial arts.

 

Donnie Yen whose schedule is tightly packed, has not confirmed his role. He's still considering about it as, among other reasons, Flash Point has taxed him physically. 10 years back, Jeff Lau teamed up with Corey Yuen to bring the story of Yip Man on the screen, with Donnie Yen as Yip Man and Stephen Chow as Bruce Lee. Donnie Yen had signed the contract and received part of the acting fee. However, the studio folded resulting in the project being abandoned.  Information Times, Straits Times