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《叶问前传》 Ip Man the Prequel (tentative) has begun production in Hong Kong on November 7. Herman Yau is directing this film, produced by Sin Kwok Lam. Ip Chun serves as the film's advisor and will cameo as Yip Man's second mentor Leung Bik. Under invitation from Foshan government, 2/3 of the scenes from Ip Man the Prequel will be shot on location in Foshan, including the original village Ip Man lived in.

Continue reading "Ip Man the Prequel Begins Filming"

Whether it is fuelled by the success Wilson Yip's Ip Man or not, Wing Chun is fast becoming a popular kungfu onscreen, with many Wing Chun-themed movies being produced.

Continue reading "Wing Chun Extends Its Wings Across Chinese Cinema"

 As Ip Man 2 is wrapping up soon, the press was finally granted visit to the set in Songjiang Studio, Shanghai on October 28, when the gripping duel between two of the best martial arts stars Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen was being filmed. Continue reading " Ip Man 2: Sammo Hung Vs Donnie Yen Round 2"

At the pre-production press conference (video) at the famed Shaolin Temple on Mt Song on October 22, it was announced that apart from Emperor Motion Pictures and Shaolin Cultural Communication, China Film Group, Huayi Brothers and Henan TV are also co-producing the kungfu epic, Shaolin, budgeted at close to 200 million yuan. Continue reading "Benny Chan Narrates A New Story of Shaolin"

Recently, Raymond Wong has stepped down as the chairman of Mandarin Films to set up his own film studio which is teaming up with Mainland investors to produce a modern actioner at around HK$150m in mid 2010. The film will be directed by Ringo Lam. Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa are being invited to star in the film and they would have a series of fights.

 

Raymond Wong hopes to unite the two international screen giants despite the high fee of US$3m (HK$23.4m) commanded by Tony Jaa, "I'll talk about the new firm at a later date. It'd be great to have to the two appear in the same film, but I'll only talk about it when things are finalised."

 

Donnie Yen's currently filming Wilson Yip's Ip Man 2 with Sammo Hung, Fan Siu Wong and Huang Xiao Ming.  He recently fainted on the set due to fever and over-exhaustion. He has been discharged from hospital and would resume filming in a day or two.  21cn

 

    

-- Ip Man 2 --
《叶问2:宗师传奇》 Ip Man 2: Legend of Grandmaster held a press conference (video), attended by producer Raymond Wong, director Wilson Yip and the cast, in Foshan on 10 August evening to mark the commencement of the production.   

 

Actual filming will take place on a soundstage in Shanghai the next day and it will have twice the amount of martial arts scenes. The film is due for release next summer.

Continue reading "Ip Man's Legend as a Grandmaster in Hong Kong"

-- Ip Man 2 --
Ip Man 2, directed by Wilson Yip, starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, who also serves as the martial arts director, Kent Cheng, Lynn Hung, Huang Xiao Ming, Fan Siu Wong To Yu Hang, Ashton Chen aka Shi Xiao Long, is beginning production August 10.

Contradicting an earlier news, rather than To Yu Hang, Raymond Wong says that Huang Xiao Ming, non-martial artist, would be playing Yip Man's disciple, King of Hand-talk, Huang Jin, which is based on Yip Man's real-life disciple Wong Shun Leung. Huang Jin is a keen martial artist but his youth and brashness often land him in sticky situations.

The kid Bruce Lee has been narrowed down to two candidates: 10-year-old Jiang Dai Yan from Henan and 12-year-old Pan Run Kang from Heilongjiang but they haven't found an ideal candidate for teen Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee scenes would be pushed to October as they continue the talent hunt.  QQ

Both Wilson Yip's Ip Man 2 and Wong Kar Wai's The Great Master are slated for production next month.

 

Budgeted at 100m yuan, Ip Man 2 traces Yip Man's life as he arrives in Hong Kong. Raymond Wong reveals that Donnie Yen's pay has doubled since the first film, commanding around 15m to 20m yuan. Ip Man 3 is currently in the process of being written, and it will have bigger focus on Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee casting call is concluding soon, and 12-year old 潘润康 Pan Run Kang (video) from Harbin, who not resembles Bruce Lee but is also trained in martial arts, stands a very good chance of playing the child Bruce Lee.

Huang Xiao Ming will join the film as Sammo Hung's disciple, while, this time around, To Yu Hang returns and takes on another role - Donnie Yen's disciple. The dispute between the disciples of Hung Gar and Wing Chun leads to their masters' eventual confrontation.

According to Yip Chun, production of Wong Kar Wai's The Great Master is expected to begin "on schedule", as Tony Leung's arm fracture won't affect or delay filming.

Young Ip Man/Ip Man the Prequel (unrelated), which explores the early parts of Yip Man's life, is expected to begin production in November, with Herman Yau directing, and tentatively, To Yu Hang would be playing the eponymous kungfu master, while Yip Chun would be making his debut as Leung Bik.  Southern Metropolis Daily

-- On His Majesty's Secret Service --

Trailer for On His Majesty's Secret Service is now up on MTime.

The zany comedy directed by Wong Jing stars Louis Koo, Big S Barbie Hsu, Fan Siu Wong, Leung Kar Yan, Liu Yi Wei, Sandra Ng, Law Kar Ying, Chen Jia Jia, Sang Wei Lin, etc.

To play the ambitious eunuch who has been hiding his true abilities all the time and is planning to overthrow the throne, Fan Siu Wong has to act effeminate and also study other films like New Dragon Inn. And here's a video of him on the set he posted to his blog.

Having finished filming Plum Blossom Heroes TV series, Fan Siu Wong met up with Wilson Yip to discuss Yip Man 2. In order to look for his granny, his character Jin Shan Zhao heads for Hong Kong, and he and Yip Man would...

As shown in the trailer, imperial guard Louis Koo, despite being a poor fighter, would be using his cranky contraptions to stop the martial arts exponent Fan Siu Wong, often with surprising results.
 

Barbie Hsu, who was recently voted PETA's Sexiest Asian Vegetarian Woman for 2009, plays a swordswoman engaged to Louis Koo. Many, many years ago, when her dog fell sick and nearly died, Barbie Hsu switched to vegetarian diet to pray for its recovery, and has never looked back since then, “I think we should respect the life of all species, a dog, a person. Lives are equal, eating meat is like eating corpses to me, and it makes me feel sick and sad.”

On His Majesty's Secret Service opens in China and Hong Kong on August 6, 2009.

-- Ip Man 2 --
At 12th Shanghai Film Festival, Raymond Wong announces that Ip Man 2 would begin production in Shanghai this August (video). He says that the script has been completed by his son, Edmond Wong. And he's very happy that his son can write such a great script as Ip Man.

Continue reading "Ip Man 2 Looks Poised to Better the Original"

Despite the global economic meltdown, which affected the film market adversely, with over 10% drop in number of registered buyers to under 2000 at 62 Cannes Film Festival, running from May 13 to May 24, 2009, Chinese films have been selling very well. Each film is sold from upwards of several US$100 thousands to a few millions.

Generally, action films and special effects laden films are the most popular. Hua Mu Lan (Jingle Ma), Little Big Soldier (Ding Sheng), Bodyguards and Assassins (Teddy Chan) are the top three best sellers, while Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction (Jeffrey Lau) was the first to be sold to US - in the first week. Ip Man and its sequel Ip Man 2 (Wilson Yip), Storm Warriors (Oxide Pang), and Tracing Shadow (Francis Ng, Marco Mak) are doing admirably too.  Fazhi Evening News, Sina

 

Wilson Yip will be directing A Chinese Ghost Story next year. Nope, Donnie Yen won't be in this but there are other versions of Dark Tales that hope to cast him. Continue reading "Wanted: Donnie Yen"