[QUOTE=GeneChing;1107452]No dates on the rest of the world[/QUOTE]
It will start turning up in Chinatown DVD stores probably on Jul. 3. :rolleyes:
In WSJ
Another good interview from Napolitano
June 24, 2011, 10:11 AM HKT
Donnie Yen: The Last Action Hero
By Dean Napolitano
Donnie Yen kicks his way to the top of his profession in director Peter Chan’s ‘Wu Xia.’
For three decades, Donnie Yen has kicked, punched and jumped his way up the rankings of martial-arts movie stars. “Wu Xia,” which opens next month, shows why he’s the genre’s current grand master.
“I think at a creative level I am at a peak,” says Mr. Yen, who’s vaulted to the top of A-list Asian actors in recent years, joining the ranks of legendary martial-arts stars Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.
Superstardom came late for Mr. Yen, who turns 48 years old this year. Back in the 1980s, when he started out, Hong Kong action movies were “like the wild west—guerrilla filmmakers, anything goes,” he says. “Those were the primitive days. Back then we didn’t really have the budget. Nowadays, safety comes first.”
After appearing in dozens of movies and television shows, he made leading-man turns in 2008’s “Ip Man” and its sequel—both based on the life of the 20th-century Chinese martial-arts master of the same name—that kicked his career into high gear.
In “Wu Xia,” from director Peter Chan, Mr. Yen plays a repentant killer living in a secluded village whose past catches up with him. The movie, set at the end of the Qing Dynasty in the early 20th century, cost $20 million and premiered last month at Cannes.
Mr. Yen spoke with The Wall Street Journal on the set of “Wu Xia.”
With action sequences, how much is preplanned and how much is improvised on the set?
It really depends. I also worked in Hollywood films—everything there is preplanned, written, as much as possible. Ideally, that is the best way, because everybody knows what’s going on and is well prepared. But it is not necessarily the most creative result. Sometimes we get motivated and stimulated on the set. I remember the old days when I first started in the Hong Kong industry— there was no such thing as planning. They start choreographing the moves on the set.
Does the drama lead the action or the action lead the drama?
I try to make films where the character drives the action. A lot of times films don’t turn out to be that way, especially commercial action movies. But with Peter Chan’s movies, everyone knows it is going to be powerful and dramatic—that’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to be in his film.
Did anyone ever tell you that to hit the big time, you had to go to Hollywood?
I don’t think anybody said those exact words, but for the longest time—in any country in the world— you have this image that if you’re in a Hollywood film, then you’re in international films. That is the ultimate. But I don’t think this is the case anymore, because the China market is getting so big. We have many, many years to catch up. But from a business point of view—and an opportunities point of view—in some ways we are very fortunate as Chinese filmmakers.
What makes a successful action scene?
To get you excited—off your seat. But I think nowadays, most importantly, the audience has to love the character. That is way beyond what an action director can do. It takes a director, a story, a script and all the elements put together. That’s why I’m very happy that I get to work with Peter. I know that drama-wise, story-wise, he’ll make sure you’ll follow the character— that you’ll like the character and, hopefully, you’ll love the character.
Have you reached that goal in your recent films?
Look at “Ip Man”—it’s the same thing. The audience feels it: They clap, they cheer, they cry. It’s a simple concept: When you watch a movie, you want to pull yourself out of reality. You want to live in that world, and you want to live in that action moment. That’s my ultimate standard of a good action sequence.
Are audiences today more demanding?
Absolutely. When I first started doing action movies, there was no acting requirement. That’s why at the beginning of my career I could not act—I’m very blunt about it.
How do you compare your work with that of other dramatic actors?
On one hand, we shouldn’t look at action artists separately from any other kind of actors—actors are actors. As a matter of fact, I think being an action actor takes more skills because they need to tell a story with their body. When I’m fighting or being hit, I’m not actually hitting a person or really being hit. I’m acting. It takes more than just the conventional dramatic approach—especially martial-arts movies, because martial-arts movies take kung-fu mastery.
What’s next for your career?
I don’t want to do action forever. There are too many things in life. I spend too much time on the road. I’ve got to spend time with my family. I think everyone has to draw a line no matter how much passion they have for one thing. I’ll do as much as I can for the next few years. My goal is to take a step back— maybe direct, maybe produce—share my experience of all these decades in the action world. Hopefully, I can find some newcomers and push the standard a little bit more.
Have you found anyone?
I’m still looking. The action standards of today are so high. You can’t just find some young, good-looking kid that does great kung fu and expect him to carry the film. He has to have acting experience. There has to be chemistry between him and the audience.
Release Dates for “Wu Xia”
July 4: China
July 7: Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand
July 21: Singapore, Malaysia
July 22: Taiwan
July 28: Hong Kong, Thailand
The new trailer
In the wake of Cannes…
[HD] () Wu Xia (New HK Trailer)
I hope this movie lives up to my expectations because, gotta be honest, they’re pretty high.
I feel ya, Simon
But you know me. I’m hopeful for every martial arts flick to come out. A good film does wonders for our industry and as I make my living here (along with many other forum members) I’m always wishing for another Karate Kid or CTHD.
The science of martial arts
By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-07-01 08:11
Wu Xia, starring Takeshi Kaneshiro (left) and Donnie Yen, will be released on July 4, giving martial art films a new spin. Provided to China Daily
The science of martial arts
Veteran Hong Kong director Peter Chan’s latest film aims to demystify martial arts, while also tackling moral dilemmas. Liu Wei reports.
It requires courage to name a film after its genre, as audiences will expect it to be all encompassing.
But that does not seem to worry veteran Hong Kong director Peter Chan whose latest film is titled Wu Xia, or literally “martial arts chivalry”.
“Wu Xia will redefine martial arts,” he says.
Set in a small village in South China, the film has a storyline that has echoes of CSI or Discovery Channel’s Crime Scene.
A paper-maker kills two robbers and becomes the hero of his village. But a detective, a Chinese version of the fastidious doctor House of the eponymous TV medical drama, discovers from the bodies that only a kungfu master could have rendered the killing blows.
As his investigation unfolds, the paper-maker’s real identity is revealed and poses a catastrophe for the village.
The film is 49-year-old Chan’s first martial art film, although like other Chinese of his generation, he grew up on a steady diet of such films.
His first exposure to, and favorite of, this genre are the films of Jimmy Wang in the 1960s and 70s, known for his robust masculinity. However, as the genre evolved into gravity-defying fantasy after the mid-1990s, he felt estranged from it.
“I find many martial art films too illusory,” he says. “The only one that has thrilled me recently is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Ang Lee achieves a breakthrough by making characters fly for a reason.”
He, too, wanted to give the old genre a new spin, but could not figure out how until 2009 when he saw a television program, which depicted in detail how a bullet penetrates a person’s skin, flesh, veins and heart.
“I had my concept - to explain Chinese martial arts through physiology and medicine. I then made a story to fit it.”
Thus, he sets the film in 1917, a time when Western science had a growing influence on the Chinese.
Like in House or CSI, the detective played by Takeshi Kaneshiro analyses the impact of kungfu attacks on one’s body.
While martial art films may show a master killing his enemy with what appears to be a light finger tap, Chan makes the detective tell the audience it is because the tap hits an important acupuncture point and causes a clot to form in a blood vessel. Frequent close-ups of organs and nerves enhance his explanation and create the film’s unique visual style.
“I consulted with acupuncture specialists, cardiologists and brain surgeons,” Chan says. “To shoot a film about swordsmen flying is a safe choice, but I don’t see a reason for me to do it. This is an established genre, which leaves little room for originality, but at the same time I see a chance to revitalize it.”
Not everything is new, though. Action remains a critical part of the film, to be released on July 4.
Chan ropes in Donnie Yen, the star of Iron Monkey and the Ip Man series, to choreograph the fight scenes and play the mysterious paper-maker. With his mastery in both Chinese kungfu and Western mixed martial arts, 48-year-old Yen has built his name as the new kungfu superstar after Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
Both Yen and Chan dislike wires, and agreed that the fighting would be dazzling but more grounded.
Characters do not suddenly fly off the ground or race on water, but there is dramatic close-contact combat on the ground and even one scene on a rooftop.
The Hollywood Reporter calls the action sequences “swift and savage”, and “arguably the best that lead actor Donnie Yen has choreographed for years”.
The film’s ending has Chan and Yen paying their homage to traditional martial art cinema and the signature figure of its golden days. The 68-year-old Jimmy Wang, China’s John Wayne and star of Chang Cheh’s One Armed Swordsman series, has a fierce fight with Yen, which ends in a dramatic twist.
Chan presents his own world of swordsmen, where the hero’s moral struggles and self-discovery are as painful as those of the common people. The detective has to decide between sticking to the law or giving the criminal a chance, while the paper-maker is haunted by his complex past.
Variety’s Justin Chang said he was reminded of David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence when watching the film in Cannes in May, noting that “this clever if over-amped thriller tackles themes of identity, honor and the latent killer instinct with a playful spirit that’s never at odds with its underlying seriousness”.
Chan describes the film as another exploration of answers to life’s problems.
“Westerners go to shrinks when they have confusions about life and themselves, but in China we don’t usually do that. We find our own ways,” he says. “For example, I make films. I spend two years shooting a film to find answers.”
In the war epic The Warlords, he questions if one should be forgiven for sacrificing brothers if that creates welfare for a larger group. In the acclaimed romantic tale Comrades, Almost a Love Story, he seeks the answer to what is true love.
“In Wu Xia, I want to know, can we really wipe out our past?”
And the answer, he says, is up to the audience.
Gene Speaks Truth!
LOL! I’m trying to publish Wuxia stories in the western genre market Gene so I hear you loud and clear with that one!
Another “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” particularly one BRANDED with the name that I’m trying to generate consciousness of could do wonders for my literary career. 
More buzz
This is off the AP from our fav correspondent, Min Lee. That’s a good sign when a film gets AP attention like this. Keep those fingers crossed, SimonM.
Donnie Yen Calls Film Fight With Wang a Milestone
By MIN LEE AP Entertainment Writer
HONG KONG July 7, 2011 (AP)
Donnie Yen has faced off against the likes of Jackie Chan and Jet Li over nearly three decades in action films. With Jimmy Wang now added to the list, Yen feels his dream of fighting Chinese cinema’s leading kung fu stars is complete.
The veteran actors duel in a heated battle between gang leader and estranged son in the Peter Chan thriller “Wu Xia,” which was released in China on Monday. While Wang may not be well-known in the West, the largely retired actor is considered a pioneering action star. He shot to fame with the hit 1967 film “One-armed Swordsman,” which spawned three sequels, then directed the 1970 release “The Chinese Boxer,” another hit credited with popularizing unarmed combat.
“He is the elder of elders. I was a fan of ‘One-armed Swordsman’ when I was a child,” Yen told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday. “Working with Jimmy Wang fulfills my wish of working with everyone.”
He said Wang was still in good shape for his age. Wang said in a behind-the-scenes documentary about “Wu Xia” that he still works out daily.
“He is a strong opponent for someone in his 70s,” Yen said.
In “Wu Xia,” Yen plays a former assassin who tries to escape by settling in a rural village and marrying a local woman (Tang Wei). His past catches up with him when he is forced to use his kung fu background to kill two robbers and a martial arts-savvy detective (Takeshi Kaneshiro) investigates.
But Yen, who choreographed the action in the movie, said his face-off with Wang isn’t his favorite — he favors an elaborate chase-and-fight sequence with Hong Kong actress Wai Ying-hung, who plays one of Wang’s wives.
He said he loves the emotional arch — his character stubbornly hides his kung fu prowess until Wai breaks him down with repeated attacks, and a segment that sees the two dash across tiled roofs before engaging in a small barn filled with cows.
“We did not use a single safety wire … It is not Donnie Yen style. I like action that is real. When you see two people actually running on a roof, you are impressed with how much more difficult it is,” he said.
Yen also praised director Chan, who made his name with subtle love stories, for innovating the kung fu film genre by mixing in elements of detective suspense and medical mystery. Chan illustrates the physical impact of a fighter’s blows with computer animation that shows the inner workings of human organs and blood vessels in the style of U.S. medical shows.
“This is the only way to achieve a breakthrough,” he said, decrying the repetition in recent kung fu films.
Yen is looking for another hit after the success of his recent biopics of Bruce Lee’s martial arts teacher, “Ip Man” and “Ip Man 2,” but “Wu Xia” has come up against a formidable opponent — a star-studded Chinese propaganda film that marks the 90th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party. Mainland multiplexes have been flooded with screenings of “Beginning of the Great Revival” and just this week allegations surfaced of at least one multiplex chain trying to inflate its box office numbers with substituted movie tickets.
Yen was careful to sidestep the controversy.
“I don’t believe it. I don’t want to take a position before all the evidence is laid out,” he said.
Asked about the timing of “Wu Xia,” Yen responded, “That doesn’t concern me. I was focused on making a good movie. I think this is a very good movie.”
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1112592]This is off the AP from our fav correspondent, Min Lee. That’s a good sign when a film gets AP attention like this. Keep those fingers crossed, SimonM.[/QUOTE]
Sort of hoping the “CSI” angle that I’ve heard mentioned elsewhere gets played up in the States.
Wuxia is getting good buzz on Twitter. People are calling it Donnie Yen’s best film in years, saying it is a better film than Ip Man was.
So can I torrent it yet? :eek::eek:
[QUOTE=Zenshiite;1113287]So can I torrent it yet? :eek::eek:;)[/QUOTE]
Not before I buy a totally legal, yeah, legal copy in Chinatown.
[QUOTE=SimonM;1113403]Not before I buy a totally legal, yeah, legal copy in Chinatown.[/QUOTE]
actually those chinatown copies are technically bootlegs too. they have no us distributor most of the time, they are just directly shipped here, which means the production company isnt seeing a profit off of it.
[QUOTE=doug maverick;1113824]actually those chinatown copies are technically bootlegs too. they have no us distributor most of the time, they are just directly shipped here, which means the production company isnt seeing a profit off of it.[/QUOTE]
Say it ain’t so! :eek:
come on dude, china is the movie pirate capital of the world!! you dont know that?
Yes, I know that. Gawd, sarcasm does not communicate well over the interwebz.
[QUOTE=SimonM;1113930]Yes, I know that. Gawd, sarcasm does not communicate well over the interwebz.[/QUOTE]
no it doesnt…ive said this for years, sarcasm doesnt work well in text, lol unless you ad :rolleyes: to it…lol
Dragon
July 14, 2011, 10:45 AM HKT
Donnie Yen Tops Chinese Propaganda Film
By Dean Napolitano
It wasn’t the fact that kung-fu star Donnie Yen topped China’s box office that was surprising. The surprise was what it pushed aside on the charts.
The martial-arts movie “Wu Xia” starring Mr. Yen powered to the top of China’s box office last week by overtaking “Beginning of the Great Revival,” a heavily promoted, government-supported propaganda epic about the early days of the Communist Party.
“Wu Xia,” which opened July 4, pulled in 101 million yuan ($15.6 million) for the week ending July 10, according to Beijing-based media-research firm EntGroup Inc., more than three times the 31.3 million yuan earned by No. 2 “Revival.”
That film, whose all-star cast includes Chow Yun-fat, Fan Bingbing, Andy Lau, Liu Ye and Daniel Wu, covers China’s history from the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 to the founding of the Communist Party in 1921. Pushed hard by the government as part of the Communist Party’s 90th-anniversary celebrations, “Revival” has earned a total of 348.45 million yuan since opening on June 15. Movie chains in the country vowed “all-out efforts” to promote it and nearly 30 other less-prominent films that were produced for the anniversary, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported last month.
The Wall Street Journal’s Jeremy Page reported earlier this month that many government employees were required to see “Revival” and cinemas were ordered not to premiere Hollywood summer blockbusters during its run. But this best-laid of plans seemed not to take into account that a homegrown product like “Wu Xia” might knock the government’s champion off its perch.
“Wu Xia” is a cat-and-mouse thriller about a repentant killer whose past catches up with him as he hides out in a remote village. The $20 million drama from director Peter Chan also stars Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tang Wei and Jimmy Wang Yu.
Mr. Yen’s career has taken off in recent years, as a string of hits showcasing his martial-arts prowess made him a top box-office draw in mainland China. Mr. Chan said Wednesday he was pleased his film managed to top the box-office charts last week despite the “competitive environment.” The film is opening gradually in other markets around Asia this month, and a U.S. release is expected later this year under the title “Dragon.”
This is related to the article I just posted here.
This kind of turns me off
We have enough police procedurals nowadays, especially on broadcast TV. I’m kind of sick of them. If this is just a twist on that - a kung fu genre police procedural - I’ll be disappointed. Hoping for more.
Melodrama meets Kung Fu
By Han Wei Chou | Posted: 20 July 2011 1802 hrs
SINGAPORE: Hong Kong director Peter Chan’s “Wu Xia” tells the tale of Detective Xu Bai-jiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who tries to unravel the mystery of how an unassuming paper maker Liu Jin-xi (Donnie Yen) managed to slay Yan Dong Sheng, a murderer on a killing spree.
His investigations slowly reveal that Liu may not be who he claims to be and inadvertently puts Liu as well as his wife Ah Yu (Tang Wei) on a collision course with the leader (60s action star Jimmy Wang) of the 72 Demons, a clan of vicious killers.
Chan’s decision to meld science and martial arts in his film, via cutaways showing blood vessels being constricted and hearts stopping within the human body when precise martial arts strikes find their mark, is well-publicised.
But if you take a similar approach and look beyond the surface of the film, you’ll notice that these “CSI”- like sequences are little more than a gimmick to capture your interest early in the film.
They even break up the flow of the fighting somewhat in certain action scenes.
Still, these sequences are a novel touch and give the film a refreshing visual style.
Fortunately, the cutaways aren’t the only draw of “Wu Xia” - the film’s strong dramatic elements will also get you hooked.
Everything - from Xu’s internal struggle over how compassion figures into law enforcement, to Liu’s relationship with his family - has been lovingly crafted to make audiences care for the characters, and amplify their emotions when traumatic events befall their favourites.
These melodramatic portions of the film provide the context and the “why” behind the fight scenes that punctuate each act.
There is nothing much to say about Yen’s action choreography in “Wu Xia” except that it is really fluid and realistic.
Yen’s decades of experience in the martial arts film genre shows in the way he devises the fight scenes, with every punch and bone-crunching kick clearly presented to the audience.
Look out for an amazing sequence where Liu has to fight off a knife-wielding assailant in a small shack, while the oxen housed within get more and more frightened and threaten to stampede.
However, as an actor, Yen’s performance was only satisfactory.
The same can be said of Tang, who managed to cry and look frightened as the film required but failed to give any more.
Kaneshiro was better, turning in a nuanced, convincing performance as the decidedly offbeat Detective Xu.
But even he could not outshine Wang.
Wang’s gravitas was unmatched and viewers squirmed in their seats as he stalked onto the screen exuding malice with each step near the end of the film.
All in all, Chan falls short of revolutionizing the genre like he had hoped with “Wu Xia”.
He does, however, offer an interesting twist on the standard wu xia film by going under the skin of the Kung Fu duels in his film, while reinforcing the strong dramatic traditions on which every classic wu xia film is built.
A few more fight scenes and it would have been perfect.
“Wu Xia” opens July 21.
Good thinking, Donnie
Wise not to go that “this is my last kung fu flick” route like Jet and Jaa tried.
Fine, I’ll be an action star, says Donnie Yen
my paper
Wed, Jul 20, 2011
AFTER attempting to branch out into genres like comedy and drama, Hong Kong’s Donnie Yen has resigned himself to being a martial-arts hero on film.
“When people hear the name Donnie Yen, they associate it with someone who does martial arts. I can accept that… It is not easy being an action star these days,” said Yen, 47.
He was in town yesterday to attend the gala premier of his latest film, Wu Xia, at VivoCity.
Despite his words about being an action star, Yen - who also served as Wu Xia’s action director - still hopes “to allow the audience to see a different side of me”.
“As an actor, it is my responsibility to…continue to challenge myself,” he added. That is why the Ip Man actor took on roles in the contemporary rom-com All’s Well, Ends Well (2011) and the upcoming The Monkey King.
Tellingly, when photographers later asked the actor to strike a “fight” pose, Yen politely refused. The former stuntman revealed that, in the next couple of years, he will be taking a break from period films, focusing instead on contemporary action films, a genre he personally prefers.
Yen broke out in the 1984 action film Drunken Tai Chi, and is finally enjoying a boom in his career. His turn as Bruce Lee’s wing-chun master in 2004’s Ip Man pushed him firmly into the limelight.
Since then, he’s helmed movies like Bodyguards And Assassins (2009) and The Lost Bladesman (2010).
Hollywood has even come calling, with studios sending Yen scripts to consider. He has rejected them all, he revealed, adding that he hasn’t read one he likes. Besides, he said, the scene has changed and the West is eyeing China, which has become an important market for American film companies.
Wu Xia, helmed by Hong Kong director Peter Chan, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival with much fanfare earlier this year, and the movie will reportedly be screened in the US. The movie also stars Taiwan-born Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro and Chinese actress Tang Wei.
Reporters yesterday could not resist asking Chan, who was also in town, about rumours that he will direct a film about Singapore’s independence. Called 1965, the buzz is that Tony Leung may play Singapore’s first prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Chan was quick to shoot down the speculations. “I am not the director,” he said, adding that he will be, at most, a “consultant”.
“I did promise to help…but nothing was confirmed because I am busy and am not familiar with the material,” he said.
The movie is a co-production between Singapore’s Homerun Asia and China’s Zonbo Media. Chan described the script as “good”, but said he has no idea who has been cast.
Talk turned back to Wu Xia.
Though Chan praised Kaneshiro as “one of those rare few actors who is so good looking and yet so non- aggressive”, his highest praise was saved for Yen, whose role as an action director was crucial.
“It couldn’t be done by anyone else… Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to make the movie,” he said firmly.