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GeneChing
05-15-2002, 10:51 AM
Our graphic designer Kevin just heard on Cantonese radio that a movie based on the life of Yip Man is in the works in Hong Kong. Tony Leung is cast for the lead and Wong Kar Wai is involved in the project. That'll be odd since neither is renown for their MA work. Wonder who they will get to play Bruce?

yuanfen
05-15-2002, 11:32 AM
Bruce Lee played a very small part in Yip man's life.
Why have him in there at all? Or atleast not much. Sounds like another jazzy but superficial production in the making. His life if properly researched can be the stuff of real drama...but moviemakers may opt for the easy way out. His early story on how he learned whar he learned, his growing up, his actual usages of his wing chun(which he kept somewhat hidden), his
life during the Japnese occupation, the Communist revolution, the escape to HK/Macao, his relationships with other masters, his
Hong Kong years, his ups and downs financially and in personal affairs. With good research, good writing and avoidance of gate keeping by self serving contemporaries...could be avery good movie.

kungfu cowboy
05-15-2002, 11:49 AM
Tony Leung is cast for the lead

Whew! That's a relief! I heard it was going to be Tom Selleck! I hope they make a good movie. Yeah, Bruce should figure into it very little, but that will be a draw.

S.Teebas
05-15-2002, 12:27 PM
Sounds interesting! I found this page on the net with pics:

Click me for pics! (http://www.tonyleung.org/news/currentnews.shtml)

I wonder how much kung fu will be in the movie??

byond
05-15-2002, 01:42 PM
hey teebas.....you rock....very cool you tracked that down....
notice in the caption it says tony is playing a martial arts master....not playing yip man a martial arts master
yuenfan is right ..im sure they wont touch on the real drama of his life.....and just think..they could have yip meeting up with yuen kay san...chu chong man....it could be very cool if done properly

byond
05-15-2002, 01:45 PM
i think geneching should play bruce:D ...and ol' dirty can have a cameo as head of the drunkard clan

diego
05-15-2002, 05:02 PM
for a good story bruce wouldnnt play much of a part if were going to be historical about yip man, but most likely almost everyone on this forum wouldnt know about wing chun let alone yip man, let alone this forum probably wouldnt exist, and i mean this kfo forum if bruces work didnt hollywoodize kf, guys like william cheung and wong shun leung and leung ting wouldnt be known like they are as the style would probably stayed fairly closed as most kf styles would, if they didnt ride bruces wagon:cool:

yuanfen
05-15-2002, 06:31 PM
So? Without Lord Bruce & with Cantonese immigration...some folks would have been startled to stumble upon good kung fu masters
and have had to make an effort to know something about the style and find a good teacher who would take them. Not a bad alternative scenario B.

rogue
05-15-2002, 07:21 PM
I can't wait to see him flying around on wires! That'd be soooo cooool!;)

diego
05-15-2002, 07:49 PM
well yuan to my understanding kf has always had popular cinema ie the opera and the old comic book novels such as ng mui legend?.
what i read is before bruce hit big with green hornet and his movies, the hk kf cinema was dying, it was all chop sockey, then bruce became famous and everyone wanted to flex thier pecs bearwalk style while they swang thier nunchucks, now is thier alot of books and 8mm film of wc before bruce lee blew up and especially before he died, and kfs popularity worldwide became like macdonalds, greenhornet wasnt big, carradinne kungfu wouldnt have been, heck star wars prolly wouldnt have been the same if bruce didnt shine.

Am I Wrong?.

diego
05-15-2002, 08:43 PM
sheesh if it wasnt for bruce the us and and the chinese mainland wouldnt have good relation cuz his work made chinese nation respectable then jet li got to do jump splits with nixon on the white house, all at a time when commies were like alqaeda, so basically im saying bruce he, he like jesus:confused:

or at least im saying his respect should be acknowledged:)

black and blue
05-16-2002, 03:59 AM
... I pi**ed my pants. Who the hell cares if BL is in it.

Yip Man's gonna be in it! That's all that counts. Like Yuanfen says, this could, potentially, be a great movie.

Crouching Tiger can kiss The Grand Master's ar*e (that sounds a little disrespectful... not meant to)

dezhen2001
05-16-2002, 06:51 AM
I hope that it is more based on the real story and not like Dragon: The BL story was either! :D don't think he should figure in it much - only a few years study after all... otherwise that's just a cop-out.

Hopefully it won't be 'mass audience appeal' style like CTHD. After all, why would they pick Yip Man if it was for audience consumption? They could have someone like General Kwan or any of the other legends floating around.

A good pic of Tong Leung with Yip Chun though :)

david

black and blue
05-16-2002, 07:04 AM
"A good pic of Tong Leung with Yip Chun though"

Q. Will it be Yip Chun's version/interpretation of WC that we see Yip Man performing in the movie?

I can just see it now... as soon as the movie hits cinemas, 95 per cent of the Wing Chun community will jump out of their seats and say: "But that's not the real Wing Chun".

Also, if the movie is a 'Hollywood' success.... prepare for one man and his dog to turn up at your Kwoon ready to give big bucks for "moves like the movie".

This could be the best AND the worst thing to happen to Wing Chun.

We're all doomed, I tell ye!

Duncan

Ps. Everyone pray to the God of Tan Sau that the movie doesn't feature the Dummy Form... heaven help us. :(

dezhen2001
05-16-2002, 07:45 AM
Black and Blue: :D I wonder if they realised what a potential mine field there is when they coined up this project lol

I guess whatever it is, it will be a 'movie-ized' version of WC. I guess that will keep everyone happy :D

As for learning WC after seeing the movie: most will leave when they have to stand in YJKYM and do SLT don't u think? WC has it's own method of seeing how much you really want to study the skill...

david

GeneChing
05-16-2002, 10:08 AM
I'll play Bruce, but on the condition that Lauren Holly plays Linda again. :D Tell Tony and Wong to give my agent a call.

For a pop movie, they gotta address Bruce. I mean come on, have a little perspective. Like Dragon, this won't be made for us martial artists, it'll be made for the general public. So Bruce will have to be included, it would be ridiculous not to have him in.

BTW, I hated Dragon (except Lauren Holly) at first because it strayed so much from the real story, but as time has gone by, I've grown to accept it's importance to the popular perception of martial arts, just like Kung Fu the TV show. Anyway, given the cast, it may have about as much Wing Chun as Michelle Yeoh's movie Wing Chun. It'll be interesting to see it, nevertheless. Real Wing Chunners will be wincing I'm sure, but kudos to them for at least including YC in the project (of course, so many masters were included in the production Dragon and the kungfu was still pretty off the mark.)

One last thing, while they aren't making a movie on General Kwan, Stanley Tong and Aaron Kwok are working on The Story of Yue Fei and they have a $40 million budget.

dezhen2001
05-16-2002, 10:19 AM
Hi Gene: guess ur right. Best not to have hopes too high... I'm sure BL will be in it more than is neccessary, hopefully it's still partly accurate though.

O/T: i'm writing a 10 000 word dissertation on this exact subject: the difference between movie portrayal and the reality of MA and MA 'masters'.

I liked Dragon for the exact same reason you did :D Jason Scot Lee was pretty good in it i thought. Looks very pumped up in Kurt Russels 'Soldier' (from a few yrs ago).

That last project sounds interesting...

david

David Peterson
05-16-2002, 04:51 PM
Actually, a movie about the life of the late Grandmaster was in the planning stages some years back, at that time tentatively titled "The Story of Yip Man". It was the dream of actor Steven Chow Sing Chi ("Shaolin Soccer") to make the movie, and he had already engaged the services of my sifu, Wong Shun Leung (who incidently was Chow's instructor in the 80s) to serve as technical advisor and action choreographer. Sadly, with the passing of Wong Sifu, the project was abandoned, but obviously the idea has now been given a second life. The Hong Kong press actually had a write up just a week or so ago, so it looks like all systems go on "The Grandmaster". I only hope that Steven Chow still gets to play some part in the project so as to ensure some decent Wing Chun gets used on camera.
DMP

straightblast5
05-16-2002, 11:57 PM
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/2038/020509.html

Pictures with Tony Leung practicing Siu Lim Tao with Ip Chun and a few other photos from the press conference. Just scroll down, it should be the second set of pictures (with the first set being of Chow Yun Fat's mother).

Phil
Ng Family Chinese Martial Arts Association (http://www.ngfamilymartialarts.com)

dezhen2001
05-17-2002, 12:44 AM
thx for the link Phil... i hope it turns out well and more people get to see the real side of WC :)

david

aelward
05-17-2002, 09:53 AM
I also heard about the Stephen Chiao one, as well as another one that was supposed to cast Donny Yen as the title character of a movie called "Yip Man." That was back in the mid-nineties....

Anyway, to Joy, I have to say, please lighten up... those of us who have seen your anti-JKD, anti-Bruce posts know where you stand on this topic. Regardless of what WC people think of Bruce with regards to his ability or understanding of the system, he is, without a doubt, the most famous of Yip Man's students. To say otherwise would only show either supreme naivette or denial.

That said, movies (even more so in HK) will always emphasize what the mainstream can relate to, and ignore what they consider boring. So I'm willing to bet my car that bruce will make an appearance, probably a big one at that.

While I do agree that it would be cool to follow Yip Man through his various stages in life, HK biographical movies (i.e, Soong Sisters, Kawashima Yoshiko, etc), weren't well received at the box office. I'm not holding my breath.

For me, as long as the wire work is kept to a minimum, political grandstanding by some students is kept to a minimum, and that at least visually, it has some wing chun involved, i'll be happy.

-jk

GeneChing
05-17-2002, 10:46 AM
Maybe he could have got the goalie from Shaolin Soccer to play Bruce. He was the best Bruce impersonator I've seen since Sammo in Enter the Fat Dragon. Sammo was the king, sort of like a fat Elvis impersonator, but for the other most imitated celebrity, Bruce.

Speaking of Yip Man, have you all read this? http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/brh101.html

KC Elbows
05-17-2002, 11:13 AM
Not to disagree on the Bruce thing, but it would be a terrible biography to exclude Bruce. Bruce is the impetus that causes Yip Man to become famous, fame undoubtedly changed Yip Man's life, and this is the stuff of drama.

No matter how long Bruce was a student, he was the spotlight that showcased Yip Man's wing chun for the world.

Its doubtful that the movie is going to be able to include anything but semi fictional depictions of politically charged challenge matches, as too many families would get upset about their father/brother being depicted that way, IMO.

Its an interesting movie idea. A master of an art that takes a certain eye to appreciate. It would be very cool if the direction were of such quality that they could use wing chun for the majority of the fights, and not have to resort to flashier, but less relevant, styles.

kungfu cowboy
05-17-2002, 05:14 PM
I sincerely hope that there is not a shred of wire work in a wing chun movie. That's just plain silly.

yuanfen
05-17-2002, 06:06 PM
I have complete faith in the film world and capitalism east or west to do the wrong thing.
Dont worry i will go to see the movie and probably laugh all the way through. I lighten up all the time about light things. I laughed all the way through the fantasy of the dragon and the film version of the jack man "fight". I laughed all the way through seeing Will Smith act as Ali as well..

diego
05-17-2002, 06:22 PM
hehe, i havent seen ali yet, but it would be nice if they give will smith some cocaine or something, obviously he cant match clays finesse, i'm told it is a good movie though, so that is cool for future generations as im sure it will be in your video store for the next 50years, and im sure it will inspire future gens to check out alis actual work,:)

GeneChing
05-20-2002, 10:12 AM
I mean lets be honest - wing chun is not that spectacular, at least not in a big screen way. Their going to want the fights to be dramatic, not realistic and effective.
Nevertheless, I think it's remarkable that Yip Man is going to be recognized in this way. I mean, can you think of another grandmaster that has been so acknowledged from his generation? Wong Fei Hung is earlier really, and more of a folk hero from wuxia books. I'm not aware of any wuxai books on Yip Man. His movie will be unprecendented.

popsider
05-20-2002, 02:41 PM
Whatever it turns out like at least David Carradine isn't up for the lead - although they've missed an opportunity for a "David Carradine's Wing Chun" book.

yuanfen
05-20-2002, 03:08 PM
Cant you see the new publishing industry spinoffs-
The lost notes Of Steve McQueen's conversations with Lee on the char kuen, Coburns adaptation of the wing chun step, My dim sum sessions with Yip Man by XYZ, How Yip Man taught me the pole using chopsticks to do chi kwan, Yip Man -the father who never acknowledged me, the secret footwork as taught to a closed door student, I was Yip man's fly on the wall, Carradine's-the taichi foundations of wing chun---this and more coming soon to a bookstore near you.

GeneChing
05-22-2002, 09:57 AM
LOL, more like coming to a new website.

We've actually received a massive amount of Wing Chun article submissions over the last year or two. Research is rocking! Good stuff too. It's great that some many people have an interest in the style and work so hard to promote it.

Phil Redmond
05-22-2002, 10:42 AM
Do you think that anyone would even consider Cheung Cheuk Hing for some history? After all , he lived with Yip Man for at least 3 years. The powers that be would think too much controversy eh?. They wouldn't want to offend anyone. If anyone wants to dispute the fact that William Cheung lived with Yip Man, please stand up. Anyway, when the other students of Yip Man looked down on his Opium use and his marriage to a former prositute, William Cheung stood by him. I kind of know who's going to respond to this. I'm ready for you.
Phil

yuanfen
05-22-2002, 12:15 PM
Who Phil?
Sure he stayed as a teenager.
But- there is a lot more to that story.

Your loyalty is understandable and commendable.

Lots of folks have real problems with the credibility of your source
on many issues.Of course there are different views on that- but there are folks who have tired of the zig zags in your sources stories including the early "secret" Yip Man teaching of the traditional versus the modified . Real research if it takes place would involve
extensive interviews with many sources now scattered in many different places plus possibly mainland records on property, family,
neighborhood etc.Instead I suspect that- You can rely on the movie makers that the nature of the screenplay and its commercial value will play
significant roles. And there are always issues of whether gossip and representations of reality ever matches reality.Careful -about too much mud on Yip Man---mud has tendencies to spatter in unexpected ways.
I dont intend to mud wrestle with you or anyone else. There is enough mud in wc as it is.. Cheers and finis.

Nat from UK
05-23-2002, 12:45 AM
Any one any idea on a release date ??

Nat from UK

GeneChing
05-23-2002, 09:44 AM
P: Like I said, we have a glut of Wing Chun material now. But here is our submission guidelines if you want to send us another - http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/about/guidelines.html

N: I think it just went into production so I probably won't be out for another year or so. They'll need time add all those wire-fu special effects :p
Seriously, I haven't heard a release date yet. BTW, anyone heard release dates for Yue Fei or 108+? Anyone know what I'm talking about with those 2 films? Or should I just go back to the media forum?

dezhen2001
05-23-2002, 10:07 AM
Gene: no idea i'm afraid... Silumkid seems ot know a thing or 2 about movies and all that kinda thing, maybe ask him?

david