The Man with the Iron Fists

[GeneChing]

RZA mentioned something about this to me at the last HHCF event (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41817) about this. I don't think has anything do to with the comic Iron Fist (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49086).


RZA: 'Bobby Digital' To Live On In Comics, Films (http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003821968)
June 27, 2008 , 3:15 PM ET
Gary Graff, Detroit

It took RZA seven years to get back to Bobby Digital. Now, if he has his way, we'll be seeing a lot more of the character.

In the wake of this week's release of "RZA as Bobby Digital: Digi Snacks," the Wu-Tang Clan leader tells Billboard.com that "I'm gonna continue to build the character with films, comics ... I hate to sound so business-push with it, but I see Bobby Digital as being a potential franchise for hip-hop. He ain't too watered-down. He ain't too soft. He ain't too good. He's got a little bit of everything in him that people can relate to, so I'm gonna try to develop him like that. I think he will have more adventures."

RZA -- who wraps up his "Digi Snacks" tour July 8 in Washington, D.C. -- says that may include resurrecting the Bobby Digital film he started making after the release of 2001's "Digital Bullet." "I found the old films, the old artwork, everything," he says. "They're low-budget films, but they've got a vibe to them and I think they offer the hip-hop community something. When I was first doing it, it felt like I could've had a bigger budget, but now it feels like a classic."

That said, Bobby Digital may have to wait in line behind a number of other projects in RZA's typically jammed qeue. He's completing the first album by ACHOSEN, his band with System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian. He's also producing several new albums, including one for Wu-Tang mate Raekwon. RZA has developed a martial arts film with Hollywood pal Eli Roth called "The Man with the Iron Fist," which he says has "the blessing" of his "teacher," Quentin Tarantino, and he collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the score for the forthcoming Vin Diesel science fiction film "Babylon A.D."

He also hopes to complete "The Cure," which he says will be his final solo album, in the near future. As for Wu-Tang Clan, RZA says that he hopes a European tour slated for July will yield some ideas for a new project.

"Usually when we get together on those types of tours, we get to be together with our friends and buddies and we get a chance to talk and figure out if there's any energy left in us to go do what we want to do," RZA explains. "We have to see what we've got in terms of talent, energy, sensibility ... whatever it takes. So we'll see what we got out there on the tour."

[GeneChing]

Told ya it wasn't Iron Fist.

Eli Roth Reveals More on RZA's Directorial Debut - The Man with the Iron Fist (http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/07/06/eli-roth-reveals-details-on-rzas-directorial-debut-the-man-with-the-iron-fist/)
July 6, 2008
Source: CHUD
by Alex Billington


Barely two days ago we reported that Eli Roth and Wu-Tang Clan's RZA would be working together on a martial arts movie called The Man with the Iron Fist. In short time, CHUD caught up with Eli Roth and asked him about the production. Roth revealed some enticing details, including that this would be RZA's directorial debut after studying Quentin Tarantino for years and that it would be undoubtedly a bloody R rated martial arts extravaganza. I was initially already quite excited for this, but now I'm even more excited - this is going to kick some serious ass. Apparently RZA has an encyclopedic knowledge of martial arts flicks and this is his dream project that will feature "everything martial arts fans could want."

To clarify, this has nothing to do with Marvel's superhero named Iron Fist, as an adaptation of that character is in development elsewhere. RZA's The Man with the Iron Fist is an entirely separate project that he wrote himself and is directing. Here is what Eli Roth said about the production.


Yes, it is true. RZA's script is amazing. He has been studying directing with Tarantino for years and he's really ready to get behind the camera. His impact on rap music and hip hop culture cannot be measured, and he's ready to add his own unique style and vision to the world of film. This movie will have everything martial arts fans could want, combined with RZA's superb musical talent. This project has been his dream for years, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it. And fans should know that yes, there will be blood… This ain't no PG-13.

As I mentioned originally, The RZA had quite a bit of involvement with the soundtrack on the Kill Bill movies and I can only imagine that was where and when he began studying Tarantino's techniques. It doesn't sound like RZA is going to mimic what Tarantino does, but rather attempt to bring his own unique style and vision to this film in combination with his immense appreciation for martial arts films. I'll reiterate this yet again: with Roth, Tarantino, and RZA all influencing this project, it definitely has the potential to be amazing. We'll be sure to update you once we hear anything else, including when it's expected to start production. Does Roth's update get you more excited for The Man with the Iron Fist?

[doug maverick]

i'll be watchign for this film. i remember two of the fight choreagraphers who i worked with. use to work with RZA as they were shi yan mings students(i use laugh cause they were hispanic with egrman names which was just to funny to me for some reason) but anyway they use to do these little short films with RZA, and they told me they all looked pretty good. so hopefully this is going to kick some ass.

[GeneChing]

It's the hipness of a true hip hop pioneer, I suppose. So far, little new to the story, just rewrites of the original press release.


RZA and Eli Roth creating a martial arts film (http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/07/rza-and-eli-roth-creating-a-martial-arts-film.html)
By Sean Gandert
on July 10, 2008 11:14 AM

We all knew RZA had a thing for Kung Fu films, but aside from the unexplained behind-the-scenes YouTube coverage, no one really expected to see him make one. Which isn't to say we didn't wonder what the Wu-Tang mastermind could do, though. Lucky for everyone, it looks like we may just get a chance after all.
Billboard has word that RZA is working with Eli Roth (Hostel) on a martial-arts film called The Man with the Iron Fist. According to them, the project has the "blessing" of his mentor Quentin Tarantino, who is also likely who introduced the two filmmakers since RZA wrote music for Kill Bill and Roth provided a trailer for Grindhouse.

Who knows when RZA will get around to it, though, as he's also working on finishing up his Bobby Digital feature and planning on expanding the character into a multimedia franchise. He's also working on an album with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odajian, producing an album by Raekwon and hoping to finish up his solo album The Cure. Yeah. It could be a while before we see things begin to coalesce, but for a true fusion of Wu-Tang and kung fu, we're willing to wait.

[doug maverick]

i remember this video as one of the illest vids back in the day:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CE3hb__ylG4

[doug maverick]

heres another one featureing long time shi an ming student bookeem woodbine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrT2GBJMM-U

[GeneChing]

...even through us. Check out RZA on Iron Fist, the Last Dragon and Barack Obama (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=795) by Gene Ching.

What's more, I'll give you a little teaser on this. I've been experimenting with diptychs and triptychs in my writing, cutting across our print and web platforms. I published a triptych with Cung Le's Strikeforce Championship: Panel #1 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=751) Panel #2 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=762) Panel #3 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=773)

And I have another diptych going now. Here's panel #1 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=791). Panel #2 will appear in our next issue, on the newsstands December 4, 2008. This might evolve into a triptych if a certain person follows through.

This RZA piece is panel #1 of a triptych. Stay tuned. ;)

[GeneChing]

Anyone else planning to go to Wu-Tang Clans' Grand Ballroom show in S.F. this Wednesday?
:cool:

[GeneChing]

I had a great time at the show last night. RZA hooked me up with all access passes. There was some microphone issues, which sucked. RZA stopped the show at one point and berated the sound man because there wasn't enough clear mikes to go around. But the show was awesome. RZA dominated like the head of Voltron. He can pump up a crowd like no one else. Inspectah Deck and GZA were on fire. The free rap stuff was amazing. Wu skillz are massive. Check in with the 8 Diagrams tour (http://www.wutang-corp.com/news/article.php?id=787) when it comes to your 'hood. They're playing a lot of intimate clubs, which is where hip hop really shines IMO. :cool:

I got to hang with RZA backstage after for a while. We talked movies, of course, and killed a bottle of Patron. He let me in on a lot about how Iron Fist is going - nothing I can publish yet because nothing was firm - but I'm now VERY EXCITED about this project.

[MasterKiller]

Gene lives a charmed life. :mad:

[doug maverick]

I had a great time at the show last night. RZA hooked me up with all access passes. There was some microphone issues, which sucked. RZA stopped the show at one point and berated the sound man because there wasn't enough clear mikes to go around. But the show was awesome. RZA dominated like the head of Voltron. He can pump up a crowd like no one else. Inspectah Deck and GZA were on fire. The free rap stuff was amazing. Wu skillz are massive. Check in with the 8 Diagrams tour (http://www.wutang-corp.com/news/article.php?id=787) when it comes to your 'hood. They're playing a lot of intimate clubs, which is where hip hop really shines IMO. :cool:

I got to hang with RZA backstage after for a while. We talked movies, of course, and killed a bottle of Petron. He let me in on a lot about how Iron Fist is going - nothing I can publish yet because nothing was firm - but I'm now VERY EXCITED about this project.

**** gene i thought i bragged alot. i'm actually jealous, wu tang clan aint nuthin to f uck with. was literally the first rap song i ever really listened too. and all i thought was what kung fu movies mixed with rap, this has got to be the best and i have ben a fan every since. im truly jealous gene ching, **** you.lol

[Lucas]

we should start catologing every time Gene uses the 'cool' smiley face.

:mad:

[GeneChing]

...and RZA has learned the art of Chinese hard liquor drinking fu. He poured some tall shots, did the old Chinese two-hand toast, and refilled my cup as soon as it was drained. He could have kicked my ass drinking. He did it before when we were in China. But he was merciful and gave me that Chinese 'out' to save face. "You can sip this one. This is a sipper."

Before the Patron, RZA put down a magnum of champagne during the performance (although he did spray some on the audience). Hip Hop zuiquan.

[GeneChing]

RZA headlined at the Mezzanine in S.F. last night. Didn't take the stage until 11:30. He called me back for a pre-show chat (and more Patron - his drink of choice now :rolleyes:). He said that he was just at some sort of wrap party for Inglourious Basterds the night before and now Tarantino and Roth are free to bring their full attention to The Man with the Iron Fist.

Wound up talking some film (RZA wasn't hip to Ip Man (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52218) yet) and we went off on Zohan and Benjamin Button (two films I haven't seen yet). It was fun but my god am I paying for it this Monday morning. I'll be really paying for it at practice later on tonight...:o

[doug maverick]

poor gene.lol, sounds like u had fun. go see Benjamen it was awesome. as for zohan it was ok i guess.

[GeneChing]

...'cept that it made a Malaysian newspaper... :confused:

Roth 'n' rapper to team on martial arts opus (http://www.star-ecentral.com/movies/buzz/buzz.asp?file=archives/buzz/2009/7/13Rothnrappe&date=7/13/2009&title=Roth%20%27n%27%20rapper%20to%20team%20on%20m artial%20arts%20opus)

Hostel dude Eli Roth and rapper RZA are working on a martial arts epic currently entitled The Man with the Iron Fist - no relation to the Marvel Comics character.

Roth told Sci Fi Wire he was working with the rapper-producer on the script at present.

Roth said the script calls for a number of martial arts icons to be in the mix somehow, and that RZA had the whole movie mapped out already.

According to Roth, viewers can expect hip-hop mixed in with kung fu, a multiracial cast, and "it's going to be spectacular."

[Published: 13-Jul-2009]

[Lucas]

hip hop and kungfu go really well together. thats one of the things i dig about a lot of jet li movies.

[doug maverick]

yeah i agree with that. well rza has made a almost twenty year career over doing just that. so by doing it in a visual aspect like film is just the fruition of all those years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE3hb__ylG4 this video for tragedy was the first time he tried it and it was sick.

[Shaolinlueb]

hip hop and kungfu go really well together. thats one of the things i dig about a lot of jet li movies.

really? romeo must die and that other one he did with dmx were good? i thought they were the sh*t. as in Sh*t coming out of my a**.

[doug maverick]

actually romeo must die would have been a good movie if there was actually some chemistry between the two leads.

[Shaolinlueb]

actually romeo must die would have been a good movie if there was actually some chemistry between the two leads.

romeo must die i kinda enjoyed.

[GeneChing]

...RZA has a book dropping this month so he's doing some promo interviews. I have one coming up about it soon - stay tuned. Unfortunately, he didn't say much about this film project. I asked and got a little but we stayed on topic mostly. You'll see soon...:cool:

RZA Back to the Movies (http://hiphopwired.com/11592/rza-back-to-the-movies/)
by JUSTIN STEWART October 5, 2009, 10:54am

The rap game may look like the ultimate life to those peeking in through the window, but the politics and yellow tape that surrounds it makes the business more than what it comes off to be.

Known for his ability to craft that Wu Tang sound, the RZA is also known for his work in films. Appearing in countless films, he has always had quite an interest in the Kung Fu industry. For those that didn't know, Wu Tang, Shaolin…yea put it all together.

Immersing himself into the Afro Samurai series, the producer created a soundtrack for the show acquiring the musical talents of Big Daddy Kane, Talib Kweli and Q-Tip.

He is currently in the process of preparing a script for a new film titled The Man With the Iron Fist alongside actor/director Eli Roth. Roth is known for his directorial work on films such as Cabin Fever and the Hostel series.

Although no further details have been disclosed about the film, presumptions would assume that it has something to do with martial arts in some way, but it's only an assumption. Roth gave his own take on the film and work of the RZA.

“This movie will have everything martial arts fans could want, combined with RZA's superb musical talent. The project has been his dream for years, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it. And fans should know that yes, there will be blood…This ain't no PG-13.”

Somewhat wet behind the ears, the producer has been in the driver's seat before as a director. Although it ever came to the public eye, he once directed and starred in a film for his alter ego, Bobby Digital. Feeling that the flick did not match up to standards, it was never released, but he has stated that he still has it. In the past, the producer opened the doors to provide details on the work.

“I still got it. I made it. Actually, I did like two 45-minute episodes. The Bobby Digital character, he's a superhero at one point, right. But then he's also just this f*cking guy in the streets at another point. I did one episode based on like, '89. I did one episode that was supposed to be like 10 years later. I've still got a lot of faith in the character. I'm hoping to maybe get a comic-book deal or something.”

In related news, with the announcement fro Quentin Tarantino of the third installment in the Kill Bill series, there is a possibility that RZA will have his hand in the cookie jar. Although details have been scarce, RZA was a major part in the first two films as he produced, scored and orchestrated many scenes for the films.

It seems that rap money may stretch long, but that movie money has no bounds.

[Jimbo]

really? romeo must die and that other one he did with dmx were good? i thought they were the sh*t. as in Sh*t coming out of my a**.

Agreed. Especially that second one, I can't even remember the name of it.

IMO, though I really like Jet Li, he's one of the last people who should play a 'Romeo' or romantic lead character (Jackie Chan is another). Jet acts very awkward and distant onscreen around female love-interest characters.

Though I'm not a Hip-Hop fan, I felt the best uses of it in MA films were in European films like near the end of Kiss of the Dragon, and maybe District B13(?).

[GeneChing]

From the L.A. Times...

RZA's new rap: filmmaker (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-rza3-2010jan03,0,1593639.story)
After years of tutelage under Tarantino and other masters, the student is ready to direct his first movie.
By Chris Lee
January 3, 2010

Call the RZA hip-hop's foremost alchemist. The self-professed former drug dealer-turned-Grammy-winning rapper-producer has defied all odds to spin not lead into gold, but démodé pop culture and arcane philosophical beliefs into platinum disc upon platinum disc.

And now, after spending years under the tutelage of several high-profile filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, he's preparing to unleash his unique mash-up sensibility on the big screen, in a project that will be part chop-socky flick, part spaghetti western and all RZA.

As founding father of the hard-core Staten Island rap collective Wu-Tang Clan, RZA (pronounced "rizza," given name: Robert Diggs) conflated the spiritual enlightenment found in '70s kung fu movies with racially incendiary teachings from the Five-Percent Nation of Islam, adding to the mix references to Taoism and comic books, numerology and snippets of mafia don movie dialogue, articulating a plaintive yet hard-bitten ghetto cri de coeur.

The upshot was an almost unparalleled string of hits that started with the Clan's epochal 1993 debut LP, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)," and encompasses such releases as Method Man's multiplatinum-selling "Tical," Raekwon the Chef's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx . . ." (widely regarded as one of hip-hop's greatest albums) and Ol' Dirty *******'s gold-selling "Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version," another ranking rap classic.

But after the Wu's tightly knit fabric started to unravel around 2004, RZA began to focus more on film. In recent years, he has been scoring such movies as "Blade: Trinity" and making cameo appearances in Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" and other films. His encyclopedic knowledge of Hong Kong cinema notwithstanding, the producer didn't have any particular ambition to set moviedom on fire. Until, that is, he got a fateful phone call from then-Miramax Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein.

"Hey RZA, it's Harvey," the RZA recalled, lapsing into a raspy imitation of Weinstein's cigarette-seasoned growl. "I want you to be in my movie. You got a new career now."

Since that appearance with Clive Owen in 2005's "Derailed," RZA has built a respectable filmography with small roles in a number of high-profile, big-budget studio movies, among them Judd Apatow's "Funny People" and Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," as well as a turn in "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips' upcoming comedy, "Due Date," and Paul Haggis' "The Next Three Days" -- a role that reunited him with "Gangster" co-star Russell Crowe.

"I'm working up in the movie business," RZA said. "Maybe in the movie business, I'm working down. How long are you going to be a celebrity? I like the art. I like how it feels to act."

So do such other rappers-turned-actors as LL Cool J, Common, Xzibit, Ludacris, DMX, Ice Cube and even Snoop Dogg. But befitting the producer's magpie ability to glean and repackage cultural stimuli from across the high-low divide, RZA says his acting efforts are in the service of his next career act: a move behind the camera.

With no small amount of backup from a cadre of top-flight filmmakers -- including independent cinema luminary Jarmusch and Hong Kong action movie ace John Woo, but most significantly, Tarantino -- the RZA-rector, as he is sometimes known, is now in final preparations for his debut as a writer-director, "The Man With the Iron Fist." And unlike the fates of some musicians' directorial efforts (say, Madonna's "Filth and Wisdom" or Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst's "The Education of Charlie Banks"), RZA's movie industry backers swear he has the right combination of creativity, chutzpah and discipline to achieve liftoff at the box office.

Planned as a genre-busting opening salvo to the industry, the movie is being produced by "torture porn" poster boy Eli Roth, the writer-director of such low-cost, high-yield horror films as "Hostel" and "Hostel: Part II."

(For the time being, though, both filmmakers prefer to remain mum on specific plot points, although Roth allows that "Man With the Iron Fist" should appeal to "an audience that's hungry for kung fu but not grindhouse. Something that's modern, like 'Blade.' ")

"RZA is such a creative fountain. The script is great, he's got characters, jokes. What he does with lyrics, he does with dialogue," Roth said. "And he's done such a great mix: spaghetti western, kung fu, modern fighting infused with hip-hop and multiculture. He has this whole comic book universe figured out. I know he's going to make a brilliant film."

Of course, none of it would be possible without Tarantino, who godfathered Roth's "Hostel" into production as an executive producer and introduced the filmmaker to RZA. A longtime admirer of Wu-Tang Clan's sonic mélange, with his own deeply felt appreciation for the Shaolin monk movie cannon, Tarantino first hired RZA to create the electro-ambient, quasi-hip-hop score for his two-volume kung fu drama " Kill Bill." But their working relationship didn't end there. Tarantino has allowed the RZA to soak up production know-how on the set of every movie he's done since 2003.

Tarantino said he identifies with the hip-hop producer's skill in macromanaging the nine Clan members' unwieldy energies into a cohesive form. "You have to understand that even though they're very different, being a producer on a record is not too different from being a director of film -- especially with something like Wu-Tang Clan," Tarantino said. "All these guys have their different contributions. Everyone has a say. But ultimately, the album is RZA's decision. That's very similar to what a director does. It's a lot like how I was influenced by Phil Spector."

Still, RZA says he would not make the move into filmmaking without Tarantino's explicit blessing.

"Tarantino is my teacher," RZA said solemnly, echoing -- whether intentionally or not -- the kind of dialogue you'd hear in a martial-arts film. "I've watched hundreds of movies with him and spent hundreds of hours learning craft from him. I'm a disciple of Tarantino."

He continued: "When Eli said, 'I want to help you make your movie,' we had to go to Quentin. The teacher. He said, 'You and Eli are ready. You have my blessing.' "

'The Tao of Wu'

Spend an afternoon with the RZA and, as any of his moviemaking consigliere will attest, you'll be hard-pressed not to be bowled over by the breadth of his polymathic learning. Conversation ricochets between electrical innovator Nikola Tesla and an extended recitation of what Five-Percent Nation of Islam followers call "the knowledge," from the travails of Job to RZA's sober recollection of fleeing New York's meanest streets with a stolen gold necklace, a Koran and a gun -- a story the producer elaborates on in his recently published memoir-spiritual enlightenment guide, "The Tao of Wu."

There's a 2nd page but I kept getting an error message when trying to get there.

[GeneChing]

I couldn't find the original WENN interview, but I only took the web search one page in...

8 January 2010 22:01
RZA - ROTH: 'RZA'S KUNG FU FILM WILL BE THE FIRST OF MANY' (http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/roth-rzas-kung-fu-film-will-be-the-first-of-many_1129098)

Rapper RZA's new kung-fu film looks set to become a major movie franchise - if producer ELI ROTH has his way.
The filmmaker and Inglourious Basterds star has teamed up with the Wu-Tang Clan star, real name Robert Diggs, to make The Man With The Iron Fist - and Roth is convinced his pal will be able to turn the film into a series of cult hits.
He tells WENN, "RZA's one of the smartest, most creative people I have ever met. He's obsessed with movies the same way Quentin and I are, and his knowledge of the kung fu genre is nothing short of astounding. He knows everything, and everyone in it, and he's on a mission to reinvent the genre he loves.
"We worked together on the script all summer, and we have watched and discussed many, many movies. He's already got the soundtrack figured out. He understands every detail of the world.
"It's going to be something spectacular, unique, and original that stays true both to the genre and to RZA's fans. It's a really fun script. We see this film as the first step in a franchise."

[GeneChing]

RZA's 'Man With The Iron Fist' Kung Fu Film Gets Picked Up! (http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/05/07/rzas-man-with-the-iron-fist-kung-fu-film-gets-picked-up/)
May 7, 2010
Source: Deadline
by Alex Billington

If you're a long-time reader, you'll know that a project I've been following is Wu-Tang Clan member RZA's kung fu project that he wrote with Eli Roth called The Man With The Iron Fist (although Deadline refers to it as Fists with the extra "s"). The good news is that Universal is making a deal to finance and distribute RZA's project, which means it'll finally start shooting later this year. The bad news is that it's Universal, who will probably mess with the film and screw up the marketing. Oh well. RZA will also play the title character, a blacksmith who forges weapons for the inhabitants of a village in feudal China, and will also direct this.

Universal is giving them a budget of under $20 million which he'll use to shoot this in September in Hong Kong. It's described as a "stylized martial arts film" and RZA will produce the soundtrack as well as star in and direct this. Eli Roth explains how fully immersed RZA has been in this: "While I was away shooting Inglourious Basterds, RZA went to China to shoot test footage on his own, with all the choreography. It was very visual and I think he will bring to life a script that mixes kung fu with a spaghetti western mindset and a hip hop influence." That just sounds awesome. "RZA has imagined every tribe, every fighting style, every costume," Roth said. "He knows kung fu like I know horror." And that's why I can't wait to see this!

The Man With the Iron Fist (or Fists, if that's true) will be a "bloody R rated martial arts extravaganza" that RZA developed after studying Quentin Tarantino for a few years and working with Roth. He's really putting everything into this, not only in the script, but for his feature directing debut. "I'm going to tell you that we put a lot of time into the script, a lot of energy into it, a lot of people were supporting me on it, and if the energy comes out right, it should be a classic film to have in your library." I hope that's the case! Stay tuned for more updates and potential casting coming down the road. Anyone else just as excited to see this?
I'd love to see that test footage.

[doug maverick]

from what i hear from friends of mine rza has tons of stuff he shoots up in wu mountain as he calls it and he keeps it all locked away if you asked him gene he probably would show it to you. whats important here is that this movie is happening and it has a realistic budget that could net universal a nice tidy profit, so sequels are not out of the question. if it works it could boost up ma movies in the states. also we finally know what the hell this movie is about.lol

[GeneChing]

RZA was in town with the Wu-Tang Clan on the Rock the Bells tour. He was kind enough to hook me up with a backstage. Rock the Bells is a big festival, so we didn't really talk that much. There were throngs of reporters and fans trying to get to him. I just congratulated him on getting bank for this project and he just grinned back.

[doug maverick]

this is f ucking Giant news, RZA and crowe must have really become close, cause i couldnt imagine the pay cut crow had to take, but im pretty sure they bumped the budget up to at least 30mil to give crow ten, and then he'll make the rest of his quote on the back end, plus some points.
Russell Crowe Unleashes Kung Fu Moves!

Today 5:00 PM PDT by Marc Malkin
russell crowe, RZA Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Russell Crowe is going to be kung fu fighting...with a hip-hop star!

Read on for my exclusive scoop about the Oscar-winner's new movie gig...

Hip-hop artist and actor RZA tells me that Crowe has signed on to costar with him in The Man With the Iron Fist, a kung fu flick the Wu-Tang Clan founder is also directing.

RZA will play a weapons-making village blacksmith in feudal China—and as for Crowe, RZA doesn't want to say too much.

"I won't spoil it for you, but Russell's gonna be the baddest man alive," he told me yesterday at the VMAs. "That man is in fighting shape. That man will knock you out."

The Man With the Iron Fist (no relation to the Marvel Comic superhero Iron Fist) starts shooting in Shanghai in December. "It's nerve-wracking," RZA said of directing Crowe. "He's a master of the craft. I'm quite sure that I may learn something from him."

Crowe and RZA worked together three years ago in Ridley Scott's American Gangster. They even recorded a song together, but Gangster producers decided not to include it on the movie's soundtrack. Both are also in the upcoming The Next Three Days from director Paul Haggis.

The Wu-Tang Clan founder began developing the project about five years ago with the help of Quentin Tarantino and director/actor Eli Roth, the latter now a cowriter and coproducer of the flick.

Universal reportedly green lighted Iron Fist in May with a $20 million budget


Read more: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/marc_malkin/b200173_russell_crowe_unleashes_kung_fu_moves.html ?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=imdb_topstories#ixzz0zTfsdMJ0



gene man im telling you need to make sure you guys have a man with the iron fist exclusive issue, with crowe and rza on the cover...sure to boost sales. since rza is playing a weapon blacksmith it could be a weapons special issue.


P.S. i scooped gene...doug FTW...lol

[ghostexorcist]

this is f ucking Giant news, RZA and crowe must have really become close, cause i couldnt imagine the pay cut crow had to take, but im pretty sure they bumped the budget up to at least 30mil to give crow ten, and then he'll make the rest of his quote on the back end, plus some points.



gene man im telling you need to make sure you guys have a man with the iron fist exclusive issue, with crowe and rza on the cover...sure to boost sales. since rza is playing a weapon blacksmith it could be a weapons special issue.


P.S. i scooped gene...doug FTW...lol

Sounds like an interesting movie, but I'm confused to how a black man is a village blacksmith in feudal China. I guess it could be an Afro Samurai sort of situation where time and race doesn't matter.

[GeneChing]

China has had trade with Africa since the 1st century CE via the Silk Road so it's possible for a black blacksmith to have existed in feudal China. But it's a kung fu movie. Since when does kung fu movies worry that much about historical accuracy? :rolleyes:

[doug maverick]

China has had trade with Africa since the 1st century CE via the Silk Road so it's possible for a black blacksmith to have existed in feudal China. But it's a kung fu movie. Since when does kung fu movies worry that much about historical accuracy? :rolleyes:

agreed...this movie seems to be in the same fantasy world as kill bill....crowes addition definitely brings weight to the project, and means that it will get a nice wide release. now that he has his obligatory white guy, lol. i cant wait to see who he cast in the rest of the roles hopefully we get alot of cool kung fu legend up in there.

[ghostexorcist]

China has had trade with Africa since the 1st century CE via the Silk Road so it's possible for a black blacksmith to have existed in feudal China. But it's a kung fu movie. Since when does kung fu movies worry that much about historical accuracy? :rolleyes:
The African trade was was presided over by middlemen. I have never read anything about black merchants from this time traveling to China. As far as I know, China's first direct contact with Africa was via the journey of the eunuch Zheng He during the Ming. The descriptions of Africa and its people from Chinese records prior to this were derived from hearsay from foreign merchants.

African slaves were first brought to China during the Tang Dynasty by Arab slave traders. Only the rich had direct contact with them, so the common folk developed fanciful tales about them being supernatural beings with inhuman strength and magical abilities (there is even a small literary genre dedicated to them). During the Song Dynasty, however, commoners had more contact with the slaves and saw them for what they were: scared people in a foreign land. They were known as Kunlun (崑崙) and "devil slaves." (I actually sent the RZA an email about this material and the journal paper I found it in several years ago on Myspace. Whether he read the email is unclear to me. He probably has an assistant who screens his emails. They may not have been a history buff, so they might have just assumed I pulled the info out of my ass and deleted the email. Either way, I like to think--in my own deranged view of the world--that I influenced this movie in some small way.)

My knowledge on the subject seems to contradict my questioning of a black man in Feudal China. But the reason I questioned his position as a village blacksmith is because African slaves were traditionally treated as work mules. It seems like a blacksmith would be an important social position (then again, I might just be thinking about their counterparts in the American frontier). I think an African slave serving in such a position is a stretch considering their social status in ancient China. However, I realize this is a movie and doesn't have to be accurate. Like I stated above, Afro Samurai is set in a land where race doesn't matter.

We all know that Crowe is capable of kicking someone's ass, so I doubt this movie will be a stretch for him. I look forward to watching it.

[doug maverick]

i think youll have to suspend your disbelief for this film...ya dig?

[ghostexorcist]

i think youll have to suspend your disbelief for this film...ya dig?


However, I realize this is a movie and doesn't have to be accurate. Like I stated above, Afro Samurai is set in a land where race doesn't matter.

I'm hip daddio.

[GeneChing]

Topel gets some great answers out of RZA on this.

Exclusive: RZA on 'The Man with the Iron Fist' (http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/film/article/exclusive-rza-on-the-man-with-the-iron-fist-113109)
The Wu-Tang producer and director on his new film, 'The Man with the Iron Fist'.
by Fred Topel
Sep 30, 2010

The RZA presented Yuen Woo-Ping with a lifetime achievement award at Fantastic Fest for his legendary career directing and choreographing martial arts movies. On stage, Master Woo-Ping asked RZA to come to the set of his next film. True Legend is the latest Woo-Ping film to enter RZA’s martial arts vocabulary. While it was screening, he sat with us to talk about his upcoming martial arts film The Man with the Iron Fist starring Russell Crowe.

Crave Online: What are your favorite Yuen Woo Ping movies?

RZA: Man, there’s too many to say my favorite but I love a lot of them. You’ve got Dance of the Drunken Mantis. Of course Drunken Master and Dance of the Drunken Mantis. You’ve got to check out films like The Buddist Fist. That’s a great one. Of course, Legend of a Fighter. That film right there, the fights in that film, I’ll watch that film like over 20 times. My whole family loves that film. We’ve got so many classics that we watch. Then when you start moving up to the ‘90s with Jet Li movies with the Once Upon A Time in China, then he kept going on and came out here and did The Matrix and Kill Bill for us and a few other great ones. He hasn’t stopped rocking the world with his style.

Crave Online: Will you ask him to choreograph The Man with the Iron Fist?

RZA: Man, if I could get something like that to happen, I’m going to ask. I know he’s a very busy man. He’s in high demand and this movie here, True Legend, I’ve got it on DVD of course. You know New Yorkers, they bootleg everything. I wish I could see it in 3D because you know it was in 3D in Asia. Anyway, this film is another great, great, great add on his collection. It’s the first film he directed in 13 years. Actually watching that film gave me more knowledge of what to do nowadays because his style has changed and progressed over the years. I just hope I do a good job. If I get him to help me, man, I’m already hitting a home run if I get him to help me.

Crave Online: Will you accept Master Woo-Ping’s offer to come work with him?

RZA: Yeah, yeah. If I can just drop in and watch him work and pick up some knowledge, if my time permits, I’m there.

Crave Online: The writer Vern has observed that we have less martial artists making movies now and more actors training just for the choreography of a given film. Do you think we’re losing the authentic trained martial artists in film?

RZA: I guess in some ways you could say that because it’s an act. Even myself, when you see me do martial arts in a film, I’m acting. One thing I think is whether you’re acting or not, when you even go through the training, you learn a discipline, you learn something. I watched Uma when she was doing Kill Bill. She picked up some knowledge whether she wanted to or not. She whipped herself into shape because she did it right after she had a baby. Whether you call her a black belt or a brown belt or whatever you want to call her, she had to pick up some knowledge to make the film look authentic. Now what I’m doing for my film, if I can talk about myself, what I am doing is I’m hiring real martial artists along with actors. So I think it should always be a blend. You should definitely always mix a few real guys in with some of the acting guys so that you can give the appreciation back to the real martial art world, but you’re also making a movie.

Crave Online: Russell Crowe is known for his extensive training. How into martial arts is he getting?

RZA: Well, we’re going to see. He’s a very intensive guy. He’s a unique individual, very smart dude. I don’t like talking about him too much because he shared a lot of personal things with me and we spent a lot of personal time together. I spent some weeks with him out on his farm in Australia, right? Some mornings he’ll wake me up, “Hey Bobby, come on, let’s go do some yoga.” I don't know what to say about that but we sit there, we do it and we get a good workout, we get a good sweat. He did some moves I was like, “****, Russell,” he had to show me how to do this ****. So he’s a serious man. He’s a master of his craft and he gets really involved with what he does so I’m sure he’s going to get really involved in this and he’s going to deliver something to us that’s going to please us.

Crave Online: Will you still have an opportunity to do fantasy wirework?

RZA: You’ve got to include that of course but you look at Crouching Tiger sometimes, one thing about wirework, my opinion, is that years later it looks like wirework. On the first few watches it’s like yeah, cool, cool but five years later, it starts looking like Peter Pan and sh*t. So how can you do it and make it last the test of time. I haven’t figured that out yet but I’m looking to try to figure that out as well as a director.

Crave Online: Are you thinking period or modern day?

RZA: I think mine is based in a unique time period and unique place. My movie is fiction. I will just say that. It is fiction so I got a chance to play around.

Crave Online: Would it incorporate the theme of avenging a master and training?

RZA: Well, we always see those in the kung fu flicks but I think one edge I have, one additive I’ve got I think is the quest for freedom. What about that quest of man? Sometimes you watch a movie like 36th Chamber which is one of my favorite kung fu films, you’ll see that his quest for revenge, he actually found himself on a quest of enlightenment. He didn’t plan on the enlightenment. He planned on learning how to fight for revenge and the enlightenment was a blessing that actually helped him change the rest of the world. His lust for revenge caused us to be enlightened. That’s more unique than just fighting somebody, killing him and he’s dead. Somebody’s going to come kill you next, right?

Crave Online: You must have thought of a 37th and 38th chamber though.

RZA: I’ve got a couple of ideas. There is actually a training sequence in my film. Being it’s fiction, I get to play with it and I think I’ll play with it in a way that we appreciate. When we go and see The Matrix and the idea is he put a chip in his mind and he went to this virtual world and in one day he knew kung fu. But we believed it. We believed that if you put a chip in your head, a computer chip, connected to your neurosystem, you’ll be able to learn something instantly like a computer does. A computer makes music for us and it doesn’t f***ing have fingers. There’s something about Chi energy that I have a theory about Chi energy that all martial artists say. They say Chi energy should be able to extend from your body to your weapon. And if you are a master, that means this weapon is more like an extension of your arm. That particular theory I’m working on. It has to become an extension of your own body and how you do that mentally. How does Bruce Lee deliver 700 or 1000 lbs. or force in a one inch punch? What is he really hitting you with? Is he hitting you with his fist or something else? That’s the myth about martial arts anyway, when you see these guys breaking rocks or you see young kids laying on nails. What’s really protecting them? I tap into that in my film.

Crave Online: Will you do the score?

RZA: I don't know. I don't think so. I’ll say this, I’d rather say this now. I’ve asked, I’ve tried to hire somebody to handle the music for me and his name is Quentin Tarantino. So he said if his time permits, he’d handle the music. I did the music for him, and I was like, “Yo, do the music for me. You have to help me out with the music so I at least know that it’s in good hands.”

Crave Online: What’s your perspective on the Tony Jaa situation?

RZA: Tony’s amazing, man. I had a chance to meet him personally, hang out with him. I hear a lot of rumors about his situation and things like that. All I know is that he’s a pure talent, a unique talent for the world. One day, I told Tony, I met him about five years ago, I said, “Between five and 10 years, we’re going to do something together” and I’m still pushing for that.

Crave Online: You did on the American release of The Protector.

RZA: I mean, I think we’re going to get on the screen together. When they did The Protector, I was supposed to have gone over and done a cameo appearance. I was so busy and Thailand is such a long flight and I didn’t do it and I regretted it.

Crave Online: But do you think he’ll come back?

RZA: Yeah, I think Tony’ll come back. I think Tony loves what he does. He might not love who he does it for.

[mickey]

Greetings,

It has already been proven via dna testing that there was a sudden appearance of Africans in China around 12 thousand years ago.

RZA tends to drop knowledge in very strange ways. He is always on point.

mickey

[GeneChing]

According to IMDB (http://www.imdb.com), Cung Le and Dave Batista are now attached to this project.

[GeneChing]

Didn't know the RZA had a cameo in this...

The RZA, now in auteur flavor (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/11/rza-russell-crowe-man-iron-first-kung-fu.html)
November 23, 2010 | 7:00 am
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0147e01700d2970b-500wi
Rza

His movie may not have exactly attracted a huge audience this weekend. But the RZA, the Wu-Tang pioneer who co-stars with Russell Crowe in "The Next Three Days," took another step toward crossover fame with his turn as a violence-embracing drug dealer in the Paul Haggis film.

It's a bit of a different turn than the hip-hop star's other roles -- say, as a member of the police force in another Russell Crowe movie, "American Gangster."

"It was a cool thing to do, a chance to bring out some toughness and a chance to be the aggressor," the RZA says of his new part.

The Staten Island, N.Y., Grammy winner says that the movie, set in a tough part of Pittsburgh not far from where he spent a part of his childhood, hit a little close to home. "Some of the scenes we shot were in a place called the Hill, and as we're walking through, we're seeing a lot of people living in poverty. And I thought, 'I lived in that kind of poverty.' I ran into a guy I knew who did time in jail."

The music star is now putting himself on a different kind of hot seat -- that of director -- as he prepares to shoot "The Man With the Iron Fist," a martial-arts film he wrote with Eli Roth that will be set and shot in China, and that Crowe will star in. "It's 10 times the focus, 10 times the pressure of putting out an album," the RZA says. "Also 10 times the blame.'

The singer-turned-director says that it's the attention to detail that's been keeping him up nights. "There are so many meticulous things you have to pay attention to. I'm loving it. But I see why some directors do it every two or three years. It's not for the meek."

But those hoping to see a return to the screen for the hip-hop artist may be in for a disappointment:; RZA says that, at the moment, he doesn't plan on starring in the kung-fu film. "I'm Captain Kirk," he said. "If I can find Mr. Spock, I can beam down. But for now I gotta stay in the bridge."

-- Steven Zeitchik

[doug maverick]

figured it was more then a cameo, since they use his name in the trailer, right after russel and banks.

[doug maverick]

most interesting thing we got from that article is this...RZA is not starring in the film.

[GeneChing]

I almost posted this on the Chollywood Rising (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57225)thread given the source.

Iron Fists shoot underway in China (http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/iron-fists-shoot-underway-in-china)
By Patrick Frater
Tue, 11 January 2011, 10:34 AM (HKT)
Production News

Production is now underway in China on The Man With The Iron Fists, a period martial arts thriller being directed by RZA, the US hip hop musician-turned-actor and co-founder of The Wu-Tang Clan.

The cast includes Russell Crowe and RZA as the title character, a blacksmith who forges weapons for the inhabitants of a village in feudal China. They are forced to defend themselves. Corey Yuen (Transporter) is directing the action sequences.

The $20 million film to be distributed by Universal Pictures also features a large Asian-American contingent including Lucy Liu, Daniel Wu, Byron Mann (Streetfighter, The Corruptor, pictured), Osric Chau (What Women Want) and Darren Scott (aka Darren Choo, Romeo Must Die). Crowe is expected to arrive in China at the end of the months and stay on set through February.

The Man With The Iron Fists’s screenplay is written by RZA and Eli Roth (Hostel).

Production is by RZA, Roth and Marc Abraham through Strike Entertainment. Filming has begun at the Hengdian World Studios and will continue until the end of February with a shift of location to Shanghai.

Production services in China are provided through Champion Star, a company associated with Bill Kong (江志強). As distributor of Universal’s studio titles in Hong Kong and China, Kong has previously assisted other Universal productions in the region including The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

[GeneChing]

We were corresponding over the article I did with him in the upcoming March April 2011 issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59589). I usually don't share emails publicly, but I think Cung is okay with stuff that's buzzworthy.


I am still in China filming with Wong Kar Wai and Rza The Man with the Iron Fist. Russell Crowe and a really great cast. I am killing it out here.

I suppose this could go on the Grandmaster (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53227) thread too...:rolleyes:

[GeneChing]

Just got a call from Cung in China. I sent him the article via email and he caught a mistake. RZA is directing this obviously. I wrote Eli Roth was directing. Totally my bad. How embarrassing. :o

[doug maverick]

lucky he caught that...you almost sent everything into a uproar. everyone's positivity would have turned if roth was directing.

[GeneChing]

I'm rather shaken that I made that error. I'm not even sure how that happened. I seldom make errors like that.

Catching Up with Cung Le By Gene Ching
March/April 2011 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=944)

[Syn7]

gene gene gene... what are we gonna do now... ya done fukced up the whole program... tsk tsk tsk...



no big deal, man, sh1t gets missed in editting all the time... the world will continue to move foreward... im sure...


so do you gotta do the whole retraction "we regret to inform" thang next time out???

[GeneChing]

Not the first time, for sure. It's one of the pitfalls of print. :o

[@PLUGO]

Foxy Brown herself (actress Pam Grier) is headed out to the land of Shanghai for some stylish martial arts action in Wu-Tang Clan co-founder RZA’s Kung Fu throwback film and directorial debut, The Man With the Iron Fists. (http://screenrant.com/the-man-with-the-iron-fists-pam-grier-sandy-100371/)

[doug maverick]

dont think this story was posted.


Russell Crowe talks about his Iron Fists
13Share22Email16
by "Caffeinated" Clint (Sunday, February 6th, 2011 at 10:42 am)

Russell Crowe left for Shanghai last week to commence filming “The Man with the Iron Fists”, a martial-arts actioner directed by and co-starring musician RZA.

Out stumping “The Next Three Days” down under, Crowe told The Herald-Sun that RZA aka Bobby Diggs didn’t have to beg the studio or himself to do his chop-suey flick.

“Bobby’s been a martial arts enthusiast his whole life and Universal has given him a $20 million budget to live out his martial arts fantasy,” Crowe says.

Crowe says the rapper has come to Australia to do various favours, including some for his rugby league team, South Sydney.

“Imagine that the team walks into the studio and RZA from Wu-Tang Clan is there to teach them how to rap,” he says.

“You have to repay the favours in life, you know.

“So when The Man With the Iron Fists came up, I accepted it. It’s an opportunity for me to have fun.”

Over at The Courier Mail, Crowe talks a little about the character he’ll be playing in the film (written by RZA and Eli Roth).

Does he have to get very fit for it?

“No, not at all,” Crowe replies. “I’m not doing the martial arts.”

That may be news to RZA. Interviewed last year about Crowe’s role, he said “Russell’s gonna be the baddest man alive…That man is in fighting shape. That man will knock you out.”

The film, which stars RZA as the title character, a blacksmith who forges weapons for the inhabitants of a village in feudal China when they are forced to defend themselves, has also attracted the likes of ‘Charlies Angel’ Lucy Liu, Daniel Wu and Byron Mann (“Red Corner”).

[GeneChing]

I swapped a few emails w/RZA. He mentioned he might have some announcement about this project dropping in the next few weeks - perhaps the release date.

Roth: Crowe went wild in Iron Fist (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/roth-crowe-went-wild-in-iron-fist-16028692.html)
Wednesday, 27 July 2011

Russell Crowe "went wild" in The Man With The Iron Fist, producer Eli Roth has revealed.

The Robin Hood star plays a character called Jacknife in the martial arts film, directed, co-produced and co-written by Wu-Tang Clan's RZA.

"The whole movie wasn't on Crowe's shoulders, so he was free just to step in and go completely insane... he just went wild with it," the Hostel director told The Guardian.

"Basically, it's a kung fu Star Wars movie. You think he is just a stranger passing through town, but in the opening scene, Crowe makes a very big statement with his knife."

Eli previously revealed how contrary to his fiery reputation, Russell is actually a "sweetie pie".

"Nobody believes this but I say Russell Crowe is an absolute sweetie pie," he said.

"He was fantastic, he was great and really funny and really cool. It's like I am outing him as a really sweet and easy-going guy. He was hilarious, and we had such a fun time making the movie."

The Man With The Iron Fist, which also stars Lucy Liu and Pam Grier, is set for release later this year.

[doug maverick]

i think this movie is gonna start a trend that the matrix and kill bill started a trend i would like to call "martial punk". also lets not the forget the afro samurai live action movie has been greenlit. its gonna be a good next couple of years for kung fu fusion films or "martial punk".

[GeneChing]

There will probably be a great director's cut version.

Jamie Chung on RZA's The Man with the Iron Fists (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=84643)
Source: ComingSoon.net
November 28, 2011
http://comingsoon.net/nextraimages/jamiechungironfists.jpg

ComingSoon.net got a chance to talk to Jamie Chung on the set of 7500, Takashi Shimizu's thriller coming next August, and we asked her about starring in RZA's The Man with the Iron Fists.

"The original cut was four hours long and RZA was like, 'Let's turn it into two movies! [Producer] Eli [Roth] was like, 'Eh...'" she said about the project.

She added: "They're really excited and I have complete faith in RZA, he's a genius when it comes to these things and he knows the genre so well. So, it's cut down to an hour and a half. Now he's working on the music. Everyone is stoked but it will have that cool feel like '36th Chamber of Shaolin' or 'Five Deadly Venoms.' It's definitely a delicacy and Russell Crowe is doing some amazing things that you would never see him do in film. It's a fun movie. I think it may come out in August."

Quentin Tarantino also produced the film, which centers on a blacksmith (RZA) in feudal China who makes weapons for a small village. He is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers. Lucy Liu and Pam Grier also star.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I am actually getting excited about this movie.

[GeneChing]

It's in our next issue - our Jan/Feb 2012 - hits the newsstands next week. :cool:

[GeneChing]

...with an exclusive pic from this film, courtesy of RZA himself. :cool:

Kung Fu Gallant (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1020)

[Lucas]

this has a pretty interesting cast line up. im looking forward to seeing this.

[doug maverick]

im actually losing interest..we have no set pics, no trailer....the film is wrapped..and post prod. is wrapped according to russel crow sony execs have watched it, and it was favorable...and yet we dont get **** on this....

[mickey]

Greetings,

It appears that RZA has no real control of his product. I remember that he filmed something else that has yet to see the light of day. When he takes himself to the next level, one involving absolute control, it will be something else.

mickey

[doug maverick]

he does have control over his product are you nuts? he has filmed plenty of projects that he stores away...they've kept this film under heavy wrap. even the editing process..he is the writer, director producer and exec producer on this project..

[doug maverick]

if it wasnt in his control a trailer would have been out already...studios are impatient...ask ang lee

[mickey]

OK, doug maverick,

We will see how this turns out.

mickey

[doug maverick]

OK, doug maverick,

We will see how this turns out.

mickey

RZA is notorious for making films, and then storing them away to never be seen again. but i doubt he can do that with this one.

[doug maverick]

finally somebody says something.....this movie sounds like our type of movie folks. i didnt read the whole review as it contains spoilers just enough to want to watch the movie.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/an-early-look-at-rzas-the-man-with-the-iron-fist


http://www.indiewire.com/static/dims4/INDIEWIRE/5b973ce/4102462740/thumbnail/680x478/http://d1oi7t5trwfj5d.cloudfront.net/a7/8850602c0611e197b6123138165f92/file/rza1.jpgAn Early Look At RZA's "The Man With The Iron Fist" (A Fun Martial Arts/Western Hybrid To Be Proud Of)
News by Tambay | May 29, 2012 10:16 AM
7 Comments

Long-time S&A reader Tony, attended an early audience test-screening in LA of RZA's directorial debut, The Man With The Iron Fists (one of S&A's most anticipated film's of the year); and Tony sent me the below write-up with his thoughts on the film that he saw.

In a nutshell, despite a few hiccups, he really dug it!

Take it away Tony (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD):

This was a picture I had been waiting to see. There hadn't been many on-set photographs, trailers or posters for the film prior to the screening, but there I sat with the first audience to set eyes upon a work I had nervously anticipated - the directorial debut of The Rza, The Man with the Iron Fists.

Having been a huge fan of Grindhouse, the double feature exploitation fests from Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez, I was excited for what I thought would be like a the follow up to those films. Tarantino was to take a break after Kill Bill to do a smaller feature out the states, completely in Mandarin, but nothing became of it. Later Tarantino would branch off to make Grindhouse which featured Eli Roth in Quentin’s half, entitled Death Proof.

The RZA, who scored Tarantino's first volume of Kill Bill, ran into the director during a screening of a Kung Fu film and exchanged their love for the art, which gave QT the idea to have The RZA score Kill Bill.

Some expectations going into Man With The Iron Fists were that the look and feel would be similar to the Pei Mei sequences of Kill Bill Volume 2, with a gritty 16mm vibe. Although Grindhouse, a box office failure, did appear to have a lasting impression like films such as Black Dynamite and Casa De Mi Padre. But, despite the influence of Roth and Tarantino, the grindy, scratched film look is not present in Man With The Iron Fists.

The film opens with a clan inside of what appears to be a small dojo. Slammed across with yellow lettering is "Quentin Tarantino Presents," and above his name is the same in Chinese lettering. Blaring from the speakers are the thumping sounds of a RZA-produced track, while Ol’ Dirty ******* is rapping over the track. Two fighters battle it out with freeze frames in between, to halt the action for the credits. The first thing you notice is the wonderful fight choreography. Not since The Matrix have the fighting scenes appear so beautiful orchestrated. The punches and kicks are well-planned out to make it seem fresh and new.

The RZA plays the narrator of the story, who reveals the plot to the audience; there is a transport of gold and nearly everyone wants it; but it’s up to the Lion Clan to protect their Emperor's possessions.

The Golden Lion is the head, but not for long, as he is extinguished by his cohorts, The Silver and Bronze Lions. Just as this double-cross happens, Golden Lion's son, Zen Yi (Rick Yune) is to be married to his soul mate; but once word reaches him, the wedding is on hold until he can exact his father’s revenge.

With a large sum of gold up for grabs comes an array of characters who want a piece of it, including in a pudgy European gunslinger who goes by “Knife, but you can call him Jack” (played by Russell Crowe). Once Crowe appears, he wholeheartedly steals the film. He has constructed such a character of calm skill that nearly mirrors Val Kilmer’s Doc Holiday in their sly crawl/shuffle just before unleashing all holy hell. Crowe not only shines but appears to be having the time of his life; he delivers a line, “I had one of the best times of my life” and you believe it.

As he strolls in he encounters Madame Blossom (Lucy Liu), the Mistress of the brothel in town. Lucy Liu still appears so young and vibrant, but never seeming as much of a bad ass as she does here. With the click of her wrists, she has control of her girls who are there to ease the pain and tensions of the mean, battered and bruised.

Our narrator, which almost felt like a tie in to Django Unchained (as RZA is listed as a cast member in that film as well), is an escaped slave given his freedom from his master as witnessed by his mother, Pam Grier. Sadly we only catch Pam Grier for a mere few seconds until the end credits (test shots of her chopping at the camera as her name appears). The newly freed slave is cornered while putting on shoes on the hooves of a horse; two whites threatens RZA’s character as they discard his freedom papers. After a light scuffle, which causes one of the men to hit his head on the corner edge of the weld, RZA escapes to the shore and leaves on a ship that crashes on the sands of feudal China. Here he meets Lady Silk (Jamie Chung) and earns his living as a Blacksmith.

The fight erupts over gold as the story unfolds, and an unlikely band of misfits comes together similar to The Good The Bad and The Ugly, with The Blacksmith, Jack Knife & Zen Yi teaming up to oppose the foes of the town. The Blacksmith builds the weapons for the Lions and the Wolf Clan, but as battle wages on, his weapons serve no purpose, as characters develop some unique abilities.

The two baddies that stand out are Dave Bautista who was a wrestler for WWE as Batista and Byron Mann. Bautista plays Brass Body, his already chiseled body can morph into Brass, deflecting blades and breaking his opponents bones on impact. Byron Mann plays the charismatic Silver Lion - he looks a hybrid between David Bowie’s The Goblin King, Prince circa the 80’s and flares of Michael Jackson, with be a fluffed out pompadour, permed out mane. This flamboyant bad ass elicited much laughter from the audience thanks to his hair as well as his mannerisms.

This was a bad ass Kung Fu picture that didn’t take itself too seriously, which threw me off a bit, as I wasn't expecting that.

The action scenes were jaw-dropping and void of the Paul Greengrass school of handheld nausea. This was a beautifully shot motion picture that felt like a Zhang Yimou flick with the lush costumes and set design. There are definitely uproarious moments of laughter, and some slightly campy vibes that are for the film buffs to note (tongue in cheek references). This was an overall great time of pure fun, action and Russell Crowe as a bad ass. Not to mention finally seeing Lucy Liu featured in an action sequence that blows you away. Liu’s Kill Bill felt rushed, but here she is remarkable.

The RZA directs a fun movie, but his acting seemed a bit wooden or so it might appear. His character is a calm, serene Zen type, who spends time mastering his Chi. But his performance was just not as convincing. The climactic battle was wonderful. Jack Knife & Zen Yi battling their respective foes had an insane build up that didn’t quite pull off the desired effect. It felt slightly rushed. Given all the fight staging we'd seen before the finale, these two sequences were a letdown and a waste of some creative gadgets in the ball park of Desperado. Not seeing Zen Yi return to his true love, for their wedding, was slightly cheated.

During the discussion that followed the screening, there were grumbles over the music choices. This put me at odds, as a man literally was offended that The RZA disrespected the culture by not using Asianic music. Think the recent resurgence of martial arts films in the states with Romeo Must Die, Cradle 2 The Grave & War, and the bass infused hip-hop intros to their fight sequences. Aside from that, RZA did use David Bowie’s song “Cat People,” which is not of that time period, but managed to ring in the feeling and emotion of the character.

Fast punches, high kicks, along with mean thug baddies, why not use a pulse heavy hip-hop track. After all the director is a rapper.

I, for one, overly enjoyed the film, and I'm anticipating seeing the film again, and I hope the poster will be similar to the Mondo styles that have be shared across the net lately. A fun thrill ride that is a chop suey mix of fists, laughs, & big hair that crosses martial arts and western beautifully, in a pulp style that Tarantino, Roth & The RZA should be **** proud of.

Given that test screenings are underway, with a fall premiere expected, we should finally get a first look at this flick, via a trailer/teaser, shortly.

[Lucas]

wow, now im really stoked to see this. very promising indeed!

[sanjuro_ronin]

Trailer, or it doesn't exist, LOL !

[GeneChing]

scooped you again gene!! Fair enough, but in my defense, I'm rather distracted (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61402) right now. Also in my defense, I'll mention that I was contacted by RZA's rep about this project yesterday. Not sure what will come of it, if anything, but there you have it. :cool:

[doug maverick]

Fair enough, but in my defense, I'm rather distracted (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61402) right now. Also in my defense, I'll mention that I was contacted by RZA's rep about this project yesterday. Not sure what will come of it, if anything, but there you have it. :cool:

fair enough gene, fair enough lol.

[GeneChing]

https://p.twimg.com/AwXrrPuCMAIaUc9.jpg:large

https://twitter.com/#!/RZA

[Lucas]

Oh fukkk eyeball explosion ftw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bodhi warrior]

Flying eyeballs! Oh yea!

[doug maverick]

https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/575035_10151701106187588_1950871803_n.jpg

oh yeah...!!!! trailer drops tomorrow.

[GeneChing]

Still trawling the web for that trailer to drop. Any moment now...


Posted: Thu., Jun. 28, 2012, 4:00am PT
RZA knows the score -- and more (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118056044)
Wu-Tang Clan co-founder making directorial debut
By Laura Ferreiro

http://images1.variety.com/graphics/photos/_storypics2/rza.jpg
RZA, left, co-wrote, scored and directed Universal’s “The Man With the Iron Fists.”

When Wu-Tang Clan co-founder RZA talks about his score for the film "The Man With the Iron Fists" -- which he also co-wrote and directed -- he lights up. The Grammy-winning producer born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs says he hasn't been as energized about any project since his first album with Wu-Tang back in 1993, and apologizes for "geeking out" as he gushes about the multitude of synthesizers he used to meticulously mimic the sounds of an orchestra.

The film, co-written by RZA and Eli Roth and slated for a fall release with Universal, is set in feudal China and stars Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu. As it happens, RZA didn't originally intend to score the film, and had to be convinced by the film's producers and his buddy, director Quentin Tarantino.

"I finally said, 'OK, I guess I'll be scoring it,'" recalls RZA, who promptly called frequent collaborator Howard Drossin to help him out. "We have a great working relationship, and I said, 'Howard, here we go again. Let's do another film together.' … And so I went into musician mode and started writing different cues and different emotions for the film. I think actually it was a wise idea because really, at the end of the day, who would understand these characters more than me?"

RZA, whose scoring credits include Tarantino's two-volume "Kill Bill" and Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai," took a very different approach to scoring "Fists." Instead of working with an orchestra as he had in the past, he and Drossin used electronics to create most of the orchestral parts.

"We took months and five or six different computers, about seven or eight keyboards, and we emulated an orchestra," RZA explains. "That to me is a special catch to this film: It sounds like we went and hired a big 80-piece orchestra, which we'd done in movies in the past. But we actually did this score electronically. We talked about this with the producers, (and said) 'This may change the game a little bit.' Because without a doubt the electronics reached the level of orchestra."

Listening to score samples, it's difficult to argue. On one cue, which could almost be mistaken for a Howard Shore theme, strings start out softly and swell to a dramatic crescendo, punctuated by horns and Asian instruments. Haunting female vocals and choirs backed by cinematic swells populate much of the rest, as well as complex character themes that Ennio Morricone might have written. ("It's Morricone meets RZA," he chuckles.) Most would never guess it was created by two guys twisting knobs and pushing buttons.

"It takes a lot of know-how," says RZA, who has honed his skills producing successful records for several of his Wu-Tang bandmates, as well as Cypress Hill and Kanye West. "For every one minute of music, it sometimes took two days. So it wasn't easy to do it like that, and there were a lot of crashes on the computers because there are so many different waves and layers on top of things to make it sound real and to give a real string articulation."

Other songs combine classical orchestration with hip-hop and Stax-style soul, as well as mash-ups with RZA's own Wu-Tang. It may seem an odd combo, but RZA pumps up the drums, strings and brass to create an energetic sound ripe for the insertion of raps and heavy beats. Appropriately, RZA says a soundtrack deal is in the works, which will not only include the score but also "some of these score cues revisited with some of today's popular artists."

What's more, RZA employs some clever cinematic tricks he's learned over the years. "If you'll notice, it didn't resolve," he notes after playing back one of the film's main cues. "Even though you have the big brass stabs early in the track, the cue itself doesn't resolve, which is something I learned as a composer after doing a few films. I didn't know that at first because as a musician, you always want to make a resolve -- that's what music does. But in composing, you don't have to have a resolve because the resolve is visual."

Ultimately, RZA hopes the score will add another dimension to the story he's bringing to life on film. He says directing is "the hardest yet most fulfilling" job he's ever done, and he couldn't be more excited for what's to come. "It's Universal's 100th anniversary when this film comes out -- that's gonna be a great reward for me and a great blessing to be a part of it. Also coming up next year in 2013 is the Wu-Tang 20th anniversary. So it feels like the stars lined up for me and I'm just trying my best to stay focused, stay healthy and to make great art for us."

[doug maverick]

hmmm... i dont know how i feel about the trailer if im being completely honest..nice visuals..music and style..but we only get to see little glibs of action..corey yuen is the choreagrapher and thats always a turn off for me...dialogue seemed corny. buuut..freak it..im still seeing it.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/28/the-man-with-the-iron-fists-red-band-trailer-debut

[doug maverick]

watch it twice... i dont know if watching on youtube makes a difference...but the second viewing made me love it,.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOXnTZsaMq0

i think i just hate lucy liu...lol i dont like her in kung fu stuff for some reason..she is very hot and cold with me.

[SimonM]

watch it twice... i dont know if watching on youtube makes a difference...but the second viewing made me love it,.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOXnTZsaMq0

i think i just hate lucy liu...lol i dont like her in kung fu stuff for some reason..she is very hot and cold with me.


Yeah, want to see this movie but not feeling Lucy Liu either.

[doug maverick]

Yeah, want to see this movie but not feeling Lucy Liu either.

ive only liked her in lucky number slevin..and kill bil vol 1. thats it... she ruined the afro samurai sequel for me.

[SimonM]

I couldn't stand her in Kill Bill.

[Lucas]

i actually liked her role in ecks vs sever

[doug maverick]

I couldn't stand her in Kill Bill.

i think i liked the character more then i liked her..lol but again with the exception of slevin..she always makes me feel she is just reading lines, like the words arent her own... she always always takes me out of the story.

[Lucas]

i think i liked the character more then i liked her..lol but again with the exception of slevin..she always makes me feel she is just reading lines, like the words arent her own... she always always takes me out of the story.

ya thats how i would put it. the animated portion of her character was my favorite part....besides beheading that guy in the yakuza meeting...that was just awesome.

[SimonM]

with the exception of slevin..she always makes me feel she is just reading lines, like the words arent her own... she always always takes me out of the story.

100% agreed.

[Lucas]

100% agreed.

she looks like a totaly ditz too...that kind of blows a portion of it for me in her performances. she brings that ditz look into every role imo.

[GeneChing]

I feel ya on Lucy. Although I talked to Cung about this and he said that he was originally supposed to do a fight scene with Russell, but Russell bowed out, so RZA swapped that with a fight with Lucy. You shoulda seen Cung's grin. ;)

[sanjuro_ronin]

Meh....got mixed feelings on this.
If I see it, it'll be out of curiosity more than anything else.

[doug maverick]

Meh....got mixed feelings on this.
If I see it, it'll be out of curiosity more than anything else.

watch it twice sanjuro.. if you read my first post i was like..eh...second viewing i liked it much more.

[sanjuro_ronin]

watch it twice sanjuro.. if you read my first post i was like..eh...second viewing i liked it much more.

Watched it over and even watched some of the other clips and such.
Meh...
Of course I have never been a fan of the "overly fantasy" MA genre, so...
Like I said, more out of curiosity than anything else at this point.

[Lucas]

who wouldnt want to fight lucy?!? :eek:

[sanjuro_ronin]

who wouldnt want to fight lucy?!? :eek:

She would be no match form my "million licks" technique, or my "thunder C0ck pounds the moist valley" form !

[Lucas]

She would be no match form my "million licks" technique, or my "thunder C0ck pounds the moist valley" form !

lol poor lucy

[sanjuro_ronin]

lol poor lucy

I have broken many with these techniques and only the brave come back for more !!
Asian women tend to be to accustomed to "smaller" weaponry and the sheer terror in their eyes when I unleashed my "iron anaconda" on them makes all the training worth while !!
:D

[SimonM]

Head
.
.
.
.
Desk
.
.
.
.
Done.

[Lucas]

ha!!!!!!!!!

[SimonM]

I have never been a fan of the "overly fantasy" MA genre.

The "overly fantasy" martial arts movies include my very favourite movies and my least-favourite movies in the martial arts genre.

EX: I LOVED Detective Dee.
I HATED Wuji

[Lucas]

EX: I LOVED Detective Dee.
I HATED Wuji

detective dee was an awesome movie. i just rewatched that last weekend and had just as much fun watching it the second time as i did the first.

[Hebrew Hammer]

This is what I'm talking about...Lucy Lui is freaking delicious...certain women are hot, some are sexy and that's what Lucy is to me...sexxxy. In everything I've seen her in...I think I need some alone time right now. Don't hate on my girl, she's got a great ass and Amer/Asians rule.

The film looks fun, I like the premise of exotic weapons, that's the another great thing about Kung Fu is that it has such a wide variety of weaponry to choose from.

[doug maverick]

there was some debate about the references from the movie on facebook..many of us got the kid with the golden arm references... but i think killer clans is the back bone of the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBchNFW0JcY&list=FLHWonWogE3x4lajuMCD2CCQ&index=1&feature=plpp_video

i just watched this movie..and alot of the references in the trailer were in this movie.

[GeneChing]

7/03/2012 @ 8:07AM |401 views
RZA and Tarantino's 'The Man With The Iron Fists' Will Be First Kung-Fu, Hip Hop Blockbuster (http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/07/03/rza-and-tarantinos-the-man-with-the-iron-fists-will-be-first-kung-fu-hip-hop-blockbuster/)

A great hip hop producer can put together a bunch of talented artists with unique personalities and craft a beat that brings out the best in all of them. It’s like a game of chess, played many moves in advance. Making a blockbuster movie is just like that—just add a few boards to the multi-dimensional chess game.

One such producer is making one such movie and from the trailer and attendent buzz it looks like it will indeed be a blockbuster. Or, as much of a blockbuster as an R-rated, Kung-Fu parody with a hip hop soundtrack can be. This ain’t no “Toy Story”!

“The Man with the Iron Fists,” is the directorial debut of RZA, mastermind of hip hop supergroup, The Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang elevated Kung Fu movies beyond guilty pleasure, to a metaphor for social conflict and cooperation as compelling as the “gangsta” rappers found in “The Godfather” movies. The RZA, with the help of writer Eli Roth (“Hostel”) and producer Quentin Tarantino, is about to raise the cultural currency of the Kung Fu movie again, building on the innovations of Ang Lee’s brilliant “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and Jackie Chan’s hilarious “The Forbidden Kingdom”.

The fast-paced trailer, which claims that the movie will put the “F-U back in Kung Fu,” has all the things young (and not so young) men (and not just men) look for in entertainment: sex, violence, humor, great music, did I say sex? Lucy Lui seems to run the show, saying, “Power belongs to no one until it is seized through sex and violence.” The violence includes swordplay with exotic weapons, choreographed ribbons of blood and an eyeball dislodged by the titular “fists.”

“Iron Fists” has the gonzo intensity of everything associated with Tarantino, and RZA seems up to the task of learning from the master. Along with a love of Kung Fu conventions, and a desire to subvert them, RZA has pulled in sound track favors not only from his Wu-Tang brethren, but also Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa and the Black Keys.

With a high tolerance for all of the above, the trailer will make you want more. No release date other than “soon” has been announced. I’m looking forward to finding out more from the RZA about crossing over from music maker to movie maker, and what’s next for Wu-Tang and beyond.

A wacky weapon movie. As a former swordmaker, I have issues with wacky weapons, but I'm eager to see this nonetheless.

[SimonM]

Wacky weapons makes for good fantasy when done well.

Looking forward to this one a lot.

[doug maverick]

there was some debate about the references from the movie on facebook..many of us got the kid with the golden arm references... but i think killer clans is the back bone of the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBchNFW0JcY&list=FLHWonWogE3x4lajuMCD2CCQ&index=1&feature=plpp_video

i just watched this movie..and alot of the references in the trailer were in this movie.

have to quote myself...lol...yea it reminded me of killer clans... this a shaw bros flick i never saw till last weekend and i loved it... one of my fav characters was a guy who was suppose to carry 72 weapons on his person.

[Hebrew Hammer]

have to quote myself...lol...yea it reminded me of killer clans... this a shaw bros flick i never saw till last weekend and i loved it... one of my fav characters was a guy who was suppose to carry 72 weapons on his person.

Actually I was just thinking that "a shaw bros flick I never saw" when I clicked on your link...and I thought I had seen them all at least once. I'll put it in my queue to finish watching it this week. Who doesn't carry 72 weapons on their person?

PS Quoting yourself is in bad form, it's like talking about yourself in the 3rd person.

[doug maverick]

Actually I was just thinking that "a shaw bros flick I never saw" when I clicked on your link...and I thought I had seen them all at least once. I'll put it in my queue to finish watching it this week. Who doesn't carry 72 weapons on their person?

PS Quoting yourself is in bad form, it's like talking about yourself in the 3rd person.

i know but i had too.. and yea this was a SB flick i never saw..


in other news here is a and a with rza, lucy and dave:

http://www.break.com/nerdmachine-2012-livestream/the-man-with-the-iron-fists-2347859?st=fb&ai=0&zi=0&ds=1&ref=gdp&code=AQAcg5Ul5btGWeghf-lN_8EQwP7h6Cq0sj0YRXfRt5KiqaXjhtGgcR5i2hi_L7XPwRCP CC3GUZ8Iph2I1-VZqDOo0MhLdfiQgleBK0IaxVefByJQWwMZsXAG9aZOQU0iY010 MWqo7rgK9DxsVS_CP8pZqgiLLFszWkhaxO36uzFXY6GSBHi8PR vqG_85HDji-94#_=_


no prep work on the action scenes.. hmmm

[doug maverick]

another interview with the rza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSpjMluQggI&feature=player_embedded#!

[SimonM]

Um... there's some weird stuff coming out of that first interview... warning bells... Still going to watch it.

[mickey]

Greetings,

That was a nice interview. I appreciate The RZA's humbleness. He is like Heaven and Earth having fun with each other.

mickey

[doug maverick]

Um... there's some weird stuff coming out of that first interview... warning bells... Still going to watch it.

yea the whole thing about not having the fight ready for lucy.. but i know from peeps..that is because it was a last minute change.. cung le was suppose to fight russel crow.. but russel wasnt up for it..so they changed it to lucy liu.

[Lucas]

haha russel is scared of fight scene with cung le. im calling pu$$ out

[doug maverick]

haha russel is scared of fight scene with cung le. im calling pu$$ out

i think it was more like russel was feeling out of shape.. and really taxed from the nutty shooting schedule...like rza said..it was a little tense on set..

[SimonM]

i think it was more like russel was feeling out of shape...

Excuses, excuses! I'd do it just for bragging rights, even if I got wrecked.

[doug maverick]

Excuses, excuses! I'd do it just for bragging rights, even if I got wrecked.

as someone who has done fighting on both stage and screen i wouldnt.. if im not in shape im not doing it.. you talking about 12 hours of fighting.. that **** is no joke.

[SimonM]

as someone who has done fighting on both stage and screen i wouldnt.. if im not in shape im not doing it.. you talking about 12 hours of fighting.. that **** is no joke.

I've done stage fighting. Ok, I was playing a zombie and basically just had to look like I was getting beaten up by a deranged Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan but still, I do know what you're talking about. It's hard work, yeah, and it gets tiring but, dude, doing a fight with Cung Le in a splashy martial arts movie?

Worth it!

[Lucas]

dude...russel crow makes how much per film? be a pro or go home imo. get in freaking shape to fight if you are going to be in a fighting movie. its called professionalism in my opinion. we got people working twice as hard in ****ty jobs making not even a fraction of what that guy makes to be in bad ass movies.

[doug maverick]

dude...russel crow makes how much per film? be a pro or go home imo. get in freaking shape to fight if you are going to be in a fighting movie. its called professionalism in my opinion. we got people working twice as hard in ****ty jobs making not even a fraction of what that guy makes to be in bad ass movies.

he makes exactly how much this film cost...he did it as a favor for rza at scale. he was a pro...but i think given the circumstances..and the lack of prep time..i probably would have been like..nope..he has no ma training..and like lucy said they did no training with the actors before hand...why do it if you cant? especially next to cung le? i would have said no too.

[Lucas]

he makes exactly how much this film cost...he did it as a favor for rza at scale. he was a pro...but i think given the circumstances..and the lack of prep time..i probably would have been like..nope..he has no ma training..and like lucy said they did no training with the actors before hand...why do it if you cant? especially next to cung le? i would have said no too.

ya i getcha. i just wanted to watch them fight :( i mean lucy is cool and all but crowe vs le would have been epic. and im *madfaced*

[doug maverick]

ya i getcha. i just wanted to watch them fight :( i mean lucy is cool and all but crowe vs le would have been epic. and im *madfaced*

it would have been a man fight.. lol

[GeneChing]

In the wake of Comic-Con...

Comic-Con 2012: How RZA Is Re-Inventing the Kung Fu Genre (VIDEO) (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shira-lazar/rza-man-with-the-iron-fists_b_1671895.html)
Posted: 07/17/2012 12:35 pm

What's Trending went LIVE last Thursday from Comic-Con 2012 at Nerd HQ. We caught up with musician, director, screenwriter, and Quentin Tarantino-collaborator RZA and former WWE champion Dave Bautista to chat about their upcoming film, The Man with the Iron Fists -- which Forbes has projected to be the biggest kung fu blockbuster of the year.

Bautista likened the eclectic cast of characters to a kung fu version of The Avengers. They're basically creating a new kung fu, fantasy genre with some hip-hop vibes mixed in.

RZA came up with the unique idea and drafted a 60-page story of his own, then turning it into a screenplay with the help of Eli Roth. The film is credited as RZA's directorial debut, but he's directed some indie films before. Along with RZA and Bautista, The Man with the Iron Fists packs an all-star cast, including Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Rick Yune, Jamie Chung, and Pam Grier.

Based on questions from some Twitter fans, RZA revealed that the soundtrack has songs from The Black Keys, Kanye West, and the Wu Tang Clan. And Batista answered the inevitable question about his possible return to the WWE. Everyone was itching to know! "I'm not against going back," he said. "It's just definitely not going to be this year."

For now, they're working hard to promote their epic film and enjoy the latest buzz at Comic-Con. "Films, to me, are supposed to be magic," RZA says. "You go to movies to escape everyday life. This is the movie that you can go to and have fun."

Comic Con 2012 - RZA/Dave Bautista - "Man with the Iron Fists" at Nerd HQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA2DVM2PGOw)

For more news about the movie, which hits theaters November 2, follow Dave Bautista and RZA on Twitter and Like the film's Facebook page.

[GeneChing]

The Man With The Iron Fists Red Band Trailer #2 (2012) Russell Crowe, RZA Movie HD (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExhFmBXIouw)

More to come...stay tuned. ;)

[doug maverick]

The Man With The Iron Fists Red Band Trailer #2 (2012) Russell Crowe, RZA Movie HD (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExhFmBXIouw)

More to come...stay tuned. ;)

was going to post this but got distracted by the death of tony scott.

[GeneChing]

Here's some more.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/558177_10151208348849363_796334294_n.jpg

Were you going to post something like this too? :cool:

Last Friday, I was granted an exclusive interview with the RZA for this film. It will be published in our Nov Dec 2012 issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64140).

[doug maverick]

Here's some more.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/558177_10151208348849363_796334294_n.jpg

Were you going to post something like this too? :cool:

Last Friday, I was granted an exclusive interview with the RZA for this film. It will be published in our Nov Dec 2012 issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64140).

show off...lol

[GeneChing]

I caught up to RZA again last Sunday at Rock the Bells (http://rockthebells.net/). He was an MC there. RtB is only doing three locations, two in CA, San Bernadino & Mountain View (already over) and Labor Day in Holmdel, NJ. MwtIF is a major part - the ad in the program lists IronFistsTour.com as a website, but it's not live. I'll post some pix on my personal facebook, but I didn't get another one of us together as he was super busy with fans and I didn't want to detract from that (besides, hard to top the one above, right?)


RZA's 'Man With the Iron Fists' Soundtrack Features Kanye West, Wu-Tang Clan, Black Keys (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/rza-man-iron-fists-soundtrack-365787)
11:01 AM PDT 8/28/2012 by Rebecca Ford

http://thr4.pgmcdn.net/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog_post_349_width/2012/08/man_with_iron_fists_soundtrack.jpg

RZA’s directorial debut, The Man With the Iron Fists, is an action-packed kung-fu film starring Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu. The pic will hit theaters in November, but a star-studded soundtrack will hit stores a bit earlier, on October 23.

The list for the soundtrack has been released, and features a collection of big-name talent. With RZA making his big move from music to directing, it seems he was able to get a lot of friends to help out with the music for his big debut.

The soundtrack includes new songs from Kanye West, the Wu-Tang Clan, Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killah, Pusha T and Raekwon. Also, RZA teams up with the Black Keys for the new song “The Baddest Man Alive.” He also teams up with Flatbush Zombies.

At Comic-Con, RZA, who wrote the script with Eli Roth, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the film, which is presented by Quentin Tarantino.

“I’m in love with film,” he told THR, adding that he also wrote the score for the movie. “Film and music, they have a very similar wavelength, and so they intertwine. For me, they go hand-in-hand.”

The complete soundtrack list is below:

01 The Black Keys & RZA – “The Baddest Man Alive”

02 Ghostface Killah, M.O.P & Pharoahe Monch – “Black Out”

03 Kanye West – “White Dress”

04 The Revelations feat. Tre Williams – “I Forgot To Be Your Lover”

05 Talib Kweli & RES – “Get Your Way (Sex as a Weapon)”

06 Raekwon, Ghostface Killah & Kool G. Rap – “Rivers of Blood”

07 Method Man, Freddie Gibbs & StreetLife – “Built for This”

08 24 Carat Black – “Poverty’s Paradise”

09 Killa Sin – “The Archer”

10 RZA & Flatbush Zombies – “Just Blowin’ In The Wind”

11 Corrine Bailey Rae – “Chains”

12. Pusha T & Raekwon – “Tick Tock”

13. Frances Yip – “Green is the Mountain”

14. The Wu-Tang Clan – “Six Directions of Boxing”

15. Mabel John – “Your Good Thing Is About To End”

The Man With the Iron Fists opens in theaters on November 2, 2012.

[GeneChing]

Eli Roth: 'Iron Fists' will push kung-fu in 'character' direction (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-eli-roth-says-iron-fists-will-push-kungfu-in-a-character-direction-20120925,0,6348710.story)

http://www.trbimg.com/img-5061c4cf/turbine/la-et-mn-eli-roth-says-iron-fists-will-push-ku-001/600
A scene from "The Man With the Iron Fists," directed by the RZA and written and produced by Eli Roth (Universal Pictures)

By Steven Zeitchik

September 25, 2012, 8:24 a.m.
In about a month, moviedom will see one of the stranger hybrids you can imagine: the only known cinema offering in history — and certainly the only martial-arts flick — ever to be directed by a rap-music pioneer, written and produced by a horror impresario and star the actor Russell Crowe. Did we mention it’s a martial-arts flick?

The film, which Universal Pictures will bring out Nov. 2, is “The Man With the Iron Fists,” and it tells a story of a Chinese feudal blacksmith who must defend his village from encroaching barbarians. Wu Tang Clan member RZA directed from a script by Eli Roth. It was shot in China, part of a wave of American entertainment heading to the Asian nation. Lucy Liu is in it too. So is Pam Grier.

But lest it sound like the world’s largest genre/ego stew, Roth tells The Times that there was a method to the mash-up madness.

“We wanted to make a movie that showed our love for those old kung-fu movies, but we also wanted to make it modern, with hip-hop,” he said. “So, you know, a guy has magic blades, that kind of thing.”

(The trailer, which you can watch here, offers a concrete example, to wit: “When you forge a weapon, you need three things: the right metal, temperatures over 1,400 degrees, and someone who wants to kill. Here in Jungle Village, we got all three.”)

Directing offered a new challenge for the Staten Island, N.Y., Grammy winner, who as he began prepping the movie told The Times that this presented a different hurdle than making music. "It's 10 times the focus, 10 times the pressure of putting out an album," he said. "Also 10 times the blame.'

At a point in the development process, Quentin Tarantino, whom Roth has worked with, agreed to present the film — something that wouldn't have happened, Roth said, “if the writing hadn’t been up to a certain level.”

The "Hostel" helmer said that in crafting the "Fists" script he paid particular attention to elements of human behavior. The desire came from years of watching the genre's classic titles and finding them lacking in a certain regard.

“Kung-fu movies don’t care about character,” he said. “It drives me crazy. Why don’t they add more of those layers?”

"Oh, you both have LAYERS. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions. What about cake? Everybody loves cake!"

[Lucas]

I prefer pie....But I am really excited to see this movie now.

[GeneChing]

http://ironfiststour.com


http://ironfiststour.com/images/if_tour_web.png
Wed 10/3 New York, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
Thu 10/4 Boston, MA The Royale
Sun 10/7 Baltimore, MD Soundstage
Mon 10/8 Falls Church, VA The State Theatre
Wed 10/10 Atlanta, GA Vinyl
Fri 10/12 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
Sat 10/13 Chicago, IL Double Door
Mon 10/15 Austin, TX Beauty Ballroom
Tue 10/16 Houston, TX Warehouse Live Studio
Fri 10/19 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues
Wed 10/24 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues

[GeneChing]

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/images/mzine/cover2012_06.jpg

November/December 2012 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1062)

more to come...:cool:

[Lucas]

Saw a trailer for this during Dredd. Looks pretty good. I saw a flash of batista (sp?) turining into a golden man or something

[GeneChing]

Kias got off a nice interview.

Kia Makarechi
kia.makarechi@huffingtonpost.com
RZA & 'Man With The Iron Fists': Director On Reuniting Wu-Tang, New Music, Obama & The Pain Of Editing (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/rza-man-with-the-iron-fist-wu-tang_n_1937521.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment)
Posted: 10/04/2012 9:56 am EDT Updated: 10/04/2012 10:44 am EDT

As a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, as well as an actor ("American Gangster"), author (The Tao of Wu) and prolific producer for everyone from Kanye West and Jay-Z ("New Day") to Shaquille O'Neal ("No Hook"), Bobby Diggs is already well established as one of the entertainment world's most unstoppable overachievers.

So perhaps it's only natural that Diggs -- better known as RZA -- felt compelled to try his hand at the ultimate act of big-budget creativity: directing a movie. Produced by Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth, "The Man With the Iron Fists" promises to be a visceral martial arts movie, replete with fast-paced action sequences (including at least one that results in RZA's enemy losing an eyeball). But it's also likely to come with a healthy dose of RZA's eclectic philosophy, reaped from years of studying Buddhism (which sounds dangerously like "booty-ism" when he says it), Islam and martial arts.

And as if writing, directing and starring alongside Lucy Liu and Russell Crowe in your first feature picture weren't enough, he also produced an all-original score -- and supervised an original soundtrack. The latter features West, the Black Keys (Eyed Peas, too) and the whole Wu-Tang Clan ("even GZA and Method Man," RZA says).

HuffPost Entertainment caught up with RZA to talk about the challenges of making a feature, how he first fell in love with martial arts, the problem with today's rap supergroups and why he's pulling for Barack Obama.

This is something that you wanted to do for a very long time, right?

Definitely. I've wanted to make movies since 2004. I wanted to be a director. I caught the bug back then and I just kept pushing and connecting with the right people. I got some good brothers to believe in my vision and my dream, and I got a good company to support it. And here we are now, one month out from seeing what the world's going to think of this creative endeavor of mine.

You had to cut down this movie by about half. Was that really painful?

Oh, it was definitely a painful experience. I don't want to be the guy that says this, because I think it's the industry slogan, but they say you got to kill your babies. Editing a film and taking out things that took a long time to set up, and angles and things that you think are valuable to your story -- those are always hard for a director to let go.

Fortunately for me, I had good producers. I had a good buddy, Eli Roth, who had been through it before. And he let me know, "Bobby, this is normal. It goes this way." It made it easier. But I will admit to you that at one point I left the editing room for two weeks, because I was just disgusted.

Has working on this changed how you see music at all?

Music for me is second nature. But doing a film at this capacity has increased all my talents. When you get a chance to express this kind of mind power, when you have 400 or 500 people working on your vision, it opens up a whole different reality. Not only was this a great accomplishment for me creatively, but as a man, when I came back from China, I remember my sister looked at me and was like, "Man, you got a different look in your eyes." I think I just grew as a man.

Do you think you're going to go back?

I'll go where the job and creativity takes me. If this movie is successful, I'd love to go back and try another one, you know what I mean? But if not, there are many places around the world that I'd love to put my feet on.

Martial arts have obviously been important to you for a very long time, but can you remember the first time it struck you?

I saw my first martial arts film at 9 years old. I was in New York City, at the Saint George Theater in Staten Island. Later on, we used to go to 42nd Street, which we used to call "The Deuce," in Manhattan, and I'd spend time there on weekends watching kung fu flicks. And when I became a teenager, I would cut school and hang out in the movie theaters all day. Even by the age of 14, one of my first groups was called Imperial Masters, and that came from the imperial edict or masters of China. So I was already influenced by those movies, I was already incorporating their slogans or slang or word play or ideas into my lyrics and into my style.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

and into your philosophy.

Yeah, the philosophy part came probably around the age of 15 or 16, or maybe even 14. That's when i really started understanding different things about the world. I'll say this to you: One thing the asian culture gave me, especially at the age of 13 or 14, was history. History was only taught from a certain side. So i was interested to greek mythology and stuff like that, but when it came to history of the black man, there was no history that went past slavery that we would learn. And so i had no view of history other than the western one. I got a chance to see "36 chambers" and the historical value of it, and seeing what people are going through on the other side of the world and how they fight to overcome their oppression -- that gave me a whole different view of the world and caused me to become a seeker.

A lot of the earlier kung fu movies that i would watch, like some of the bruce lee or jim kelly [films], these were based in modern times or maybe up to 1900. But none were really based 1,500 years ago, about the shaolin temple. When i started seeing those types of movies, those are the ones that really opened my eyes a little further. And also the buddhism that they were talking about inside the movies sparked a fire within me. As a person who later on went on to read the buddhist creed and studied buddhism for years, i've come to learn that he's basically the best psychiatrist.

Going back to the movie, you weren't originally going to produce the soundtrack for this film, right? Then quentin [tarantino] suggested it?

Quentin, the other producers and everyone were just saying that it's obvious and a natural fit for me to do the music. And i thought, i already have a few hats on in the film. I had some musical ideas, but i didn't plan to score the film. That wasn't my initial plan when i wrote the film. I had some musical cues, like needle drops, and i thought quentin could also help with that because he's good at that, but at the end of the day, it was up to me. So i went to get my buddy howard drossin, who i have written with before. It took us about eight months to really complete this whole score.

The score was first and the soundtrack came second. After having the score completed, we thought, yo, we should make a soundtrack. Being that the "ghost dog" soundtrack had some critical success, we thought we should make one for "iron fists." and that's where we took some of the cues from the movie as well as some of the inspiration for the movie and we went back and got some songs from some great artists, like wiz khalifa, the black eyed peas, kanye and the wu-tang clan. We got the whole wu-tang clan, and i'm proud of that, because we haven't been on one record in a long time like this. Even gza's on it, method man, everybody.

And also corinne bailey rae joined me for the soundtrack, some up-and-coming mc's like gangsta gibbs, pusha-t. It's great to have these guys supporting the music and the film.

I know kanye's on the soundtrack. Are you working with him on the new album at all?

Not yet. We've been communicating. I'm supposed to send him some drum tracks. He's working on his album in hawaii, and i think after we finish this campaign i'll go pay him a visit and use it as a vacation.

But when you head down to that studio, you know he's going to have you working.

Actually, kia, doing music is not work. That's like hanging out, drinking, smoking and having a good time, baby.

Is it true that you bought the rights to a huge catalogue of kung fu movies so that you could use the samples?

I did make this deal in the '90s with a company for a lot of martial arts titles. We did a two-tiered deal where i can use the samples and they can use my likeness and name and branding on their kung fu movies. That's why you see a lot of movies out there with like wu-tang collection or something -- that's all footage that we made early on.

What do you make of the recent resurgence of rap supergroups and showcases, like mmg and good music and odd future? Do you see any of the mentality that you had with wu-tang in these groups?

In an entrepreneurial way, i see it. But in a social consciousness way, i don't. And that's the part that we're missing. I'm really happy that a lot of young people -- if you look at someone like odd future, they actually started younger than us. You got someone like earl sweatshirt, and he's only 18 and he's already got a record contract and he's worth a million dollars. So i'm glad that the youth is getting their recognition earlier and is able to escape their poverty or whatever they're going through, but the social consciousness is important. And they're not getting that, and they're going to need it, or they're going to be broke in ten years.

As a parting thought, any comments on the election?

I don't want to be too political, but i want to see barack obama hold it down one more time for us. He makes a better image for our country. I'm an international traveler and i was traveling when bush was president and people were like, "i hate americans!" and i felt that pain. But when [obama] was president, i got better treatment in restaurants. I wouldn't mind keeping that train going for another four years.

I have part two of my Nov+Dec 2012 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1062) cover story interview with RZA coming to our ezine soon too. Stay tuned. ;)

[GeneChing]

'The Man With the Iron Fists': 16 Striking Posters (http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20483133_20637046,00.html#21224125)
Oct 08, 2012

RZA's directorial debut inspires artists from around the world to create hard-hitting promo images; see some knockout examples here
My fav is number 7.

[Fa Xing]

My fav is number 7.

13 looked good too.

[doug maverick]

new song from what will probably be the best movie soundtrack this year: http://soultemplemusic.bandcamp.com/track/six-directions-of-boxing

[GeneChing]

I admire the synergy - tour promotes the movie, movie promotes the tour.

Man with the Iron Fists Tour in Chicago (http://www.thesource.com/articles/249098?thesource-prod=7cne1qq77p2cg11vs4r3uqqq31)
Posted: Oct 14, 2012 by notupstate
http://dl.thesource.com/content/249076_rv3niv3bd7976_al.jpg

He helped one of the smaller subgenres of Hip Hop establish itself as a prominent one with the Gravediggaz. He took what you could do with a Hip Hop group and rewrote the handbook from the slums of Shaolin, New York with Wu-Tang Clan. And now he's directed a living testament to putting the F-U in KUNG FU with Man with the Iron Fists.

The Rzarector pulled no punches with appearing on stage with half a liquor cabinet-1 handle of Hennessey, 1 handle of Patron, 1/2 handle of Grey Goose, and a bottle of champagne. DJ Absolut took responsibility on the 1's and 2's for RZA's themed set of growth. Literally starting as a sperm, he went through the giant catalog of Hip Hop he's been a part of, but none off the soundtrack to his upcoming film. The closer half of the crowd to the stage made the venue feel like it was rocking with the music while he performed "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F*ck Wit," "You Can't Stop Me Now," and Ol' Dirty *******'s "Shimmy Shimmy Ya." Of course RZA took a moment to reflect on how one of his best friends, Ol' Dirty *******, would congratulate him on his directorial debut. He also spoke on the unfortunately, reoccurring gun violence in Chicago and had the audience sing the hook on his cover of The Beatles' "Come Together." U-God shared the stage with RZA throughout his set, after holding it down with "Pinky Ring" and "Itz Yours" on his own.

The opening acts did a good job of warming up the crowd and drawing them closer to the stage. Copasetic (Chicago/Indiana) had clever rhymes over some simplistic Mid West production. Kosha Dillz (New Jersey) showed up with his bassist and got the crowd more involved with the show. His chilled out sound was a good break between Copasetic and Eyenine (New Hampshire). Eyenine brought the speed on the mic with his hyperactive rhymes and darker beats. Supernatural (Indiana) went off the top of the dome for most of his set, even freestyling as Slick Rick, Busta Rhymes, and The Notorious B.I.G. for one track. He had the audience yell out words and hold out items from their pockets to freestyle about.

RZA brought the ruckus with his Chicago stop at the Double Door. It was a lousy night with the rain in Chicago, but the Hip Hop made it worth the trek.

Same goes for the fights:

UFC Macao: Cung Le's Other Starring Role (http://m.ufc.com/media/ufc-on-fuel-6-cung-le-iron-fist-trailer)

See the exclusive "The Man With The Iron Fists" character trailer for Bronze Lion, played by UFC middleweight and UFC Macao headliner Cung Le. follow link above for trailer.

Bautista's MMA debut on MMA & WWE thread. (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1186075#post1186075)

[GeneChing]

Follow the link below for an exclusive MTV vid.

Oct 13 2012 9:29 PM EDT 2,112
RZA Flexes Kung Fu Muscle In Exclusive 'Man With The Iron Fists' Clip (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1695489/rza-man-with-the-iron-fists-exclusive-clip.jhtml)
Wu-Tang Clan mastermind didn't think he could top his time with the hip-hop group, but his directorial debut did just that.
By Kara Warner (@karawarner)

Are you excited about RZA's "The Man with the Iron Fists" yet? If it's not enough to know that the Wu-Tang mastermind decided to make his directing debut with a full-blown martial arts smack-down about a blacksmith set in feudal China, or the fact that the soundtrack is loaded with star power like Kanye West's "White Dress" and the RZA/ Black Keys collab "The Baddest Man Alive," perhaps we can further interest you in a brand-new exclusive clip from the film.

RZA introduces the two-minute teaser by stating the role martial arts played in his life and how his mentorship with director Quentin Tarantino helped make the film possible. We also see behind-the-scenes footage of RZA working with Tarantino and writer/director Eli Roth, who helped RZA write the screenplay for "Fists," along with teaser shots of the film's stars Lucy Liu and Russell Crowe. There's a Tarantino-esque style in some of the scenes that will be familiar to anyone who has seen "Kill Bill," but RZA maintains he's put his own stamp on the genre, which includes an original soundtrack that he calls a "blend of hip-hop and classic soul."

"My main thing is to have fun," RZA says of the atmosphere he tried to create on set, as well as the vibe he wanted to convey with the music. "I've been loving it. As I watch it, you're grooving."

RZA keeps us grooving throughout the clip by showcasing a few of the intense action scenes we'll soon see in full in "Fists," which involve complex martial arts and dangerous weapons. He closes things out by admitting that he thought he had already reached the pinnacle of success with his work with the Wu-Tang Clan and its impact on the music industry.

"I didn't think I could top that," he says. "I have topped it."

"The Man with the Iron Fists" arrives in theaters November 2.

[GeneChing]

The Man WIth The Iron Fists (Eclectic Method Remix) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-hQVjEqsQk)

:cool:

The Man With the Iron Fists: New Legends of Kung Fu -- Madame Blossom Character Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhUS807EDBE)

[GeneChing]

For RZA, Hip-Hop Was Just a Prelude to Kung Fu (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/movies/for-rza-hip-hop-was-just-a-prelude-to-kung-fu.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/21/arts/21RZA1_SPAN/21RZA1_SPAN-articleLarge.jpg
RZA, the actor, rapper and mastermind of hip-hop’s Wu-Tang Clan.
By DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: October 17, 2012

IF he were not already recognizable for his gaunt frame or the distinctive W logo on his baseball cap, it would have been easy to spot Robert Diggs — better known as the RZA, the actor, rapper and mastermind of hip-hop’s Wu-Tang Clan — by the haul of vintage records and DVDs he was toting here at Amoeba Music.

Wandering between the black cinema and martial-arts video aisles, RZA thumbed through titles he already owned (“Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold”) while picking up some new additions for his collection (a boxed set of action movies produced by the Shaw Brothers of Hong Kong).

Before he exited with $402.94 in purchases, heavily tilted toward Asian action films, a smiling RZA said in his quiet voice, “You can’t say I’m not supporting the cause.”

Based solely on his Wu-Tang years, when he channeled his youthful obsessions with movies like “Five Deadly Venoms” into potent rap albums like “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),” RZA, who is 43, would seem to possess unquestionable kung fu credentials.

Since then, his movie roles (as in “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai”), soundtrack contributions (“Kill Bill”) and books (“The Wu-Tang Manual”) have given him broader canvasses on which to blend his hip-hop sensibilities with Eastern culture, combat and spirituality.

Now his artistic wanderings have led to a $20 million movie, “The Man With the Iron Fists,” which RZA directed and stars in, and which Universal will release on Nov. 2. As befits its creator’s eclectic style, the film is a martial-arts mini-epic set in a mythical Chinese feudal state, where a dispute between a monarch and a nefarious gang draws in a rogue British soldier (played by Russell Crowe), a madam (Lucy Liu) and a humble blacksmith (RZA).

For RZA, “The Man With the Iron Fists” is a substantial and risky step into the feature-filmmaking world, where he wants to stake out a new career. It has also been a lesson, years in the making, about which of his talents would take him furthest in Hollywood, and which parts of his gruff, street-smart persona he needed to shed.

As a chauffeured town car drove him to a favorite waffle restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, RZA said he was no longer the grandstanding show-off he presented in his musical heyday. Had this conversation occurred a few years ago, he said, “you would have met an arrogant, tough neighborhood guy — which I’ve overcome.”

Not that he makes any apologies for the 1990s peak of the Wu-Tang Clan, when albums by that New York hip-hop collective and solo offerings from band members like GZA, Raekwon and Ol’ Dirty ******* — largely produced by RZA — were selling by the hundreds of thousands.

“I thought I was the greatest thing on earth,” RZA said. “And you couldn’t say that I wasn’t. I wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Among the projects from that period that he says he couldn’t resist was a film that he directed, starred in and paid for ($400,000) based on his superhero alter ego, Bobby Digital.

RZA said that one studio offered him about $250,000 to distribute the movie, and another $500,000, but he had his heart set on $1 million.

“At this time, I think I was more conceited,” he said as he sampled from plates of red velvet waffles, onion rings and a vegetarian Reuben sandwich. “I’m not going to take no 250, 500 grand from nobody, during this bloom of my life. I played hardball and the deal walked away.”

A second feature he directed and financed, a martial-arts movie called “Wu-Tang vs. the Golden Phoenix,” similarly languished, and both films remain unreleased.

As the Wu-Tang members went their separate ways, RZA moved his career to Los Angeles, where he focused on film scores and small acting roles. But a part of him continued to dream up kung fu characters and stories — “I got a bad habit of creating,” he said — as he did growing up in Brooklyn’s impoverished Brownsville neighborhood. (Citing one of his unused inventions, RZA described an expert fighter called the Seven-Blow Assassin: anyone who faces him, he explained, “will die by seven blows.”)

In 2006, RZA found an ally in the horror filmmaker Eli Roth (“Hostel,” “Cabin Fever”) when the two men were briefly stranded in snowy Boston after returning from an Icelandic film festival hosted by Quentin Tarantino.

Mr. Roth’s parents, who lived in the Boston area, took RZA in for the night. From that point on, RZA said he and Mr. Roth were “hangout buddies.”

More crucially, Mr. Roth offered to help RZA with the script he was writing, which eventually became “The Man With the Iron Fists.” But that collaboration was delayed for nearly three years, while Mr. Roth worked on other projects. When they finally put their heads together in 2009, Mr. Roth said he advised RZA to think through his imaginary world as carefully as George Lucas knows “Star Wars” or Peter Jackson has rendered the “Lord of the Rings” films.

Using the Wu-Tang Clan as an example, Mr. Roth said he told RZA: “You write different lyrics for all these guys. Yet if a girl walked by, the way GZA would react is very different from how Ol’ Dirty ******* would react. What Raekwon would say is different from Method Man.”

After helping RZA expand his script from 90 pages to 130, Mr. Roth (who shares screenplay credit) said he did not need to see RZA’s previous films to know he could direct this one. “I trust my gut,” he said. “I know who’s got it and who hasn’t.”

With the producers Marc Abraham and Eric Newman (“Children of Men”), and the blessing of Mr. Tarantino, who is listed as the presenter in the movie’s credits, RZA and Mr. Roth pitched the film to Universal early last year and got their green light.

But where he was accustomed to near-dictatorial control over the early Wu-Tang albums, RZA had to learn to compromise with co-stars like Mr. Crowe, who wanted to see his Jack Knife character develop a fuller on-screen friendship with RZA’s blacksmith.

“As friends, we talk,” Mr. Crowe (who appeared with RZA in “American Gangster” and “The Next Three Days”) wrote in an e-mail. “It is no effort for me to give a friend advice. Film has many gods and you have to understand, as a director, you will be required to please and appease them all.”

That said, Mr. Crowe wrote that he wanted to make the film “because I believe in Bobby Diggs,” and because he had given him his word that “as a brother that I would turn up when he needed me to.”

Ms. Liu, a star of “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” and the CBS series “Elementary,” said she also wanted a more substantial arc for her character, a brothel mistress named Madam Blossom.

“I think the original script had more masculine energy,” she said, “and giving Madam Blossom more of a presence made it a little bit more balanced.” She said RZA was open to her suggestions: “He didn’t say no to any of it.”

More concessions followed during the film’s 10-week shoot in China. After a word from his Chinese producers, who felt their government would not appreciate a scene in which a camera pans across a line of brothel workers framed at a certain angle, RZA cut the sequence from the script. (“It’s not a porno,” he said.)

When the film was edited in the United States, RZA labored to reduce it from three hours to about 96 minutes. Seeking a creative hiatus during this period, he took a supporting role on the Showtime comedy “Californication,” playing an overconfident rapper named Samurai Apocalypse.

Tom Kapinos, the creator and writer of “Californication,” said he was not initially sure what to expect of RZA. “I’ve met a ton of people from the music world, and there’s a lot of insane people out there,” he said.

But when RZA arrived for his first table read “he just wanted people to call him Bobby,” Mr. Kapinos said. “I got the sense that he was there to learn and soak up as much of the process as possible. He was more prepared than some of our core actors.”

Now that he has a properly produced studio movie under his belt, RZA called filmmaking “the perfect medium for a man of my creativity.”

“I’d love to make 10 to 12 films in my life,” he said. “That’s a lot of films, but it’s doable. I’ve still got time.”

Already, he is cultivating ideas for a follow-up, including a potential film version of the Grant Morrison comic book “Happy!” and a still-gestating period piece that would span the 1960s and ’70s, “One Spoon of Chocolate.”

Like many fans of his band, RZA is also contemplating a possible Wu-Tang Clan reunion, one that might coincide with the 20th anniversary of “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).” But the only configuration he said he would accept is one where he has the same degree of control as during the making of that album — which is to say, total.

“I’ve been talking to some of the guys, like, ‘Yo, look, I would suggest that you put down everything you know, and trust me one more time,’ ” RZA said.

If his filmmaking adventures have taught him anything, he said, it was that even in collaboration, artistry ultimately rises or falls on one person’s vision.

Or, as he put it: “I’m Captain Kirk and I’m flying this starship Enterprise. If I’m lucky to have a Mr. Spock on my side, we’re going to go somewhere that nobody’s gone before.”
Stay tuned, friends. Tomorrow I'll drop my exclusive ezine interview, part 2 of the double-barrel shotgun barrage started with the Nov+Dec 2012 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1062) cover story.

[GeneChing]

Dave Bautista - The Man With the Iron Fists "Brass Body" Character Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RcXfwZYgsk) These are basically the same trailers, each with a few seconds tweaked to feature the 'new legends of kung fu'. There's only four in the fan spread graphic so tomorrow's might be the last one.

Tomorrow, we'll drop my interview. Note: this is completely different material than what is in the Nov+Dec 2012 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1062) cover story. It's the other half of my August interview with RZA. Stay tuned.

[GeneChing]

RZA on Director's Cuts, Creating Weapons and THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1064)

[JamesC]

So the posters will be placed aroun the cities and are free for anyone to take? That's a pretty cool idea

[GeneChing]

We are running a special sweepstakes for a THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS Prize Package (http://kungfumagazine.net/ironfists.html) for San Francisco Bay Area residents only. Follow the link for a special R-rated featurette. Online entries must be received by 6:00 p.m. PST on 12/05/2012. Good luck!

[GeneChing]

Our Nov+Dec 2012 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1062) cover story, RZA on The Man with the Iron Fists (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1069), is now online.

[doug maverick]

it is with great regret that i have to miss the opening weekend...freaking sandy... they are only playing this movie in manhatten, and i live in Brooklyn. hopefully they have the trains running by the weekend but its doubtful.

[GeneChing]

The house was pretty full this morning and the rest of the audience was having a good time laughing and enjoying popcorn. However, if you've never seen a Shaw Brothers flick, I can't imagine this would make much sense. From the opening titles to the closing credits, it is all about those classic films. Even the dialog mimics that stilted HK style, which I got but I don't think it will play well to a naive audience. It's a parody homage, an absurd fantASIA - there are a lot of nods and laughs - very, very Wu. This will have a hard time finding an audience beyond Wu/kung fu fans. There's some great ultravi with the kind of digital bloody sprays that make me chuckle. The choreography is very Corey, very comic book with lots of flying about. Weird sword fights. Cung has perfected his menacing ass-kicker role. RZA and Russell turn in decent performances - they look like they had a lot of fun with their roles. Byron Man was really funny and Bautista is solid as bronze. LL leads a gang of ninjettes so if you like films with gangs of ninjettes, you'll enjoy this. The soundtrack was pretty bumping and I had to stifle the urge to yell 'turn up the base!'

Hope things get better for you and everyone else affected very soon, Doug.

[GeneChing]

I can't imagine Cung will be able to enjoy the premiere that much as he's fighting next weekend (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1187215#post1187215).


San Jose fighter Cung Le plays role in latest Russell Crowe-Lucy Liu film (http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_21906856/san-jose-fighter-cung-le-plays-role-latest?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com)
By Mark Emmons
memmons@mercurynews.com
Posted: 11/02/2012 09:21:43 AM PDT
Updated: 11/02/2012 09:21:48 AM PDT

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site568/2012/1102/20121102_113050_cungle500.jpg
Mixed-martial arts fighter Cung Le works out with his trainer, Scott Sheeley,... ( Patrick Tehan )

As a youngster, Cung Le watched martial arts movies with his mother in their San Jose apartment, fascinated at how the good guys subdued villains with flying kicks. He even acted out the roles himself.

"He could copy all the moves," Anne Le recalled. "He was jumping around our living room, making all these 'swoosh' sounds when he kicked the air. I remember thinking: 'Wow, this kid has got talent.' "

Mom was on to something because Le now does his acting on the big screen. His biggest role yet in a growing résumé comes in "The Man With the Iron Fists," a warriors-and-assassins saga that debuts Friday, starring Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu.

"It's hard to believe this is happening," said Le, 40. "I'm enjoying every moment. I'm soaking it all in."

There's a lot to take in as Le experiences a strange convergence in his life of both make-believe and very real violence. He has one foot on the red carpet and the other planted inside the steel cage of Ultimate Fighting Championship. As the movie hits theaters, Le already is in China where he will headline a mixed-martial arts bout on Nov. 10.

It's a humbling moment for a Vietnamese immigrant who fled his homeland with his mother just days before the fall of Saigon and, after stays in two refugee camps, struggled to be accepted in his adopted country.

"This is what America is all about -- overcoming," Le said. "I'm extremely proud about what has happened in my life."

At a sculpted 185 pounds, Le is an MMA fan-favorite with his lightning-quick strikes that rattle heads and break limbs. His acting portfolio has grown because he convincingly plays tough guys in the beat-'em-up, kick-'em-down genre.

"Every fighter I know wants to be an actor, but I try to steer them away from that stuff because they have no idea how hard it is," UFC president Dana White said. "But Cung has talent and found a way to succeed in both. And it couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

The dual career path also is surprising because Le once was a painfully shy boy who dodged bullies on the Empire Gardens Elementary School playground.

"He was very skinny, and he didn't speak English very well," said Anne Le, 61. "When you're like that, they pick on you."

Their lives had forever changed in the final, harrowing days of the war in Vietnam. On April 25, 1975, Le was not yet 3 years old when they boarded a helicopter in Saigon. His grandfather, a law-enforcement official, had arranged for his family to escape the country.

Their odyssey took them to the Philippines and Guam before reaching Salinas and finally San Jose. For a time, 11 family members squeezed into a three-bedroom house.

As he sat in his San Jose gym recently, Le recalled the anger some classmates directed at him.

"The American kids didn't really understand what happened over there," he said. "All they knew was a lot of GIs had died. Other kids mocked what they called my 'yellow skin.' There was no way to avoid being targeted."

Anne Le enrolled him in martial arts classes around age 10 to build self-confidence. As Le learned to snap boards, his mother made him promise never to hit others.

"One day he came home with a big black eye because of me," she recalled. "He said, 'Mom, this is what you did! You told me not to defend myself!' "

Le was a standout wrestler at San Jose High when he dropped his father's surname of Hoang. His father didn't join them in the United States for eight years, and although his parents had another child -- daughter Nicole -- the marriage didn't last. Le now has no contact with him.

While Le always had aspirations of following his idol Bruce Lee into acting, his chance came after gaining prominence in the emerging sport of MMA.

He got a part in the 2009 film "Fighting" that featured Channing Tatum, who became one of Le's good friends. In addition to Chinese martial arts films, Le has appeared in "Tekken," based on the video game, and the science-fiction thriller "Pandorum" with Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster.

When a script calls for someone to fly through the air like a whirling dervish, Le is a natural. In "The Man With the Iron Fists," set in 19th-century China, Le plays a henchman with 1980s rocker hair who gets extended camera time in -- what else? -- fight scenes.

"The movie business is so tough," said Le, who is married with three children, including two from a previous marriage. "You can't start as a nobody and then just become a major star. It's just like fighting. You start as an amateur. But I feel like I've turned pro in the film world now."

But he also keeps entering the cage. Last November at HP Pavilion, Le was pummeled by a Brazilian fighter so badly that he left with a horribly broken nose.

Le joked that while he didn't fear for his Hollywood career, "my agent was thinking that." He rebounded with a victory in a July fight and now takes on former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin in Macau.

"When the studios get really worried about me fighting, then I'll stop," Le added.

That's why mom hopes this movie will open doors.

"I can't wait until he stops fighting and just does films," Anne Le said. "Those are a lot better than watching him fight."

[doug maverick]

i wasnt directly affected. actually my neighborhood is completely fine. no power outages, down trees or anything..i live really high above sea level. but literally two miles away from me in coney island and brighton beach it was pretty bad. right now the city is about 75% back to normal. but there are no trains going into lower manhatten(i live in brooklyn, so im screwed) and i really want to see this in timesquare because thats where it all began in new york for kung fu movies... and also where rza, gza and the odb conceived the wu tang clan...so i hopefully ill be able to check it out this weekend, as i really want this to open well.. universal is already offering RZA two more movies to direct, so they are expecting this movie to do well. here is a map of manhatten so you get an idea of what its like...lol

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/518_10151070025951496_523471502_n.jpg

[GeneChing]

I hope you can see it in Times Square. That almost sounds like a pilgrimage. I'll be very eager to hear your opinion of it. It's up against some stiff competition this weekend w/Flight and Wreck-It Ralph and the reviews have been lackluster for the most part. They didn't even hold press screenings out here, which generally bodes poorly for a film.

[doug maverick]

this movie is going to appeal to the alt crowd. flight hasnt been promoted too well. wreck it ralph will take the weekend. man with the iron fist just needs to make 10 million to be a hit. universal has done a good job and the online promotion of the film has been extremely well handled. i think itll be a modest hit. for its 15million dollar budget.

[Jimbo]

I don't know if it'll even make the top five, but the theater was pretty crowded for the early showing of it, if that's any indication. It definitely will not appeal to your typical American moviegoer, though. Although it might draw in the crowd who liked Kill Bill.

I found it entertaining. It's definitely an homage to old-school KF films, especially Shaw Bros films. Also a spoof in a lot of ways, as American homages to KF films inevitably are. Also inevitably, the fight sequences cannot compare to the Venoms films that are clearly its main inspiration. The long, complex one-shot sequences, CGI-free, clearly-shot choreography of those old classics is a lost art now, and this hammered that fact home (no pun intended).

I really hope this movie does well.

[doug maverick]

i severely beg to differ... i perdict itll come in 3rd. behind flight which will be second. and wreck it ralph which will probably be huge in first.


the number in my head for this movie is 8 mil. which is saying alot considering the east cost numbers will be spotty. 8million next to a cartoon and a denzel movie.. after a east coast hurricane...and with 15million dollar budget...thats a hit.

[doug maverick]

i severely beg to differ... i perdict itll come in 3rd. behind flight which will be second. and wreck it ralph which will probably be huge in first.


the number in my head for this movie is 8 mil. which is saying alot considering the east cost numbers will be spotty. 8million next to a cartoon and a denzel movie.. after a east coast hurricane...and with 15million dollar budget...thats a hit.

8.2 million and fourth place...i was a little off.. thats a modest hit considering the budget. itll probably gain momentum. i know it was effected by the storm cause the east coast was shutdown. staten island(shaolin, birthplace of wu tang clan) is still devastated.

i predict huge numbers overseas for sure.

[Faruq]

I liked it. Pretty funny. They even put MC Jin in there, and I never heard he was into martial arts, lol. Just like Russell Crowe. But the stroke of genius in the movie was to throw Doo Wai in there having nothing to do with martial arts; strap a ponytail on him and make him a restaurant manager, lol! Great stuff. It was just as comical with the fantastic effects and blood as it was action packed. The only thing missing was Lau Kar Leung and Mark Houghton who would've made it even better.

[Jimbo]

The restaurant manager was not Doo Wai; it's actually long-time HK actor Dennis Chan, who was also in Kickboxer with Van Damme.

Interestingly, Jon T. Benn (who played the "Mafia" boss in Way of the Dragon) played the slave owner.

[Faruq]

The restaurant manager was not Doo Wai; it's actually long-time HK actor Dennis Chan, who was also in Kickboxer with Van Damme.

Interestingly, Jon T. Benn (who played the "Mafia" boss in Way of the Dragon) played the slave owner.

LOL I was wondering if anyone was gonna call me on that one, lol.

[SimonM]

Can't wait to see it... tomorrow probably.

[GeneChing]

Interestingly, Jon T. Benn (who played the "Mafia" boss in Way of the Dragon) played the slave owner.
Yea, the Jon Benn reference came up in my Nov+Dec (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1062) cover story RZA on The Man with the Iron Fists (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1069). It's packed tight with cameos and nods for those of us who follow this sort of thing.

[doug maverick]

so first off let me say, i loved this movie...it was a really great first effort from the ra i enjoyed it. however, the fights just wasnt there for me. it wasnt distracting because there were so many cool moments. two things made me think the fights would suck in this movie. corey yuen and all the talk of no prep time from the stars. however the action it did have was fantastically well executed. my biggest quam is that RZA especially as his first film, shouldnt have starred in it. would've like to have seen someone else play this role..djimon honsou kept coming to mind or maybe even idris elba. russel crowe was great in this movie, and you can tell he was just having a ball making this. lucy liu once again, while her character was really cool and badass, ultimately her acting is so forced, that it takes me out of the movie. jamie chung and dave bautista were the break out stars of this movie. especially bautista. he was believable the way he spoke, his movements. i just wish there were more hand to hand combat. i can go on and on about this film. i want a directors cut thou, cause you can see where there should have been more to the story.

[Snipsky]

i expected more. it was ok

[Jimbo]

so first off let me say, i loved this movie...it was a really great first effort from the ra i enjoyed it. however, the fights just wasnt there for me. it wasnt distracting because there were so many cool moments. two things made me think the fights would suck in this movie. corey yuen and all the talk of no prep time from the stars. however the action it did have was fantastically well executed. my biggest quam is that RZA especially as his first film, shouldnt have starred in it. would've like to have seen someone else play this role..djimon honsou kept coming to mind or maybe even idris elba. russel crowe was great in this movie, and you can tell he was just having a ball making this. lucy liu once again, while her character was really cool and badass, ultimately her acting is so forced, that it takes me out of the movie. jamie chung and dave bautista were the break out stars of this movie. especially bautista. he was believable the way he spoke, his movements. i just wish there were more hand to hand combat. i can go on and on about this film. i want a directors cut thou, cause you can see where there should have been more to the story.

I generally agree on the fights. For the lack of prep, they were good, but I would have liked a different choreographer, like Sammo, the Lau Brothers, or maybe even Kuo Chui and Lu Feng, of the Venoms. Corey Yuen's choreo is often choppy, and his fights start out great but tend to fizzle out at the end, or end abruptly due to some outside factor. However, they got Corey, and he did a good job with the actors, especially considering many of them are not specifically MA actors.

As for Bautista, the role of Brass Body was made for him. He was pretty much being himself; similar to his persona in the WWE. I could definitely see him as the right-hand man to a Bond villain. With his look, menacing demeanor and athleticism, he would put the other big men of the Bond films to shame. And with Daniel Craig being the most physical of all the 007s, it would be a great match-up.

[Lokhopkuen]

Man with the iron fists was fun and well done!
RZA is the new Run Run Shaw;)

[Faruq]

Man with the iron fists was fun and well done!
RZA is the new Run Run Shaw;)

For RZA's directorial debut, I think he did a good job. But hopefully he continues improving his craft as time passes. Everyone I know said it was good, but was missing something they just couldn't put their finger on. They were saying "Flight" was the money picture for last weekend. It was interesting that RZA's character didn't really have to demonstrate any martial skill. Could he have done what a Don Cheadle did in "Rush Hour II", or is that why he just made his character have the super power (the fists) instead?

[doug maverick]

For RZA's directorial debut, I think he did a good job. But hopefully he continues improving his craft as time passes. Everyone I know said it was good, but was missing something they just couldn't put their finger on. They were saying "Flight" was the money picture for last weekend. It was interesting that RZA's character didn't really have to demonstrate any martial skill. Could he have done what a Don Cheadle did in "Rush Hour II", or is that why he just made his character have the super power (the fists) instead?

don cheadle has got some skills... idk what he studies but he knows something.. as for what was missing..how about... "kung fu" as there was none in the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBchNFW0JcY
this is the movie that most reminds me of iron fist.

[bawang]

rza had too many celebrity faces and not enough talent.

[SimonM]

I loved the darkly comedic tone of the film. It carried the over-the-topness and the choppiness of the script.

Sometimes the right level of self-aware winking and nudging can work. This was a rare instance where it did.

Was it high cinema? Hell no.

But it was highly entertaining.

[GeneChing]

See our The Man with the Iron Fists Prize Package winners thread (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1195624).

[Lokhopkuen]

don cheadle has got some skills... idk what he studies but he knows something.. as for what was missing..how about... "kung fu" as there was none in the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBchNFW0JcY
this is the movie that most reminds me of iron fist.

But there were "styles";)

[wenshu]

don cheadle has got some skills... idk what he studies but he knows something

http://i.imgur.com/RmteX.gif

[mooyingmantis]

Worst movie I saw this year! Opening rap was filthy. Fighting was stupid. I would say the plot was lame, but I never detected a plot.

If I had went to the local library and borrowed the DVD for free, I still would have felt ripped off! :mad:

[doug maverick]

Worst movie I saw this year! Opening rap was filthy. Fighting was stupid. I would say the plot was lame, but I never detected a plot.

If I had went to the local library and borrowed the DVD for free, I still would have felt ripped off! :mad:

think you missed the entire point of a RATED R film.

[Jimbo]

I think I enjoyed it as much as I did, mainly because I went in with very low expectations. Probably my biggest disappointments were that neither Chen Kuan-Tai nor Leung Kar-Yan had much to do at all. In fact, the only time I actually got a clear look at Leung was during the end credit sequences. I suppose they might include more on the DVD extras.

Do I feel that the movie equalled the movies it pays homage to? Not IMO. If anything, it convinced me even more that the spirit, as well as the sheer physical complexity and creativity of the old-school choreography in Chinese/HK films, is a thing of the past. Only Donnie Yen remains, and once he's gone, who knows. TMWTIF proves that, while it has some highly-trained MAists in it, nowadays that matters little with the wires, CGI, and choreography designed to help non-MAists look like MAists. Which Yuen Woo-Ping has done before, but which has become Corey Yuen's specialty.

Another big thing, as I think has been mentioned already, is RZA himself starring. I give him credit for putting himself out there, but he had no screen presence as an actor, and didn't seem convincing against Dave Bautista, even with his iron fists. IMO, someone like the aforementioned Don Cheadle or, even better, Michael Jai White, would have been much more suited to the role.

[doug maverick]

I think I enjoyed it as much as I did, mainly because I went in with very low expectations. Probably my biggest disappointments were that neither Chen Kuan-Tai nor Leung Kar-Yan had much to do at all. In fact, the only time I actually got a clear look at Leung was during the end credit sequences. I suppose they might include more on the DVD extras.

Do I feel that the movie equalled the movies it pays homage to? Not IMO. If anything, it convinced me even more that the spirit, as well as the sheer physical complexity and creativity of the old-school choreography in Chinese/HK films, is a thing of the past. Only Donnie Yen remains, and once he's gone, who knows. TMWTIF proves that, while it has some highly-trained MAists in it, nowadays that matters little with the wires, CGI, and choreography designed to help non-MAists look like MAists. Which Yuen Woo-Ping has done before, but which has become Corey Yuen's specialty.

Another big thing, as I think has been mentioned already, is RZA himself starring. I give him credit for putting himself out there, but he had no screen presence as an actor, and didn't seem convincing against Dave Bautista, even with his iron fists. IMO, someone like the aforementioned Don Cheadle or, even better, Michael Jai White, would have been much more suited to the role.

originally rza wasnt going to star in it. but i guess they couldnt find someone to play the black smith. the casting choices werent the best. with the exception ofcourse of bautista, cung le, russel crowe and oddly enough lucy liu...also jamie chung did a good job. but rick yune was horrible... he was suppose to be the lead... they needed someone stronger.

also i liked mc jins cameo... if you dont know who jin is, he was the first legit asian rapper, signed to sony records...he moved to hong kong and became a born again christian.. but the dude has skills.

[Jimbo]

I think Russell Wong would have been a much better lead than Rick Yune. I mention Russell a lot, simply because he's a very good, very underrated actor, has leading-man looks, and can also do good screen fighting, if need be.

Jamie Chung was the hottest-looking lady in the whole movie.

[GeneChing]

Colorworks Evokes Classic Martial Arts Films in Grading Universal Pictures’"The Man With the Iron Fists" (http://www.postproductionbuyersguide.com/colorworks_11_12_12.php)
November 12, 2012
Source: Colorworks

Colorworks, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s digital intermediate facility, provided color grading services for Universal Pictures’ The Man With the Iron Fists.

The new action-adventure film presented by Quentin Tarantino marks the directorial debut of RZA, best known as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu Tang Clan, and stars RZA, Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Rick Yune, Jamie Chung, Cung Le, Dave Bautista, Byron Mann, Daniel Wu and Pam Grier. Colorworks senior colorist Trent Johnson was tasked with finalizing the look of the film, which was shot in China by cinematographer Chi Ying Chan (credited in film as Chan Chi Ying) (Dead or Alive, Tokyo Raiders).

The film, according to Johnson, is lush and rich, in keeping with the mythic style of the classic Chinese martial arts films of the ’70s and ’80s that inspired it. “The look was imposed by the set design, by the art direction and the costumes,” said Johnson. “It’s formalized, like much of Chinese art and architecture.” Johnson developed an unusual color effect for a flashback sequence set in the United States when the film’s main character, Blacksmith (RZA), was a young man. He de-saturated the scene to black & white and then applied spot color to certain highlights. “We brought back the yellow glow of a lantern and a flame, and restored the red to blood,” he recalled. “It was important to establish that the scene was a flashback and to let the audience know that we are in a different time and place.”

Johnson took even greater liberties with a series of stylized martial arts scenes that play under the film’s end credits. “We applied different effects to each clip, all of them reminiscent of older martial arts films,” he says. “We used color reversal looks, Kodachrome looks, Ektachrome looks and similar looks that were created with film stocks.” The coloration of this movie was so much in the style of those classic Kung Fu flicks, which I personally found very amusing. However, I think it flew way over the heads of most audiences. I've talked to a lot of young people about this (by young, I mean in their 20's or younger, long before the 'golden' era of Shaw Brothers) and none of them were impressed by MwtIF. I'm sure the color grading totally escaped their notice.

[doug maverick]

The coloration of this movie was so much in the style of those classic Kung Fu flicks, which I personally found very amusing. However, I think it flew way over the heads of most audiences. I've talked to a lot of young people about this (by young, I mean in their 20's or younger, long before the 'golden' era of Shaw Brothers) and none of them were impressed by MwtIF. I'm sure the color grading totally escaped their notice.

as a young person in their twenties i resent that remark..lol.. the coloring on this film was fantastic. i loved the way the reds popped out, and it had that old feel. but wasnt washed out..which im happy because people who shoot with the RED(the camera used for the film) never properly color grade...and the colors always look too flat and washed out.

[GeneChing]

as a young person in their twenties i resent that remark..lol.. Well, you *are* an exception when it comes to martial arts movies. Most kids your age don't have your expertise on the subject. Heck, most old fogies my age don't have it either.

While I enjoyed MwtIF, I think a lot of its entertainment value lies within knowing the genre. In discussions that I've had about it, those that know their classic kung fu films enjoyed it. Those that don't, well, they don't get it.

[Jimbo]

That's why I felt it would have an overall limited appeal. Out of the population, very few people know or care about the genre of old- school KF movies, regardless of the age group. Most awareness, if any, is as the cliche of the 'cheap, badly-dubbed kung fu movies' from Saturday afternoons. There is definitely a true fan base, an awareness that there are many excellent movies in the genre, but it's a relatively small niche.

[Blacktiger]

Saw it last night and was quite excited.

There were parts that were really cool and then as alot of people have said something was missing, dont know what exactly but...

I found the RZA painful in the extreme, If I closed my eyes it could have been afro samurai.

Hope they do another one however :D

[Raipizo]

Well, you *are* an exception when it comes to martial arts movies. Most kids your age don't have your expertise on the subject. Heck, most old fogies my age don't have it either.

While I enjoyed MwtIF, I think a lot of its entertainment value lies within knowing the genre. In discussions that I've had about it, those that know their classic kung fu films enjoyed it. Those that don't, well, they don't get it.

I noticed a little about that, although I'm in my 20's. I watch old Kung fu movies thought so maybe that's why.

[mickey]

Greetings,

I finally saw this. It was much better than I anticipated. It really maintained the Shaw Brothers feel. I enjoyed the opening melee and when the Black Widows went into action (completely unexpected).

mickey

[PalmStriker]

:D For those who have not had a chance to see this movie, including myself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A57zjclmoI

[bawang]

i didnt watch it because the lucy lee oriential prostitute monologue in the trailer weirded me out.

[GeneChing]

A Superstar In China, Daniel Wu Emerges In His Native California (https://www.npr.org/2018/07/21/630619146/a-superstar-in-china-daniel-wu-emerges-in-his-native-california)

July 21, 20188:15 AM ET
CHLOE VELTMAN

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2018/07/19/dwu1_wide-487fdaeea7d69c079e008b0e06b25a6f8e556890-s800-c85.jpg
Daniel Wu plays the starring role in the TV series Into the Badlands, and also serves as one of its executive producers.
Aidan Monaghan/AMC

In the dystopian AMC television action series Into the Badlands, Daniel Wu stars as a lethal warrior on a quest to discover the truth about his past.

Over two decades, the 43-year-old has played leading roles in everything from romantic comedies to kung fu costume dramas. He's become a celebrity across Asia. But Badlands is the first starring role in the United States for the California native.

"As a kid growing up in the '70s, '80s, as a person of color, I didn't see a future for that," Wu says. "In my field, there was a roadblock. And so, I basically had to go to Asia and get successful there in order to come back here to have success here."

This year, Hollywood blockbusters like The Mummy, Ready Player One and Transformers: The Last Knight have done better box office numbers in China than they have in the U.S, according to Box Office Mojo. That's part of the reason why Asian-American actors are starting to snag more leading roles in U.S. films like Crazy Rich Asians and in TV shows after decades of being sidelined in this country.

Daniel Wu is one of them.

Wu grew up in the Bay Area, the son of immigrants from Shanghai. He went to the University of Oregon, and thought he'd become an architect. But in 1997, after graduating, he traveled to Hong Kong, where he was randomly spotted in a bar by a talent scout for a TV commercial.

It just so happened that Hong Kong film director Yonfan caught the ad — and gave the chiseled 20-something his first big break. The director tapped the novice to star in Bishonen, his drama about an ill-fated gay romance. But there were some challenges.

"I've never acted before," Wu says. "And my Cantonese was not good at the time. So I turned it down."

Yonfan wouldn't let go.

"By the end I was like, 'OK, if you don't blame me for screwing it up, I'll give it a shot,'" Wu says.

That was the start of Wu's fast rise to stardom in China, though it didn't exactly happen overnight.

"I came to Hong Kong as a foreigner," he says. "Even though I'm the same skin color, same hair color, same culture, I was treated differently at first."

It took a couple years, but Wu says he was welcomed.

"These are my people, my own culture, and they're accepting me," he says. "I think that's the most touching thing that's happened to me."

Over the years, Wu says he returned to the U.S. for occasional, mostly disappointing, meetings with movie executives.

"They don't really know what they're looking for," he says. "They're just looking for someone Chinese, you know, or Asian."

But slowly Wu started to find opportunities. There was the American-Chinese co-production The Man with the Iron Fists, shot in China by the rap artist and and movie director RZA, who cast Wu in a small role. The RZA says he was surprised when his local crew saw Wu as the biggest celebrity on set.

"I'm telling you, nobody gave two cents' s*** about none of us," RZA says. "When Danny came on the set, everybody went crazy. And all of a sudden, I was making a movie."

These days, Wu is spending more time in California with his family. And after two decades of superstardom in China, Wu has finally landed a major role in the United States.

"It wasn't until Badlands came about that I really kind of moved back here, because there's a steady strong job," Wu says.

He trains at a gym near his home in Oakland. He needs to stay in shape for Into the Badlands *-- where he says he's been in more than 30 fight scenes in three seasons.

Wu says while he and a few fellow Asian-American actors are starting to get more lead roles in the U.S., there's still plenty of room for growth.

"It's still not at the point where I'd like it to be," Wu says. "But you know, I understand that it's a slow process. It's a transition."

THREADS:
Into The Badlands (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67844-Into-The-Badlands)
The Man with the Iron Fists (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?51430-The-Man-with-the-Iron-Fists)

[GeneChing]

I thought I started a thread on this already. :o


RZA on His New Film, ‘Black Panther’ and Inclusivity: ‘We Would Love to Have an Easier Path’ (https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/rza-on-his-new-film-e2-80-98black-panther-e2-80-99-and-inclusivity-e2-80-98we-would-love-to-have-an-easier-path-e2-80-99/ar-BBLhpbC)
Jenna Marotta 20 hrs ago

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBLhy1V.img?h=414&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1821&y=936
© Rebecca Cabage/Shutterstock 'Cut Throat City' film portraits, Comic-Con International, San Diego, USA - 21 Jul 2018

RZA is on the cusp of two professional milestones. This November, his legendary hip-hop group, the Wu-Tang Clan, will ring in its 25th anniversary with a series of Down Under concerts. And early next year, he will bring audiences his third film as a director, “Cut Throat City.”

Born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, the artist began releasing features six years ago. Rather than a career pivot, moviemaking represented coming full circle in the entertainment industry: the very first Wu-Tang album (“Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers”) took its name from the 1978 film “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.” In it, a fugitive college student travels to a Shaolin temple to master kung-fu, plotting revenge on his tyrannical government. During “RZA: Movies, Music, and Martial Arts” — his recent Hall H talk at San Diego Comic-Con — RZA recalled why Liu Chia-liang’s epic resonated for him and his bandmates.

“Being black in America — especially as I was growing up — the feeling of oppression, the feeling of being outcast, the feeling of not having a voice was part of my life,” said the Brooklyn native. “I didn’t learn black history in school, I had to go find Malcolm X books.”

In the late ’90s, while writing music, producing records, and touring stadiums, RZA also worked on a blaxploitation film that shared a name with his sometimes-alias, “Bobby Digital.” The movie was never released, but he later shadowed Quentin Tarantino on the sets of the “Kill Bill” films and “Death Proof” (He scored “Kill Bill: Vol. 1,” and RZA has composed for films like “Blade: Trinity” and 2017 Sundance Special Jury Prize winner “Roxanne Roxanne.”) “Death Proof” co-starred Eli Roth, with whom RZA wrote the screenplay for his directorial debut, Universal Pictures’ “The Man with the Iron Fists.”

The 2012 film came with a “presented by Quentin Tarantino” credit. In a recent interview, RZA told IndieWire that Tarantino “came to my set, and patted me on the back and was like, ‘The student has now become a master. Do your thing.’” The long editing process caused RZA to eventually relinquish an acting role in “Django Unchained.”

“I took on a very ambitious first movie,” said RZA. “I probably had a staff of 400 people and a cast of 30 people,” including Russell Crowe, Rick Yune, Lucy Liu, and himself. Budgeted at approximately $20 million, “The Man with The Iron Fists” earned a little less than that at the combined domestic and international box offices. Lionsgate distributed his follow-up, “Love Beats Rhymes,” bringing it to select theaters and video-on-demand last December. Azealia Banks stars as an aspiring rapper, and the cast includes “BlacKkKlansman” breakout John David Washington.

“Cut Throat City” is first screenplay from Paul Cuschieri; he and RZA were paired by RZA’s agent, Cameron Mitchell. The feature was inspired by a news article Cuschieri read about a group of young, male Hurricane Katrina survivors who began robbing truck stop casinos. RZA said the script spent five years being passed around Hollywood and in early 2017, “a good team of really young, energetic producers” — led by Sean Lydiard (“Wakefield”) decided “they really wanted to see this come to life.”

“This is a story about four men who are faced with desperate situations [and] make a choice to go down the wrong path,” said RZA. “Dope” and “The Get Down” alum Shameik Moore plays newlywed Blink, a graphic novelist, college student, and young father. Denzel Whitaker — last seen in “Black Panther” — portrays a saxophonist named Andre, while Keean Johnson’s Junior wants to open a kennel and raise pitbulls. When the film opens, Miracle (Demetrius Shipp Jr.) is the only one with criminal ties.

Co-stars include Wesley Snipes as Blink’s long-absent father, Kat Graham as Blink’s wife Demyra, and Terrence Howard as The Saint, a man who RZA described as an older version of Howard’s “not to be reckoned with” alter-ego in “Hustle & Flow.” RZA’s contributions to the script included changing a law enforcement character who specializes in burglaries from a man to a woman. “The intuition of a woman sometimes sees deeper than the surface of what the problem is,” he said, so the switch “add[s] another layer of compassion to the conflict that these characters were facing.”

Filmed in New Orlean’s 9th Ward — where a local sign reading “CTC” for “cross the canal” sparked the widespread “cut throat city” moniker — the film is in its final stages of post. “We shot right where the levees broke, so you could see the damage that Katrina did” 13 years ago, said Shipp Jr. at Comic-Con, seated alongside RZA, Moore, Snipes, Whitake, Johnson, Graham, plus their scene partner and reigning UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

“It’s really not cleaned up.” Graham added, “There’s parts of the area where there’s still not running water, there’s still no electricity … In a way, we’re the voices they don’t have.”

Of course, the entertainment business is in the midst of its own campaign for representation. “The black community has for a long time been a part of the Hollywood community, and of course we would love to have a more proportionate ratio of films that tell our stories,” said RZA, citing past examples from stars Will Smith, Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, Lena Horne, and Dorothy Dandrige, plus directors Spike Lee, John Singleton, Anton Fuqua, F. Gary Gray, and Jordan Peele. “Same thing for female leads, same thing for Asian leads. The Asian community has been a strong supporter of a lot of films, the Mexican community. I go to movies all the time, and I just see a beautiful, diverse crowd of people with their popcorn, taking that escapism and enjoying the movies. And it does feel good when you look up there and you see somebody else of your own — I guess they would call it ‘ethnic group.'”

Talking about African-Americans specifically, RZA continued, “We would love to have an easier path to creating art. I know sometimes we feel like we get short [shrift]” due to the “myth that internationally, black films or black casts don’t resonate.” He believes $1.3 billion in “Black Panther” box office receipts “broke that stereotype,” as well as Wu-Tang Clan’s own recent ticket sales.

“We sold out the Sydney Opera House for four nights,” he said. “And there’s not a lot of brothers over there.”

Well Go USA Entertainment will release “Cut Throat City” in 2019. Watch the trailer below.

THREADS:
Cut Throat City (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70889-Cut-Throat-City)
Man with the Iron Fists (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?51430-The-Man-with-the-Iron-Fists)

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FyGHAUpSIQ

RZA shot the movie in 2011 in China with a mixed cast of Asian and Hollywood actors. The project involved big names like Russell Crowe and Quentin Tarantino. But RZA says no one made as much of an impression on the set as Wu did.

"I'm telling you, nobody gave two cents **** about none of us," RZA says. "When Danny came on the set, everybody went crazy. And all of a sudden I was making a movie."

But Hollywood continued largely to ignore Wu. The actor says he returned to California for meetings with movie executives on occasion, and usually came away disappointed.

"They don't really know what they're looking for," he says. "They're just looking for someone 'Chinese' or 'Asian.' I'm not sitting in a room auditioning for a role that's just based on my race."

Recently, however, Wu says things have started to change, thanks to the dynamics of the marketplace. In addition to "Into the Badlands," Wu also appeared in the recent movie "Tomb Raider." That's because China has become a key financial market for Hollywood.

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/07/IMG_0474-e1530926842910-800x568.jpg
Daniel Wu at Caffe Strada in Berkeley. (Photo: Chloe Veltman/KQED)

Earlier this year, China beat North America in box office revenue for the first time, fueling expectations that it might soon become the world’s number one movie market. And according to IMDbPro’s Box Office Mojo, recent Hollywood blockbusters like "The Mummy," "Ready Player One" and "Transformers: The Last Knight" have done better box office in China than they have in the U.S.

Now, Wu says Hollywood is starting to take the talent pool more seriously after decades of offering Asian actors little more than minor, racially stereotyped character parts.

"They realize that the Chinese audiences are much smarter than that and get ****ed off when you do something like that to our beloved actors," Wu says. "And they won’t go see the movie."

Wu points to Sung Kang, known to audiences through "The Fast and the Furious" franchise, Daniel Dae Kim from the "Lost" TV series, and the "Harold and Kumar" films' John Cho as fellow Asian-American actors now making it in the U.S.

"All these guys have been working for so long and finally making it into shows," Wu says. "But it's still not at the point where I'd like it to be."

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/07/training-800x600.jpg
Daniel Wu and his trainer, Matt Lucas, work out at The Open Matt, a dojo in Oakland. (Photo: Chloe Veltman/KQED)

Wu says a new generation of Hollywood executives that grew up in a more multicultural environment than those previously in charge of the purse strings can now change casting dynamics for the better.

"With the people in power now having that exposure, they are consciously trying to make more diverse films," Wu says. "They're starting to bring in actors of different races and cultures."

Nice showcase for Matt Lucas. He deserves it.

THREADS (just this final post)
Into the Badlands (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67844-Into-The-Badlands)
The Man with the Iron Fists (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?51430-The-Man-with-the-Iron-Fists)