FORBIDDEN KINGDOM: the movie

[GeneChing]

MovieTickets.com is holding a special FORBIDDEN KINGDOM sweepstakes for a trip to S.F. If you win, be sure to come by our offices because you heard it here. We're about 40 miles south of S.F.

[SPJ]

big beauties/actresses from china.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZkg8RLcTDs

I like he mei tian.

my kids like liu yi fei.

my bro--

both li bing bing and liu yi fei casted in the coming movie "forbidden kingdom" in april.

some clips from the movie;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agyUFtXN0WU

a ferocious tiger against a quick and agile mantis


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

snake no match for eagle claws, use crane beak/wing, ouch ou ou ah ah stop, --

show respect for your teacher. I laughed so hard--


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVlfDbRZ9qg&feature=user

a drunkard against 3 swords soldier


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbs3vTxOVTY&NR=1

the whip and a piece of long white cloth grabbing the monkey king staff

three prongs--, double hooks from liu yi fei-- wow some many diverse weapons of old times.

--



I meant once we are done with the tax filing.

my bro's and I will go to see the movie and have laughs and fun.

[SPJ]

I am so used to li bing bing playing the good girl/character.

it would take some time for me to get used to her playing a bad character.

[jackmcmanus21]

im looking forward to seeing this...there hasn't been a Jet Li or Chan movie i haven't enjoyed besides Rush Hour...not much of a fan of Tuckers annoying voice

[Zenshiite]

This is playing this weekend at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

[GeneChing]

I had the pleasure of working with John Fusco since he wrote our cover story for our May June 2008 issue. I found him to be a genuine traditional practitioner of kung fu and was very impressed by his character. We were in dialog about the story during the writer's strike and he insisted that we donate his compensation to Jet Li's One Foundation. I am scheduled to meet John in person this Thursday and I'm really looking forward to it.

Martial Arts Movie Born In Vermont
Williston, Vermont - April 7, 2008

Monday night's movie premier in Williston was a celebration bridging Vermont and China, with all the trappings of Hollywood: autograph signings and a real red carpet walk.

The celebtration was in honor of "The Forbidden Kingdom." The story, written by Morrisville screenwriter John Fusco, is a martial arts fantasy adventure that pairs movie fighting legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Fusco drew inspiration for the script from his own studies at the Vermont Kung Fu Academy.

"When Jackie Chan was reading the script and said, 'Shon dong black tiger? How did you learn about that? How did you know about "praying mantis?" Where did you learn about "flying lohan?"' I said, 'In Vermont,'" Fusco said. "And he said, 'No, no, Vermont's (all about) maple syrup, not kung fu!'"

The writer proved Jackie Chan wrong about that, and had backup in doing so from another Vermont talent. Essex High School graduate, Morgan Benoit, now works in Los Angeles as an actor. Like Fusco, he also studied at the Vermont Kung Fu Academy, and credits that experience with changing his life.

"When I was a kid, I grew up in Vermont, and was getting in trouble as a teenager," Benoit said. "At 14 and 15, I was just hanging out with the wrong crowd. Martial arts took me away from that in put me on a positive path."

That path now appears to be leading him to success in Hollywood. He has a small roll as a villain in "The Forbidden Kingdom," and shares screen time with Jackie Chan.

Both Benoit and Fusco hopes the movie kicks up interest in kung fu, in the same way "The Karate Kid" did for karate.

"It would be great to re-introduce martial arts as a positive influence for kids," Fusco said.

Monday night's screening was just a preview. "The Forbidden Kingdom" doesn't open in wide release until April 18.

[GeneChing]

Check out our exclusive coverage by Forbidden Kingdom's screenwriter, John Fusco.

FORBIDDEN FIST: The Making of THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

This online version is unabridged.

This is the cover story for our 2008 May/June issue, on the newsstands now. This issue comes with a free FORBIDDEN KINGDOM poster.

[GeneChing]

I saw Forbidden Kingdom last night and found it delightful. Jet and Jackie's on screen chemistry is fantastic. It's also quite an homage for anyone who knows there kung fu movies. There are generous nods the Shaw brothers, King Hu, Golden Harvest - in this way, the film quotes the gospel. Yuen Woo-Ping's choreography is heavy on the wires and CGI (there's a lot of qi blasts) but it works well for the story and the J&J fight surely deserves a slow motion rewind. Crystal Liu's performance was stand out. She's definitely the new Chinese ingénue to watch. If you know kung fu, screenwriter John Fusco's treatment of the story is very respectful of the arts. The fact that he's been a genuine practitioner for years and a fan of the genre really shows through.

This is an important film and I hope that you can all go out and support it. Forbidden Kingdom is independent, filmed in China, with an almost all Chinese cast. It's a major kung fu film, and we don't get them on this level very often. J & J working together - that's absolutely historic. It almost didn't happen. If this film succeeds, it'll send a strong message to Hollywood that we want more kung fu cinema. Forbidden Kingdom comes out on April 18, which will pit it against the heavily marketed Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The following weekend is Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo, and then summer rush is on. The next weekend, Iron Man, then Speed Racer, then Narnia: Prince Caspian, then Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, then Sex in the City & Foot Fist Way. So Forbidden Kingdom really needs to capture the box office these first few weeks to make a mark, before the big blockbusters come in an smash up everything.

If you love kung fu movies, you'll enjoy Forbidden Kingdom, so be sure to support it at the box office.

And let's not forget Kung Fu Panda...

[SPJ]

dun know how the movie would do in the US.

but I know, the movie will do well in Hong kong, Taiwan, China and Japan.

crystal liu starred in so many Chinese wu xia tv series based on Jin Yong's novels.

She is a household name in these countries.

not to mention, aging fairing JC and JL.

--

there are many loyal audience for the three out there.

[GeneChing]

On John Fusco...

Dream weaver: Renowned film writer John Fusco credits his successes, including 'Forbidden Kingdom,' with a journey that began in Waterbury

BY BRYNN MANDEL REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Waterbury native John Fusco wrote "The Forebidden Kingdom," a story imspired by his marital arts interests, which began as a kid in Watertown. Here he practices Kung Fu on a Chinese mountainside during filming. Fusco's film stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li and debuts in theaters nationwide April 18.

It unfolded as a bedtime story, a tale woven by John Fusco for his son around the Chinese legend of the Monkey King and a magical staff.

On Friday, an adaptation of that nightly narrative by a one-time Wilby High School dropout rolls out in theaters nationwide. The big-budget film, "The Forbidden Kingdom," pairs the martial arts dream team of Jackie Chan and Jet Li for the first time. It employed the cinematographer and action choreographer from 2003's critically-acclaimed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." And it blossomed from the mind of a man who grew up in Prospect and whose first interests in the martial arts were stoked at the former Academy of Korean Martial Arts in Watertown.

In "Forbidden," an American teen discovers the special weapon of a Chinese sage in a pawnshop, then finds himself transported to ancient, warrior-populated China. Fusco shared his legend-based bedtime story with a producer a few years ago on the Moroccan set of another of his scripts, "Hidalgo," setting in motion events leading to this week's release.

Fusco spent last summer watching Chan and Li spar on location in the Gobi Desert and Chinese bamboo forests. During down time, he traded training tips with the celebrities he now casually refers to as "Jet" and "Jackie." Li praised Fusco's script, saying he was "immediately impressed" by the Waterbury-area native's knowledge of Chinese legends.

"Stories like the Monkey King ... are completely unknown to most Western audiences. But the script got so many details right, and it created this great fusion of Eastern and Western sensibilities," the star said in publicity materials.

The film realizes decades-old dreams for the 40-something Fusco. Besides being a fan of the "Forbidden" action heroes, Fusco is a devotee of dashing after dreams.

He credits his screenwriting success — "Young Guns" and "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" are among 10 he's penned — with his determination to reconnect with the wonder and excitement of childhood.

"It all goes back to this creative well that was established in my younger years," said Fusco.

His older sister remembers them well. Kathy LeBlanc served as makeup artist, actor and production assistant on Fusco's earliest films. In the backyards of Prospect, the two filmed childhood fantasies about Frankenstein and werewolves with a Super-8 home camera.

When something such as martial arts or Billy the Kid enraptured her brother, he embraced it wholeheartedly, said LeBlanc, a Naugatuck Valley Community College professor who visited China during "Forbidden Kingdom" filming.

Writing movies was his dream "as far back as I can remember," said Fusco, but screenwriting awards and A-list friends were not always abundant.

By telephone from his Vermont home earlier this month, Fusco described how a high-school football injury temporarily derailed him.

It claimed his Wilby High football career and martial arts studies. Fusco started wandering. At 16, he quit school. Hit the road as a musician. Hitchhiked the South. Returned to Waterbury to work periodic factory jobs. Throughout, he continued with his avocation, writing. Eventually, life on the road grew old.

"I made up my mind at one point, I was going to go back and reclaim that lost dream," said Fusco, expressing no regret over those years. "It exposed me to interesting characters. Most of all, it made me hungry."

He returned home, earned his GED and enrolled at what is now called Naugatuck Valley Community College, where he met wife Richela Renkun. He attended New York University film school.

While there, he won the prestigious Nissan Focus Award for students, paving the way for work with movie industry giants like DreamWorks and Robert DeNiro.

After a stint in Los Angeles, Fusco moved to Vermont. He returns to Waterbury — which he used as a fictionalized setting for his 2002 novel, "Paradise Salvage" — to visit family, and stock up on Italian groceries.

About eight years ago, Fusco rediscovered martial arts through a Vermont-based Shaolin kung fu master. Fusco introduced his son, Giovanni, to the discipline-instilling activity, as his own father had done years ago in Watertown. He feels grateful to be living his childhood dreams.

"Lots of people told him it was impossible. They'd laugh at him. He just truly believed it," said LeBlanc, Fusco's sister, crediting their mother for her encouragement. "He's not changed. He's still my little brother."

On Forbidden Kingdom...

The Forbidden Kingdom
John Hazelton in Los Angeles
14 Apr 2008 15:58

US/China. 2008. 113mins
Anticipated both for its Jackie Chan-Jet Li star pairing and its East-meets-West production approach, The Forbidden Kingdom attempts to put top-flight Asian martial arts together with family friendly fantasy in an English-language action adventure package. The elements of this well crafted and good-looking US/China co-production should attract sizeable and demographically broad audiences around the world. But the formulaic story and slightly calculated feel will make it hard for the independently distributed genre mashup to reach the box office heights achieved by some of the Hollywood majors' recent fantasy adventure offerings.

After its Beijing premiere this week, the Casey Silver/Huayi Brothers production (backed by Relativity Media) gets a wide, PG-13 release in the US on April 18 through Lionsgate and the Weinstein Co. That will give it a two week jump on the first of the similarly teen- and family-targeted summer blockbusters and should, at the very least, set up a lucrative video run later in the year.

The star pairing and genre mix will be especially attractive in the international marketplace, giving the film – distributed by Lionsgate or Weinstein in a handful of major territories and by local indies elsewhere – a fighting chance of competing with bigger studio releases over the crowded summer season.

The Asian thread of the script by John Fusco (Young Guns, Hidalgo) is based on the traditional Chinese legend of the Monkey King, but the story is told from the point of view of modern day American teen Jason (Angarano from Man In The Chair and Snow Angels).

Recalling elements of The Karate Kid, Lord Of The Rings and plenty of other quest adventures, the predictable plot has martial arts fan Jason magically transported back to ancient China and charged with freeing the Monkey King from the clutches of the Jade Warlord (Chou, from Flashpoint). Jason's companions are Chan's tipsy kung fu master Lu Yan, Li's straight-faced Silent Monk and pretty Golden Sparrow (Chinese pop and screen star Liu Yifei). Acting for the Warlord is the White Haired Demoness (Li Bing Bing, from The Knot).

American director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little) steers the narrative with a steady if uninspired hand - one training montage may be obligatory in this sort of outing but a second seems a bit desperate - while Hong Kong martial arts master Woo-Ping Yuen (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) choreographs the action sequences.

The four or five big fight scenes have some nice settings and feature the kind of aerial ballet and precision footwork for which Woo-Ping is renowned. They're enhanced by special effects (mostly done in Korea) that are well up to par for a production with a reported budget of between $50m and $70m.

The fight scenes don't quite rise to the imaginative level of Woo-Ping's best work, though, and the significance and subtleties of the film's one head-to-head encounter between martial arts legends Chan and Li - for whom this is a first on-screen meeting – will probably be lost on general audiences.

Eye catching Chinese locations beautifully shot by Hong Kong cinematographer Peter Pau (another Crouching Tiger contributor) are another plus, but beyond its visual appeal the film is lacking in real substance. What character development there is follows strict genre guidelines and the comic potential in the difference between Chan's and Li's characters is rarely exploited.

As well as fighting technique, the two Asian superstars bring a lot of charisma to the proceedings, though they're hardly stretched dramatically. Angarano is very likeable as the misfit Jason and though his career so far has cast him more as an actor than a heartthrob his presence should help attract (female and male) teen moviegoers.

With its mix of Chinese and American talent, money and expertise, The Forbidden Kingdom is being billed as representing a middle way between two schools of film-making. As such, it will certainly help improve relations between two vital national industries. As a movie, however, it ends up feeling a little too much like a compromise.

[Zenshiite]

That article was GREAT! I can't wait to go check this out!

[冠木侍]

I am so used to li bing bing playing the good girl/character.

it would take some time for me to get used to her playing a bad character.

Her character cannot help but make me think of the Bride With White Hair....

made famous by none other than Bridgette Lin.

[GeneChing]

THERE IS A SPOILER IN THIS ARTICLE

Although you should click the link to see the photos. Crystal was wearing that same mini-silver-flasher jacket when we met, and only an ingénue of her potential could get away with an outfit like that. Having seen her in it, up close, well... life is good.

Over the Shoulder! (Celebrity Events)
The kingdom of Hollywood was a bit warmer yesterday and so was the conference room at Four Season's Hotel. As the press waited patiently for Jackie Chan, Crytal Liu, Collin Chou, writer John Fusco, director Rob Minkoff and producer Casey Silver, we tried to keep our cool with ice tea, sodas and water.

As soon as the cast and crew strolled into the conference, there was a mad rush of journalists in putting their digital recorders onto the table where the talent sat at. First question to Jackie Chan was about this movie and what he thought of it. It was a bit funny because he said he hated doing these types of Hollywood movies because they are different than Chinese made movies. However, if his movies like the "Rush Hour" and "Shanghai" movies has an audience and that young kid emulates the martial arts in a positive way that he gets from the movie, then he'll do more even if he doesn't car for them.

We all laughed but saw the writer, director and producer cringe a bit.

As for his take on the protests against the Beijing Olympics. His answer was plain and simple to the point that the Olympics shouldn't be about politics and should be more about sportsmanship and goodwill on the field.

I think Jackie Chan loves to organize things. While doing the press conference/junket for the movie, he was arranging the digital and cassette recorders in rows and when a tape would get to the end of its reel, he would turn it over and press record.

Another weird thing of Chan and I guess that's his hospitality kicking in, every time each talent member would finish their water, he would have his assistant give him a bottle of water and refill each person's glass.

I felt a bit bad for Crystal Liu when a journalsit asked if there may be a sequel. Jackie, producer and director said it depends on the audience. Then Jackie turns to Crystal and said, "We'll you're not going to back." Then he revised his thoughts and said, "She may be depending on the audience."

I was a bit freaked out though, when out of a dozen of journalists he looked straight at me and at least I thought he mouthed "I remember you." I kind of brushed it off. Maybe he did remember me. In one of my first junkets, I did "The Tuxedo" junket in which he starred opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt. He asked the question, "How many of you liked this movie." No body responded. However, I didn't realize I had my hand on the table and doing a "so-so" movement. All of sudden, he points at me and says, "You are my friend. You are honest and truthful about the movie." So who knows, maybe he did remember me.

Anyways, "Forbidden Kingdom" opens April 18, 2008 nationwide.

Li Bingbing *is* the Bride with White Hair. Her character's name is Ni Chang, and the Bride's name was Lian Nichang. It's a reference that Fusco put in. Like I said, "It's also quite an homage for anyone who knows there kung fu movies." If you know your movies, you'll be constantly smiling at the references.

As for Li Bingbing, one of my criticisms of the film is that there wasn't enough of her. She was great - the camera loved her in that costume - but her character could have been developed more. Again, if you know your movies, if you know the bride, I suppose there already is some development. I'm hoping that the Bride with White Hair is this year's pick for Halloween costumes for the ladies. She's a great mythic figure (and I do mean *figure*).

[GeneChing]

I think author Richard Corliss totally nailed this piece. It's an excellent observation on J&J's longevity as action stars.

Hong Kong Kung-fu Stars Can't Be Stopped
Thursday, Apr. 10, 2008 By RICHARD CORLISS

"We can kill each other when it's over," says Jackie Chan as the Drunken Master Lu Yan to Jet Li's Silent Monk in the new Asian-American fantasy film The Forbidden Kingdom. But when these honored veterans of Hong Kong martial-arts movies get into fighting mode, it's an open question as to whether they'll survive till the end of the shoot. (Chan ends each of his films with gruesome outtakes of the injuries he suffered doing his stunts.) For all the safety precautions taken, the two stars still have to give every fiber of their disciplined, battered bodies to get through the kung-fu scenes. It's what made them action stars to begin with: the willingness to display their physical gifts while undergoing something like physical torture. In a phrase, macho masochism.


So why is it that their careers have outlasted those of Western action stars? Chan has been in nearly 100 films since he did bit parts as a child actor. Li's been making movies nonstop for 26 years. Shouldn't their bodies, let alone their audiences, have given up by now? Steven Seagal made fewer than 20 features. Jean-Claude Van Damme had about a decade's worth of wide releases. Arnold Schwarzenegger managed 20 years of action stardom, and he's considered the gold standard.

Then there's the work. Contrast Chan's and Li's homemade, our-pain-for-your-gain, almost literally death-defying feats with those of Hollywood action stars from the same generation. Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris--they all looked fit and muscular, and some had martial-arts backgrounds. But when it came time to do the heavy lifting, especially as they reached midcareer, the doubles were usually called in.

It was not that these men lacked the guts to put themselves in danger but that they worked in a system in which that sort of bravado wasn't necessary or even allowed. Hong Kong saw action realism as a badge of honor; Hollywood was the fantasy factory. And its action-film stars were such valuable commodities, they had to be handled like preemies. The studios were breeding these men for 20-to-30-year careers. Let them perform their most daring stunts? Nah, we have people who do that.

Today these one-time Hollywood studs are only occasionally doing action films, or they are working in the direct-to-DVD subbasement, or they have retired to government service. And Chan, 30 years after he became an East Asian star with Drunken Master, still has a two-continent career: Cantonese-language films at home, the Rush Hour movies here. Li, who became a Hong Kong superstar with the Once upon a Time in China series, segued to the West with hit movies in Hollywood (Romeo Must Die) and France (Fearless).

It's true that they're both a bit younger than Stallone or Norris; this month marks Chan's 54th birthday and Li's 45th. But the two stars have been training and punishing their bodies since they were kids. When he was 8, Chan went to live and learn at a draconian martial-arts school. By 11, Li was the star of China's junior wushu team; in 1974 he performed on the White House lawn for President Nixon. So Chan's and Li's real ages, in Hong Kong action-movie years, are about 108 and 90, respectively. It's amazing that these guys can lift a fork, let alone a foot.

The actors whom Chan and Li most closely resemble are the comedy stars of early Hollywood: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, all onstage since youth. In films full of physical derring-do, they prided themselves on executing their own graceful maneuvers and extravagant stunts. The other big silent-action hero, Douglas Fairbanks, was famous for his perilous leaps between high structures. His reckless agility, as much as his radiant smile, made him a worldwide sensation.

When sound came in, Hollywood substituted talk for action. And when action films returned in the '70s (in part because of the success of Bruce Lee's Hong Kong epics), the stuntman system was firmly in place. Most stars of today's Hollywood action pictures, cosseted in visual effects, barely need to exert themselves at all.

Meanwhile, kicking, tumbling and sweating in The Forbidden Kingdom, Chan and Li continue to practically kill themselves for our pleasure. No wonder audiences are so loyal. They believe them.

[doug maverick]

with the exception that Li was always doubled by hung yan yan, after the shaolin temple movies.