Donnie Yen takes on the role of his life
By MICHAEL CHEANG
Despite countless action movies under his belt, Donnie Yen confesses that it was no easy task playing the grandmaster of Wing Chun.
First things first – the title Ip Man is pronounced as “Eep-Man”, not “I-P Man”, and it’s certainly not a movie about a superhero called Internet Protocol Man going around saving computers from spam.
It is the biopic of one of the most celebrated martial arts grandmasters of recent times – Ip Man, grandmaster of Wing Chun.
Besides being a grandmaster of one of the most practised martial arts styles in the world, Ip Man is also known as the teacher of a certain kung fu legend named Bruce Lee.
The man: Ip Man (Donnie Yen) hones his skills on a Wing Chun wooden dummy.
In view of that, who better to portray the man than a martial arts actor who was once hailed as the actor with the closest fighting style to that of the late Lee himself – Donnie Yen?
While Yen himself was up to the task, he admits that it was no easy role to play.
In fact, during an exclusive interview with the American-born actor in Hong Kong recently, Yen explained that he spent more time researching and preparing for the role than any other movie he has ever done, as the movie is not only a biography about a well-known kung fu master who not only influenced Bruce Lee, but is also a master of the most practised martial arts style all over the world.
“To portray a character like this, any actor must be fully prepared to the most accurate and truest to both the historical facts and the characteristics of the character,” Yen said. “I spent a great deal of time researching and preparing for this role, far more than any other role I have ever done ... no, far more than every role combined!”
According to Yen, Ip Man is a character that is very different from the usual stereotypical kung fu master one usually sees in the movies.
“Ip Man was a very family-oriented man. He was also very subtle, and never forced his philosophy or style on others. His personality was like that of your next-door neighbour – very down to earth and humble, and I think this sort of personality will appeal to audiences of all ages and gender.
“You can relate to a person like this because he is a very soft spoken, down to earth and a nice guy. It just happens that he is a kung fu master as well!” he said with a laugh.
Living the role
Directed by Wilson Yip (SPL, Flash Point), the movie focuses on Ip Man’s rise to prominence during the 1930s, when the wushu craze was at its height in his home village of Foshan as well as the hardships he faced during the Japanese occupation of China.
The villain: Fan Siu Wong is Ip Man’s nemesis, Jin Shan Zhao.
The movie also stars Lynn Hung as his wife Cheung Wing-sing, Simon Yam, Lam Ka Tung, and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi.
Surprisingly, this is the first ever movie based on the legendary kung fu grandmaster, despite several attempts in the past.
Yen was cast in the role a decade ago by directors Jeffery Lau and Corey Yuen, but that particular project fell through when the production company went bust.
Thus, when he finally managed to make this movie, it felt as though he was fulfilling his destiny.
“I feel like I’ve always been destined to play this role. A decade ago, I was cast in the role and even signed contracts and received deposits for it, but the movie was cancelled,” he recalled.
“Then when I was in China (in 2007) doing An Empress and the Warriors, I received a call from (producer) Raymond Wong, asking me to do Ip Man. He also said that he had full support from the Ip family, particularly his eldest son Ip Chun.
“From that moment, I told myself I would spend more time than ever preparing for it.”
While preparing for the role, Yen not only did as much research on the legend as he could, he also tried to be Ip Man as well.
“I wasn’t just acting the role – I actually lived it. I was totally in that world to come out as accurate as possible. My mind and spirit was all about playing Ip.
“For example, I would wear his clothes all around the hotel, drink tea the way he used to, and even changed the way I walked and talked,” he said. “I usually do things and talk very quickly, but Ip is a lot more laid-back. So I adjusted my tempo, and slowed everything down.”
Physically, Yen also had to go on a special regime just so he could look like the master.
“For a while, I was pretty muscular so I had to go on a diet to slim down. I was eating one meal a day, sometimes just drinking a glass of water, just to make sure that physically, I would look exactly like Ip, who is very scholarly and slim.
“I would also discuss every single detail of the role with the director to make sure we got it right. Sometimes we even called Ip Chun to ask him if his father would do something like that.”
Action and direction
While the role was Yen’s hardest emotionally and mentally, in terms of the physical aspect of it, the actor was glad to have the equally legendary martial arts expert, Sammo Hung, around to direct the action sequences.
Yip and Yen decided to hire Hung mainly because of his experience on two past movies that involved the Wing Chun style – 1982’s The Prodigal Son and 1978’s Warriors Two (Zan Xian Sheng Yu Zhao Qian Hua).
“Those two films for me were the most accurate Wing Chun movies ever made, and our mission here is to top that,” said Yen. “It was also great to have Sammo on board to do the action, so that I could concentrate 100% on just acting the role.”
Ip Man also marks the fourth time that Yen and Yip are working together, and they both agree that this may be their best movie together yet.
“After working together three times, we are already familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. However, this is probably the best collaboration we have ever had yet, in terms of the distribution of work, ideas and chemistry,” said Yip.
For director Yip, the greatest challenge of the movie was deciding on what period of Ip’s life to focus on. “In the beginning, we had a hard time deciding when to set the movie in. Do we choose the part where he meets Bruce Lee? Or his life during the Japanese occupation?” said Yip.
“Our biggest concern was that we would not be able to do justice to the memory of Ip Man, and would not live up to the expectations of his family.”
At the end of the day, Yen’s ultimate goal for the movie is not to showcase the Wing Chun fighting style, but to highlight the positive moral values that Ip Man stood for.
“We wanted to do this movie because Ip Man was a man who inspired the world and society as a whole. He was a man who believed in certain morals and principles, and we want to use this movie as a platform to convey those values to the audience. For me, that was the most important part of making this movie,” concluded Yip.
Ip Man opens in Malaysian cinemas on Thursday.
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Originally Posted by Infrazael
