The Lost Bladesman

[GeneChing]

Donnie too short?
Guan Yu was over 8 feet tall.

Is Donnie Yen upset at being described as too short to play Guan Gong?
Sat, Jul 03, 2010
The Star/Asia News Network

HONG Kong martial arts actor Donnie Yen is upset at being described as too short to play the role of Guan Yu, reported Nanyang Siang Pau.

Guan Yu, also known as Guan Gong, was one of the best-known Chinese historical figures to serve under Emperor Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms era.

Due to his loyal and righteous character, he has been deified and is widely worshipped by the Chinese, especially those living in the southern part of China and Hong Kong.

Yen, who recently starred as the legendary Wu Chun exponent Ip Man, had been asked by film director Alan Mak Siu-fai to take up the role as Guan Yu in the movie The Lost Bladesman.

During a press conference to announce the new film in Beijing, China, recently, Yen, who is 174cm tall, was asked if he had to wear "special shoes" to make him look taller on screen. According to historical records, Guan Yu was supposedly 274cm tall.

Yen seemed furious over the question and answered: "Of course, there are special shoes - many of them. It's a costume movie ma!"

Mak then came to Yen's rescue and said the ancient system used to measure height was smaller, thus making Guan Yu seem very tall.

[doug maverick]

lol, yea they made him wear lifts, donnie is actually a decent height and i very well doubt that general kwan was over eight feet.lol there is a bunch of stuff on this movie actually. ill collect it all and post tonight..

[GeneChing]

Is half a year enough time?

The Lost Bladesman' to Hit Cinemas on April 28
08:28, January 28, 2011


The first poster of "The Lost Bladesman" [Photo: sina.com]

The historical action movie "The Lost Bladesman" ("Guan Yunchang"), starring Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen, will open in Chinese cinemas on April 28, Sina.com.cn reports.

The production company also released a poster featuring Yen's look in the movie. Since it was announced that Yen would portray famous general Guan Yu, also known as Guan Yunchang, in the movie, many fans have doubted whether he could look like Guan as the latter's story is so popular in China and his statue can be seen in many temples throughout the country.

"Yen's look will be in accordance with most people's visual image of Guan Yu," said film directors Alan Mak and Felix Chong.

Yen said he hoped audiences could accept his performance as Guan Yu.

Actor Jiang Wen stars as famous warlord Cao Cao in the movie, a very important character in the story, which tells about how Guan Yu tries to escape from Cao Cao and return to his brother Liu Bei.

Alex Fong Chung-Sun plays Liu Bei, and actress Sun Li stars as a young woman named Qi Lan, who does not appear in the original story.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Am looking forward to seeing this release, not only because of the story but hoping for some great weapon work with his halberd/glaive.

Hopefully someone can find a trailer...

[doug maverick]

Is half a year enough time?

well the site wu-jing.org had all the info then when i went there to repost the site crashed and i forgot all about it.

[Hebrew Hammer]

well the site wu-jing.org had all the info then when i went there to repost the site crashed and i forgot all about it.

Excuses! Did we give up after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!!!!! Nooo...we expect more out of you Douglas.

[Jimbo]

I don't believe Guan Yu was 8 feet tall, and certainly not by today's measurements. And if he were, he'd likely have had lots of physical problems. Unless he was a 'yeren'/sasquatch.

[taijiphoenix]

You can find the teaser trailer at the site below. Looks pretty good, can't wait till it's released.

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/the-f...zle-your-mind/

[GeneChing]

Jackie is doing more than just selling shampoo...

Donnie Yen
Posted: 12 Apr 2011

Donnie Yen didn’t become the most bankable leading man in Hong Kong overnight. The martial arts superstar opens up about struggles, strife, and ultimate success. Interview by Edmund Lee. Photography by Calvin Sit

Things have not been looking bright in the world of Chinese martial arts movies. Sammo Hung is getting fatter; Jet Li keeps on confusing the world with his wushu movie retirement; Jackie Chan is selling shampoo; and Bruce Lee is still dead. All these, to the relief of many, have been rendered academic since a certain bloke called Donnie Yen became widely mistaken in our public consciousness for an altogether different man – called Ip Man (no relation to Iron Man), who’s perhaps better known as Bruce Lee’s Wing Chun mentor. “Ip Man changed everything,” Yen says of his starring role in the acclaimed 2008 period biopic when we meet at the weekend.

We’re here supposedly to chat about his latest effort The Lost Bladesman, directors Alan Mak and Felix Chong’s dramatic retelling of the fabled tale of Guan Yu of the Three Kingdoms period. But our conversation inevitably drifts back, time and again, to Ip Man. Then again, as Yen is all too ready to concede, everything happened because of that movie. Soon afterwards, an inevitable follow-up, Ip Man 2, claimed an emphatic box office victory over – of all movies – Iron Man 2, which opened here in the same week last April. The popular sequel ended up taking in more than HK$43million locally, and became 2010’s highest grossing Chinese-language film in Hong Kong.

“It’s the most influential movie that I’ve ever done. Not only was the box office great, but it also created a social phenomenon. [The character] became a household name,” says the 47-year old actor. “I think it’s a blessing. It’s the most rewarding thing that any actor can ask for, because not everyone [of them], in their entire career, can meet such a role and play it successfully. It’s like Sylvester Stallone: everybody refers to him as Rocky or Rambo. And Jet Li is Wong Fei-hung – people remember that. You know, I have Ip man, and it took me many, many years to [get to this role].” As if trying to sound mildly baffled by his dramatic change of fortune after more than 20 years in the business, he adds wistfully, “And somehow it happened.”

Yen may not be the only person in the world who believed the martial artist-turned action star would one day become the most bankable leading man in the Hong Kong film industry. Indeed, we would venture to presume that about all five of those believers had been anticipating his superstardom ever since his childhood days. Born in 1963, the Guangdong-born actor grew up in Hong Kong between the ages of two and 11, when his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. His earliest memory related to martial arts reaches all the way back to the time when his mother – renowned wushu master Bow-sim Mark, who founded the first Chinese Wushu Research Institute in Boston in 1975 – would drag him out of bed at 5.30 every morning, forcing the young boy to train for an hour or more before going to school.

“You know, when you grow up, when you’re a child, there’s a lot of rebellion against what your parents teach you,” he says, recalling the foundation of his multi-faceted martial arts expertise. “So I’d run away from my mother’s school to other schools to learn martial arts. That has kind of, in a way, made me who I am today, because I’ve learned so many different martial arts styles. Besides learning from my mother and the teachers in her school, I’ve learned karate, taekwondo, boxing and other kung fu styles. I think it has [to do with] my personality – I was curious as a child.”

Being a good fighter is one thing; being a composing figure on the big screen is quite another. So even after Yen was sent, as a teenager, to China to train with the prestigious Beijing Wushu Team for two years, his first crack at martial arts celebrity only truly arrived when he was introduced, midway during his trip back to the U.S., to the celebrated director/action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, who was then looking for a new actor for his kung fu vehicles. Yen is unreserved in his compliments for the man who brought him into the industry. “Yuen Woo-ping will always be my sifu,” he enthuses. “He’s one of the greatest action directors in the last 40 years.”

After making his acting debut as the star of Yuen’s 1984 movie, Drunken Tai Chi, Yen’s career would take him from Hong Kong to Hollywood and back again for the next two decades. Unbeknown to most people, the intertwining destinies between the actor and his eventual star turn as Ip Man had already begun as early as 1996. “When [director] Jeff Lau – who’s a close working partner of Wong Kar-wai – and another couple of directors formed a company at that time, I was asked by Lau to play Ip Man,” he remembers. “Actually, I was signed to play Ip Man; I took the deposit too. And Stephen Chow [was to] play Bruce Lee. But then the company fell apart and the movie never went [into production].”

Continued next post

[GeneChing]

The public spat surrounding the concurrent development of Yen’s Ip Man movies and Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmasters – a long-anticipated take on the same Wing Chun icon that, as per the arthouse auteur’s usual custom, has been lingering in development and production limbo for years – has been well-documented; yet it’s still quite exciting to hear it from the actor himself. “A few years after [Jeff Lau’s project fell through], Wong Kar-wai announced that he wanted to [film] Ip Man,” he says. “But of course, for many, many years, he never got to [make the movie]. Then I got a call from [veteran producer] Raymond Wong, who asked me to play Ip Man. [They] had [obtained] the proper rights from the [Ip] family.

He continues: “When I announced that I wanted to play Ip Man, there were so many controversies. There were a lot of doubts, a lot of badmouthing, even from Wong Kar-wai’s people. They said, [in a sarcastic tone], ‘Ah, how can you compare [with us]? We’re not on the same level, you know? You can never be successful. You may be good at fighting, but it would never be a successful movie. And you can never compare to Tony Leung [Chiu-wai, star of The Grandmasters,] to play Ip Man.’ You know, there’s a lot of this kind of pressure.

“But of course, me and Wilson Yip, the director, we continued to believe in our mission. We made Ip Man, and it came out and was very, very successful. Then Ip Man 2 really just confirmed [that success].” At this point, Yen is barely able to hide his satisfied smirk. “Of course, after that, they didn’t say anything else.” He momentarily breaks his image of consummate cool, bursting into hearty laughter for the first time during our interview. “So sometimes, it’s just never say never, you know? Maybe I [was] just meant to play this role in the first place. [From] back in 1996 till now, [I’ve taken] a big circle. At the end, I played Ip Man, and Ip Man became so successful.”

You can tell how important a constant urge to improve is to Yen just by listening to him closely: he will use the word “successful” 19 times in our 45-minute chat, having also reiterated four times his desire to “break grounds” in the realm of martial arts cinema. Speaking with obvious excitement whenever he talks about his dual ambitions – to “be a better actor in every movie”, and to “elevate the standard of kung fu movies” – Yen may sound like an overzealous newcomer looking to calve out a career path if you happened across our chat without knowing who was speaking. In the end, however, it was hardly any surprise when the Hong Kong media crowned him with the nickname of, um, “Universe’s Strongest”.

Yen offers me a very dry “ha ha” as I mention his winning moniker, before adding, “I don’t really…” He takes a brief pause. “You know, it’s just a gimmick. I try my best in every one of my departments: acting, directing. And I always try to break grounds, try to improve. Every day I get up and say to myself, ‘Oh, as a creator, as an artist, am I repeating what I’ve done before?’ If I am, then I have a problem. All these years, I’ve never really stopped trying to be better. Everybody loved Ip Man – if you look at it I could’ve done 10 or 20 Ip Man’s, but I didn’t. Because I feel as an actor, that’s my responsibility to give back to the audience; after Ip Man, I took on different roles.”

As our cinema’s current go-to action star, Yen has been participating in a range of intriguing projects in the past couple of years, including Peter Chan’s Swordsmen, a reimagining of Chang Cheh’s 1967 martial arts classic The One-Armed Swordsman, and Soi Cheang’s The Monkey King 3D, in which Yen’s Monkey King battles with Chow Yun-fat’s Jade Emperor. Before either hits our screens, however, the actor will first star as Guan Yu in The Lost Bladesman, a title role that has baffled Yen no end. “Based on Records of Three Kingdoms, the real historical book, there was very, very little description of him,” he says. “In the previous movies about the Three Kingdoms, like [John Woo’s] Red Cliff, the focus also wasn’t on Guan Yu. Everyone has an image of Guan because [in daily life] we pray to him, we worship him, and we have temples for him.”

Yen is frank to admit that he didn’t know much about the Three Kingdoms history before he took up the role. “Two thirds of the film – I’ll be honest with you – I have no idea what I was doing,” he says. “I have no idea whether I was playing the role properly, because nobody really knows Guan as a person.” He does, however, get Guan’s signature long beard right. “At first, it was very hard to do my lines,” he says, “because once [the beard] is glued to the lips’ area, it’ll fall off when you move [your mouth]. It took me a week or two to get adjusted [to it].”

The film itself, directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong of Infernal Affairs trilogy and Overheard fame, revolves around the legendary general’s loyalty to his sworn brother and lord Liu Bei, charting the time he spent inside the camp of rival warlord Cao Cao, as well as his death-defying journey back to Liu’s camp. “It’s kind of like a period costume version of Infernal Affairs,” says Yen of the battle of wits between Guan and Cao. While the revelled episode of “Crossing Five Passes and Slaying Six Generals” is easily the action highlight of the new film, it’s his verbal duels with illustrious Chinese actor Jiang Wen, who plays Cao, that should prove the most captivating.

Noting his subtle transition from an action star to an all-round leading man, Yen feels that the audience’s expectation is different from before: “[in the past] all you need for an action guy is good action and not too much of [any] acting. But today, you cannot be a successful action star if you don’t convince the audience with good acting.” As he has been doing for his two other recent films, Swordsmen and The Monkey King, Yen is also serving as action choreographer for The Lost Bladesman. “But of course,” he says, “action will always be part of my most marketable element. When you watch a Donnie Yen film you’ve got to have a lot of good action [scenes], right? I want to make sure that they have to be as realistic as possible.” At least as realistic as his costume beard, we presume.

The Lost Bladesman opens on April 28.

Only two weeks away!

[GeneChing]

Weinstein finds Lost Bladesman
By Patrick Frater
Thu, 14 April 2011, 09:13 AM (HKT)
Sales News

The Weinstein Company has acquired all North American rights to The Lost Bladesman (關雲長), a Chinese-language historical martial arts action film starring Donnie Yen (甄子丹) and Jiang Wen (姜文).

The film is represented in international markets by Easternlight, the Asian label of Australian-US sales agency Arclight Films. The company struck a deal in principal at the European Film Market in Berlin after handling competing bids from TWC and WellGo USA. The deal is understood to have been completed at last month's FilMart.

The film is set for its domestic Chinese release on 28 April and the deal could see the prospect of TWC co-chief Harvey Weinstein on the red carpet on opening night at the imminent Beijing International Film Festival (北京國際電影季) to promote Bladesman and Oscar-winner The King's Speech.

A story in which a tyrant forces the greatest warrior in the land to battle his greatest friend by holding the woman they both love hostage, Bladesman is co-directed by Hong Kong's Alan Mak (麥兆輝) and Felix Chong (莊文強).

The film was produced last year (between March and June 2010) through Shanghai Film Group (上海電影集團公司) and Star Union Skykee Film Investment (星匯天姬（北京）影視傳媒有限公司).

Anticipating some more buzz & reviews soon.

[GeneChing]

Maybe this will bump our Kwan Dao sales. I can dream, can't I?

Donnie Yen tackles iconic Three Kingdoms general
(AP) – 5 days ago



HONG KONG (AP) — Action star Donnie Yen has teamed with two of the filmmakers behind the hit Hong Kong crime thriller "Infernal Affairs" for what they call a "humanized" take on an icon from China's fabled Three Kingdoms period.

The epic battles of armies and wits from the Three Kingdoms era inspired the classic Chinese novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and countless TV and film adaptations.

Some of the more recent major movie productions include John Woo's two-part series "Red Cliff," which starred Cannes-winning actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Daniel Lee's 2008 film "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon," which featured Andy Lau, Sammo Hung and Maggie Q.

So how to break new ground when drawing from old material? With "The Lost Bladesman," which will be released across Asia on April 28, co-directors and co-writers Alan Mak and Felix Chong have zoomed in on general Guan Yu and tried to craft a more earthly character out of Yen's portrayal.

Guan is a historical figure who has been deified by the Chinese people as a symbol of loyalty and justice. To this day, statues of Guan are common at restaurants and shops in Chinese communities around the world.

In "The Lost Bladesman," Guan tries to escape after willingly becoming a prisoner to rival warlord Cao Cao so he can protect the wife of the warlord he himself serves, who is also trapped. But Yen's Guan is no superhero, the directors told The Associated Press on the sidelines the movie's Hong Kong premiere late Friday.

"Our perspective is a more humanized perspective. Previous adaptations focused on historical fact and period costume. Our starting point was human nature," said Chong, who co-wrote the script to "Infernal Affairs" with Mak. The 2002 crime thriller, co-directed by Mak and Andrew Lau, was later remade as "The Departed" by Martin Scorsese and earned the American his first best director Oscar.

Yen's portrayal "made Guan Yu into an ordinary person," Chong said. "The Guan Yu we have seen in the past is more like a god. He is so holy he can't even touch a woman. Our story was constructed out of the daily encounters of Guan Yu."

Yen, who also was action choreographer on the movie, said Guan is such a storied character that he is happy he could carry the role at all.

"The fact that I am able to portray Guan Yunchang is a breakthrough," Yen told the AP, using one of Guan's alternative names. "If you portray him this way, people complain. If you portray him that way, people also complain. It is very hard to meet people's expectations."

But Chong said he was impressed with the improvement in Yen's acting skills.

"I think this is the best performance out of all of his movies," the co-director said during the news conference for the premiere.

Besides Yen, now one of Asia's most bankable actions stars after the recent success of his kung fu biopics "Ip Man" and Ip Man 2," ''The Lost Bladesman" was also boosted by the casting of veteran Chinese actor Jiang Wen, who played Cao. Jiang's stardom has risen in recent years with his successful directing efforts, most recently the political satire "Let the Bullets Fly."

"Everyone know what a good actor he is. To be mentioned in the same breath as him, to be able to act with him is a big step forward for me," Yen said.

"His acting skills are impeccable. After working with him this time I came away with the impression that he is almost a national treasure," Mak said.

[Cdr.Instigator]

Excuses! Did we give up after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!!!!! Nooo...we expect more out of you Douglas.

Dam it man... All my life I thought Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program..

[BillSmith]

Thats an 'Animal House' reference.

[GeneChing]

Posted: Wed., May. 4, 2011, 6:18am PT
Festival
The Lost Bladesman
(Guan yun chang)
(Hong Kong-China Mandarin dialogue)
By Russell Edwards

An Icon release (in Australia) of a Shanghai Film Group, Anhui Media Industry Group, Star Union Skykee Film & Media Advertisement presentation, in association with Star Union Skykee Film & Media Advertisement, Shao Xing Sheng Xia Film & TV Cultural Investment, Dong Yang Teng Yuan Film & Media Advertisement, Shenzhen Zhi Shang Film & TV Investment of a Pop Movies production. (International sales: Easternlight, Los Angeles.) Produced by Leung Ting, Wang Tianyun. Executive producers, Leung Ting, Ren Zhonglun, Li Jinhua. Directed, written by Alan Mak, Felix Chong.
With: Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Sun Li, Alex Fong, Chen Hong, Shao Bing, Andy On, Wang Xuebing, Edison Wang, Zhou Bo.
Glorious martial-arts mastery is trumped by Machiavellian manipulations in period actioner "The Lost Bladesman." Action helmer/star Donnie Yen's memorable setpieces satisfy the senses, while the script by directing duo Alan Mak and Felix Chong provides an intellectual counterbalance to the film's physicality, as magnetic co-lead Jiang Wen contemplates heroism's shortcomings in the broader political game. After opening the Beijing fest, pic made $5 million in three days on the mainland, and other Chinese territories will follow suit. Lack of the overt Sino nationalism that marked "Ip Man 2" makes this an easier sell to Westerners, although ancillary will be stronger.

Central characters will be familiar to Chinese history buffs and film fans who took notes during John Woo's great 2008 epic "Red Cliff." Thus, the opening credits sequence, showing the carving of a coffin, doesn't bother to hide where the protagonist, noble swordsman Guan Yunchang (Yen), will end up, or the fact that the Iago-like Gen. Cao Cao (Jiang) will outlast him.

Told via extended flashbacks set around 200 A.D., during the late Han dynasty, the story begins in Baima, where Cao and his army are under siege by rival warlord Yuan Shao (never seen). Already Cao's prisoner, Guan is drafted to fight. His reward is freedom, which he uses to escort concubine Qilan (Sun Li), whom Guan happens to be in love with, to Cao's sworn enemy, Liu Bei (Alex Fong). The catch is that, even after proving his allegiance to Cao's youthful and easily manipulated Emperor (Edison Wang), Guan must battle several other rival warlords en route to Qilan's delivery point.

The treacherous Cao sure doesn't make it easy for Guan. Dongling Pass warlord Kong Xiu (Andy On) is given advance notice of Guan's "betrayal" of the Emperor by carrier pigeon, setting up the first battle in which Yen's action choreography really rips loose. While this combat sequence has an "El Cid"-like majesty, Guan's match against Kong, in a circular alleyway with insufficient space for combatants to twirl their long spears, is a stunning appetizer that could have easily played as a magnificent finale. Other contests ensue (including a minimalist take on the classic one man-against-a-hundred conflict, conducted here behind closed doors), allowing helmers Mak and Chong (who co-wrote "Infernal Affairs") to indulge a variety of cinematic techniques, some with a very contempo feel, to keep each fight scene visually distinct.

Fortunately, Yen's prowess is showcased more often than his thesping limitations. Supporting perfs are solid, with Zhou Bo making a strong impression in his brief appearance as a Buddhist monk.

But pic belongs to Jiang, whose portrayal of political strategist Cao appears so natural it's easy to forget he's acting. Poised and smart, with reserves of unexpressed power, Jiang endows the pic with the sophistication that thesps like Anthony Hopkins or Alan Rickman sometimes bring to Hollywood actioners. The difference here is that Jiang's fulfills the script's obvious aspiration to be more than just a martial-arts showpiece. By way of contrast, distaff thesp Sun is reduced to playing a beautiful ornament.

Lensing varies in accordance with the helmers' whims. The fight sequence in Luoyang's mill fortress brims with deep shadows lacquered with golden light. Later, another well-helmed scene with Sergio Leone-like overtones appears so washed out it looks like a last minute add-on.

Production standards are generally high, and the re-creation of the Han era is easy on the eyes. Special effects, particularly hurtling arrows and thrusting spears and knives, blend well with Yen's smoothly choreographed moves.

Robust score by Henry Lai underlines the vigorous helming, although the closing-credits theme song by Ikuro Fujiwara is just the standard pop sop to Asian youth. Theaters equipped with Dolby 7.1 will get the full benefit of the soundtrack's amplified airborne swooshes and metallic clangs in every battle.

Mandarin title is simply the name of Yen's character, reflecting the extent of the historical figure's fame.
Camera (color, widescreen), Chan Chi-ying; editor, Kwong Chi-leung; music, Henry Lai; production designer, Bill Lui; art director, Liu Jinping; costume designer, Zhang Ling; action director, Donnie Yen; sound (Dolby Digital/Dolby Surround 7.1), Kinson Tsang. Reviewed at Cinema 12, Broadway, Sydney, April 28, 2011. (In Beijing Film Festival -- opener.) Running time: 108 MIN.

Who will be first to review this here?