Marco Polo - Netflix Original Series

[boxerbilly]

Anyone else see it? What was up with that Michelle Yeoh cameo? A teaser for next season, no doubt.

It struck me as a sort of homage to Carradine's Kung Fu series of the 70s - blind master espouses Kung Fu philosophy to a bald kid student. I was disappointed to see Jingim practicing Shaolin Qixing when the Hundred Eyes is from Wudang in this tale.

No. I just noticed yesterday it was on Netflix. I think it is only like 30 minutes long.

[boxerbilly]

Saw it. Not bad but not good either. Seemed sort of pointless and something that could have been included in the normal series like a 5 minute flashback but then the fight scenes would be much shorter I guess. If you blink you miss Michelle.

[GeneChing]

[Oso]

I hope it lasts and doesn't go the way of "Rome"

[GeneChing]

Marco Polo and Darecevil are two main Netflix series that we follow here.

Too bad I don't have a Sony Android 4K TV. But then, if I had that, I'd probably never leave home again.

Netflix Originals ‘Marco Polo’ Streams In HDR, 4K
Chinmay Bidkar April 15, 2016



15 April 2016, USA :
Netflix has confirmed it has begun streaming HDR content, but at the moment only Sony Android 4K TVs are compatible.
Marco Polo is the first Netflix show to be streamed in HDR, with Netflix dropping the Ultra HD 4K labeling on compatible shows in favour of a single HDR badge. It’s claimed that compatible Sony TVs will automatically switch to its default HDR setting when a show is selected, and will switch back when you exit an HDR show.
As with its 4K content, you’ll need to pay extra to access the Netflix HDR shows – it’s £8.99/month to watch 4K HDR content on up to four screens simultaneously. Netflix has also confirmed it will be increasing the price of its full HD subscription to £7.49/month later this month.

Cherry on the cake, Superhit series Daredevil will follow the footsteps and will be shown in HDR, 4K quality as well.

Yann Lafargue, manager of corporate communications at Netflix, said the new HDR content works with compatible TVs and in both Dolby Vision and HDR10.

“As of mid-March, we have been providing both Dolby Vision and HDR10 streams to supported TVs, giving Netflix members and even more visually stunning experience.”



Marco Polo is an American drama series inspired by Marco Polo’s early years in the court of Kublai Khan, the Khagan of the Mongol Empire and the founder of the Yuan dynasty. A Netflix original, rife with warfare and political/sexual intrigue, spotlights the years at the Chinese court and the journeys.

Image : Netflix

[GeneChing]

Irish actor Gabriel Byrne set to star in hit Netflix show
Amy Mulvaney 23/05/2016 | 16:520


Gabriel Byrne

Gabriel Byrne is set to star as Pope Gregory X in the second season of Marco Polo on Netflix.

The Dublin-born star has played roles as the devil and as a priest, but never before as a Pope.
Expanding his religious know-how even further, Byrne trained for five years to be a Catholic priest.

"I’ve always been kind of fascinated by Papal history, and the Janiston play, the Pope doesn’t come up everyday,” he said of the new role.
“I mean I’ve played the devil, played a priest but you know to play the Pope is an interesting segway. So I was very happy to be part of it. And it’s a huge production, a gigantic crew, so the idea of joining a huge enterprise like this, was interesting.”

The series is based on explorer Marco Polo’s adventures in 13th Century China.
Marco Polo Season 1 is available to watch on Netflix now. Season 2 launches on July 1st.
Online Editors

This ups the cred of the show a notch.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

Michelle Yeoh flies from 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2' to 'Marco Polo'
BY JIM SLOTEK, POSTMEDIA NETWORK
FIRST POSTED: THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016 11:02 AM EDT | UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016 11:15 AM EDT


Malaysia actress Michelle Yeoh poses on the red carpet for the fundraising gala organized by amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) in Hong Kong, Saturday, March 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Michelle Yeoh is calling from Paris about her introduction to the Netflix series Marco Polo, as a mysterious, vengeful martial arts master known simply as The Hand Maiden.

Why Paris? Appropriately enough – given the connection between the two acting jobs – it’s to take a bow for the sequel Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny at the Chinese Film Festival in France.

“It’s a great excuse to be in Paris,” she says. “The weather is good, but the city is on strike. Just for today, thank God.”

The connection? John Fusco, the creator of Marco Polo is also the writer of Sword of Destiny. And he had the entire shoot of the feature film to sell her on joining his TV series.

Fusco was so confident he could land her that he ended Season 1 with a scene involving her character, played by a double. “He was hoping I would play this part but it was not a definite yes.

“When he ended Season 1, where the little emperor was handed over to the Hand Maiden, you never saw her face. So that was a very good set-up.”

I suggest to Yeoh that Marco Polo should be called Kublai Khan, since it’s all about the intrigue in the Mongol court and the unification of China taking place in front of Polo (Lorenzo Richelmy). They named the show after the only non-Asian in it, even though very little of it is about him.

Yeoh laughs at the observation. “It’s true, Marco Polo is just a fly on the wall who’s reporting all these amazing things he’s seeing. But reporting is an important job, as you know,” she says, playfully to her interviewer.

“But of course, it can only be about Kublai Khan. Ben (Benedict Wong who plays Kublai) is such an amazing force.



“Marco Polo deserves credit, because if he hadn’t brought all these tales to the West, the West wouldn’t have understood this incredible dynamic leader who managed to break through the Great Wall of China and start a new dynasty.”

The Hand Maiden, however, is on the other side of the fence. After failing in her task to protect the little emperor, she sets out to either retrieve him or exact vengeance on the Mongols. En route, she fights with Polo and discovers he has kung fu skills that could only have been taught to him by her ex-lover, the blind master Hundred Eyes (Tom Wu).

(We never said this was a documentary, folks).

“She has one mission, and then she has another,” Yeoh says of the Hand Maiden. “She suddenly discovered that there was someone else in the Mongolian court, which was Hundred Eyes, the love of her life. Why would he still remain working for Kublai? He shouldn’t be there, he should be helping us and the rebellion.”

It’s a set-up that Fusco apparently has been working towards since the first season. “The greatest fight scene of the series. In his mind, it was me and Hundred Eyes. The action sequences we have together are not just about fighting. It’s very, very deeply emotionally bonded. It’s not about wanting to take the life of the other person, but to subdue the other person and bring them back to the truth, which is more powerful.”

So Yeoh went from one martial arts role to another. In Sword of Destiny, she was working with legendary director and fight choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping, with whom she has worked since the early ‘90s in Hong Kong action films.

“Working with Master Yuen is something I’ve been doing on and off for 20 or 30 years, so we have a rhythm,” the ballet-trained Yeoh says. “But every time you have to adjust to a new dance partner who’ll bring you a spring in your step and joy.

“When you’re working with somebody new like Brett (Marco Polo stunt coordinator Brett Chan) and his team, you discover a whole new sensuality, which is a lot of fun.

“And Tom, who plays Hundred Eyes, is just brilliant to spar with and fight with.”

Yeoh, a sometime Bond girl and one of People’s 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, admits her action career has not been a typical actress’s journey.

“When I first started out, I don’t think anybody (in Hollywood), thought a woman should be doing things I was doing,” she says. “But the history of Chinese filmmaking, they’ve always had the woman warrior.

“But I think in Hollywood you have stronger women roles now, and they’re getting more physical – like Charlize Theron in Mad Max.”

Season 2 of Marco Polo hits Netflix on July 1.

Twitter: @jimslotek
JSlotek@postmedia.com

I can hardly wait to binge MP Season 2.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

I was away last week on a Zen retreat. No TV, no cell, no eyes, no forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables or objects of mind...a no Netflix.

Beauty And Brains: Actress Olivia Cheng Is As “Kick-Ass” As Her Netflix Marco Polo Alter Ego, Mei Lin
by Laura Goldstein - July 1, 2016


Canadian actress, Olivia Cheng stars in “Marco Polo”. Photo: Red Management Inc

Wearing only a diaphanous silk robe, her provocative foreplay is conveyed through a graceful, mesmerizing dance; a spider spinning her web. Her prey – three leering soldiers, sent by her corrupt brother Chancellor Jia Sidao to attack her, are hypnotized by her sexual innuendo. And that’s when Mei Lin, favourite Imperial concubine, drops her robe and strikes. Throwing a large dagger disguised as a hairpin into the throat of one, she cartwheels into martial-arts mode, a whirling Dervish, spearing the second soldier, then, brandishing his sword, beheads the third.

She’s one tough cookie!

“That’s what I love about playing Mei Lin,” laughs the charming, down-to-earth Vancouver actress, Olivia Cheng, who is one of the stars of Netflix’s $90 million dollar epic TV series, Marco Polo, written by John Fusco and produced by The Weinstein Company.

The 2nd Season of Marco Polo premieres July 1st, 2016 on Netflix.

“She’s such a great kick-ass character. She’s so fierce, so smart and tenacious and has so much inner strength. Her love for her daughter drives everything. That’s what drew me to the role in the first place,” Cheng confides.

Wielding only a fork to eat a salad at Homer St. Café and Bar, one of her favourite downtown Vancouver eateries, Cheng, 36, is articulate and spontaneous, skills garnered, no doubt from conducting interviews herself as a correspondent for ET Canada. Now that the proverbial shoe is on the other foot, she expounds on the grueling training at Pinewood Malaysia Studios, where the 13th century Chinese court of Kublai Kahn was re-created with lavish and authentic detail.


In “Marco Polo’s” Olivia Cheng plays the royal concubine, Mai Lin. The training for her role took place in Malaysia was grueling “We were all individually trained for two months by amazing stunt teams because all of us had to learn different fighting styles,” says Cheng. Photo: Phil Bray/Netflix.

“Believe me, no amount of jogging along the seawall could prepare me for the intensity of our training!” she jokes. “We were all individually trained for two months by amazing stunt teams because all of us had to learn different fighting styles. On one hand it was like going to a really cool summer camp in an outdoor dojo because they had to acclimatize us to the incredible heat. Everything from strength conditioning, wushu marshal arts, high-wire work, sword training (we practiced with wood sticks, she grins,) tai chi, and then stunt choreography. And I’m really proud to say that I did all my own stunts! Then we started filming for six months, 10 hours a day. It was just crazy.”

Born in Edmonton to Cantonese-speaking immigrants, Cheng’s natural spunk, curiosity and determination found a perfect outlet in acting classes and gymnastics at age six and later in commercials. Her parents encouraged her to pursue commerce at the University of Alberta but she just wasn’t happy there and switched to NAIT’s Radio and Television Arts. After graduating she went on to a successful media career as videographer then reporter at Global TV Lethbridge . “I was even considering becoming a war correspondent,” she admits. That’s when serendipity turned the tide and she was asked to open-audition for an AMC mini-series, starring and executive produced by veteran actor, Robert Duvall. Five young Chinese actresses were cast (ironically playing prostitutes sold into slavery in San Francisco.) Out of 100 auditioning, Duval cast her in Broken Trail and it went on to win four Primetime Emmy Awards. That really ignited the acting bug for Cheng and she moved to Vancouver, playing roles in USA’s Psych, Fox’s Fringe, CTV’s Flashpoint, The CW’s Arrow and Supernatural and CBC’s Arctic Air.


Behind the scenes with Olivia Cheng in “Marco Polo”. The Netflix series was shot on location in Malaysia and Italy. Photo: Phil Bray/Netflix

Marco Polo is set in 13th century China in the court of the Song Dynasty’s Kublai Kahn. Mei Lin is forced into spying as a double agent by her conniving brother, who holds Mei Lin’s young daughter hostage. A much deadlier precursor of the 19th century’s Mata Hari, Cheng’s character was actually based on a real but unheralded concubine who helped her ruthless brother rise to power. His incompetence led to the Dynasty’s downfall.

“I did a lot of research – I read about the history and the conflict between the dynasties, watched documentaries, read about the sex trade and I learned so much about my own culture. I certainly knew about the concubine in Chinese history – both celebrated like rock stars and reviled at the time. But to read about thousands of Chinese women who were shuffled into this systemized institution of prostitution and objectified, with no legal rights and were traded like chattel, used like bargaining chips in wars, was an eye-opener.”

“But let’s face it,” Cheng admits laughing, “Netflix Marco Polo is so intriguing because what holds it together are the really authentic relationships between family members – that’s as topical today as then – everyone has a dysfunctional family in some respects!”

GETTING PERSONAL WITH OLIVIA CHENG:


Royal concubine-warrier, Olivia Cheng stars in “Marco Polo”. Photo Phil Bray/Netflix

I Read That As A Kid, You Wanted To Be A Marvel Comics Super Hero! The Character Of Mei Lin Seems To Get Pretty Close To That Wish

Oh that’s so funny! Yes, I loved the strength and magical powers of all those super heroes who were mostly guys. As Mei Lin I got to fly around using high wires for some of my martial arts scenes so that was pretty close. Actually, for one really big scene when I confront the Imperial Family, I swung my sword and shattered a camera by mistake. It will end up in the ‘blooper’ reel!

There Was A Lot Of Controversy Over The Amount Of Nudity In The Series. How Did You Overcome That Especially In Your Pivitol Fight Scene?

Before I said yes to the role, I had a conversation with John Fusco (writer/creator) that I didn’t want to be exploited the way Mei Lin was as a character. Artistically and from reading about the period extensively, I understood that the nudity was to show the dehumanizing situations Mei Lin had to overcome. I was nervous at first but after a while the nudity became a sort of costume in itself.

What Does Netflix’s Marco Polo Epic Mean To You In Terms Of Casting Asians In Great Roles?

The show really pushes boundaries because Hollywood has opened up the genre for English-speaking Asian actors to really dig their teeth into roles that are authentic and complex. So I say – hell yah! If I wasn’t in the show, I’d be counting down the days to watch it!

What Does That Little Tattoo Mean On Your Ankle?

The character is the Mandarin character for beauty combined with my Chinese birth sign, the lamb. Hey, this is my year! I got it done when I was 18 and I’m glad it’s so small so I have no regrets about it now.

TOP PHOTO: Actress, Olivia Cheng in a scene from Netflix’s Marco Polo Season 2. Photo, Phil Bray/Netflix.

[PalmStriker]

As you would expect, I binge watched the entire second season the first evening of the NETFLIX Release! Tonight I have started my re-watch. 2nd Season will not disappoint ! Filled with intrigue and suspense at every curve of the road, the story-line further develops where we were left hanging from Season 1 with more than enough of the unsuspected, deep-fried in rice flour spiked with Sichuan peppercorns. Mei Li , Olivia Cheng is sultry, sexy , efficient. * Will not give away any of the plot, Order Out and commence !

[GeneChing]

I guess you like it then. I'm only 3 episodes in now. I'm really liking Benedict Wong and Joan Chen in this. I still haven't quite warmed up to Richelmy, but despite having the titular role, he isn't so much the focus so far. The sets, scenery and costumes are gorgeous.

Michelle Yeoh stars as the Handmaiden in Netflix's "Marco Polo." (Phil Bray/Netflix)

MICHELLE YEOH FIGHTS BACK IN ‘MARCO POLO’
CURT WAGNER JULY 7, 2016
INTERVIEWS

Michelle Yeoh didn’t appear in the first season of Netflix’s Marco Polo, but her character did. Now she’s filling the role creator John Fusco saved for her.

“John was saying to me, ‘I’ve always wanted you to be in my series and I’ve written this role for you,’ ” Yeoh said during a recent phone interview from Paris.

Fusco explained to her that he made sure not to show the face of her future character, called the Handmaiden, in the Season 1 finale in hopes Yeoh would take the role. In the Handmaiden’s only scene, Chinese Chancellor Jia Sidao (Chin Han) commands her to escape with the child emperor as the Mongolian hordes advance on the royal palace.

It’s hard to say no to that kind of “deep persuasion,” the actress said, adding, “I loved what he wanted to do with the character.”

In the new season currently streaming on Netflix, the Handmaiden continues her noble mission to protect the little emperor from Kublai Khan (Benedict Wong). Early in the season she fights Marco Polo (Lorenzo Richelmy) and Mei Lin (Olivia Cheng) with fists, feet and swords.

Those fight scenes have become standard for the Malaysian-born Yeoh, who began her career in Hong Kong action films in the 1990s before Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” made her an international superstar in 2000.

Although she hadn’t starred in a martial arts film since 2010, Yeoh was eager to get back into action movies. Earlier this year, the 53-year-old reprised the role of Yu Shu Lien in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny.”

She once again did her own stunts for both Netflix projects, from highly choreographed sword duels to the fabulous wire work that has her flying through the air.

“Oh, I was so happy to come back to it,” she said, adding that she works hard to stay in great shape. “One day when I feel I can’t lift my leg to touch the tip of my nose then maybe that’s the time to sit down. But until then I’m just going to have a good time.”

Yeoh and I discussed her career, including her guest role last year in “Strike Back.” We also talked about the Handmaiden’s mission, her deep connection to Hundred Eyes (Tom Wu) and empathy for Mei Lin. There are some light “Marco Polo” spoilers, so maybe read this after viewing the fourth episode of the new season.






I was surprised to read in your bio that you’re not a trained martial artist.

Michelle Yeoh: I’m a good actress who managed to mimic them really, really well. [Laughs.] That’s the truth. I did not start off my career as a martial artist. I was a ballerina. I did ballet and contemporary ballet, but it’s one kind of movement that goes into another kind of movement—and looking kind of cool on the big screen. … I never trained for years on end like Jet Li or Jackie [Chan]. I really just transformed my dance skills into more active action looks.

Preparing for your famous fight roles, did you do any training of actual martial arts?

Yes, since I had to do martial arts films and it’s a very specific technique. You have to use certain kinds of weapons that have a certain style that cannot be faked. You just don’t pick up swords and knives and pretend that you can do it. Because of that I have been in training. I’ve learned all different ways [of fighting]. I am like the jack of all trades, master of none. I pretend—unlike Jet Li or Jackie, who have been training since they were four or five.

You make it look absolutely real.

It’s a certain kind of movement along with the dance training. At the end of the day we have two arms and two legs. It’s knowing how to follow movements that make it look like what it is supposed to be. So that’s why I have my own little style which is a little different from Jackie’s or Jet’s and the usual suspects.

Earlier this year you starred in “Sword of Destiny” and now you’re kicking some butt in “Marco Polo.” What persuaded you to get back into martial arts films?

I’ve been given opportunities to explore different characters. I have been not stereotyped into just doing action films. I must say I’m very, very blessed, because otherwise I would be doing only action movies. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve had the chance to go back into doing action with “Destiny” and then immediately “Marco Polo.” In between I was doing “Sunshine” and “Memoirs of a Geisha,” so as an actor it’s been fulfilling.

But I love the martial arts. I really do. It was so much fun getting back into it, especially with “Marco Polo 2.” Because that was more action. In “Sword of Destiny” there was action, but it was a movie. That’s one-and-a-half hours versus when you’re doing a TV series, which is 10 episodes. The stretch of the action sequences are much longer, which gives you this amazing period where you are training and you’re hanging out with your stuntmen and with Brett Chan and his whole group, Little Jet. It was joy.

That was how I started in my first action movie. So for the last year it was a lot of fun when I was working on “Marco Polo 2.”

Last summer you did “Strike Back,” your first TV series. Now you’ve done “Marco Polo” …

Now I’ve been bitten by the bug very bad.

Are you ready for more TV?

I am so totally ready. It’s a different kind of lifestyle and it’s really nice because you work on something and it’s like a big family. If you’re lucky you’re working on it not just for a few months; … it could be a few years or three years or four years, which is nice. When you work on a movie chances are you work with that group once or twice if you’re lucky, but never years consecutively. I like that family camaraderie that you have on a TV series.

You often play strong but sort of elegant roles. I was wondering what kind of characters you like to play and what roles do you try to avoid?

I think it’s very easy. The very stereotypical types of roles about what it is to be Chinese I really try to avoid. If you have to make an excuse for a Chinese character to be in a movie it’s a really no-go for me.

I love flawed characters. I think all actors do because then it really challenges you to be who you are not. You don’t want to be walking into a role that is you; you want to be exploring. You want to be able to learn or challenge yourself on every single different level—emotionally, intellectually, etc. And that is the thing that actors always feel a little insecure about, but you thrive on that. Acting is a passion or a career that keeps you on your toes. You’re always continuously learning.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Mei Foster (Michelle Yeoh) reveals her true identity of North Korean spy Li-Na in “Strike Back.” (Cinemax)

In “Strike Back” you played the duplicitous spy Li-Na. I thought you were great.

Thank you. That was my first evil role. I kept saying to my director, “I’m not evil.” She has intention, I believe. She’s very passionate about what she is.

That role and even this role as the Handmaiden, people could say you’re the bad guy because you’re working against the “hero” of the story.

For anybody who supports them, they’re the good guys. At the end of the day, if you want to risk your life you have to believe in what you’re doing. It translates into the character that you’re playing. I think unfortunately it reflects in real life as well.

Tell me about the Handmaiden. How did you come to the character and how do you approach her?

I would have loved to have been in Season 1 as well, because I really thought the world needed to see a series about China. You have so many TV series out there. I think this is probably the first serious one about ancient China, the culture and history. And about Kublai Khan, who managed to break through the walls facing Mongolia and set up the Yuan dynasty.

And we see it through a foreigner’s eyes. … Telling history from our own [Chinese] point of view sometimes can be a little bit difficult for others to understand, because you did not grow up in this culture. But here we have an Italian who comes into this whole new world and is able to express to his people—his part of the world—what he was encountering and why these people were doing what they were doing. For me that was completely fascinating. …

She was the one who was going to protect the future of China, the little emperor. That was the biggest mission, which she obviously failed. But with a character like that you don’t fail. And if you have, you need to redeem yourself. That’s what she is trying to do. In the process she discovers [Marco Polo], who is this foreigner who’s able to use martial arts moves that were only privy to our clan. So she had to find out more.

It started her on this big journey where it was not just about the little emperor who was murdered, but who was this mysterious character who would have taught Marco Polo moves that were a secret.

What is her connection to Hundred Eyes?

Oh, the connection is very, very deep. On her journey to redeem herself, she discovers the love of her life, whom she thought was dead. I thought that tragic. That big, controversial fight to draw him back into what she believed was the right thing for him and for her—for the both of them. That was a very tragic swan dance for them. I think the more you realize and you see these two great warriors battling it out and then you realize why they are battling it out it’s very powerful.



Your character and Mei Lin have an awesome fight, but then it looks like the Handmaiden and Mei Lin might work together. Is that possible?

She has the biggest connection with Mei Lin because obviously she’s Chinese. She’s Han and she is in the Mongolian court. [The Handmaiden] believes that this girl is not there out of choice. She has her own issues as well, so there is a connection. … She feels she can use Mei Lin to find out more about what is going on within the court.

Mei Lin is in a tough situation, having to do things she’d rather not for Kublai Khan. Does the Handmaiden sympathize?

Mei Lin is a very, very tragic character. The poor thing; everybody has her as their hostage. Everyone. Because of [her concern for] the well-being of her daughter, she’s at the mercy of Chabi, of Khan, of Ahmad. She has no choice but to be torn in all these different directions.

I think for Mei Lin it was almost like a life buoy that the Handmaiden has come. Maybe she is able to help her run away, help her to face her fears and do what she needs to do with the comfort of knowing that her daughter is going to be OK. Right now she’s just lost, the poor thing. She has no choice.

At this point in your career, what do you look for in a project? Are you going to be fighting until you can’t kick your leg up in the air anymore?

[Laughs.] I think you just hit it on the button. I always said I would just do it until I don’t find the joy in doing it anymore. That’s where I’m very, very lucky. I’m so thoroughly enjoying it—whether it’s the physical, the mental, all the challenges, the travels and the excitement of being with such smart, creative people.


Michelle Yeoh stars as the Handmaiden in Netflix’s “Marco Polo.” (Phil Bray/Netflix)

Michelle is still a sword hottie.

[David Jamieson]

Just a heads up if you haven't noticed yet, but Marco Polo season 2 is out on Netflix and as well there is a separate show about 100 eyes on there as well.

It stands up to the quality of season 1 easily.

Binged watched it last saturday. very satisfied.

[GeneChing]