Skin Trade

[GeneChing]

Dolph and Tony Jaa.

Dolph Lundgren Confirms Tony Jaa Aboard For SKIN TRADE
Todd Brown, Founder and Editor


Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa are making it a pair.

Lundgren made headlines back in April when he joined the Tony Jaa directed retro-western A Man Will Rise - that film already listed as in post production, by the way, a welcome change from the interminable delays marking Jaa's previous couple projects - and now it seems that the duo have struck a mutually beneficial deal with Lundgren appearing in Jaa's film and Jaa returning the favor by appearing in Lundgren's upcoming Skin Trade.

Written by, produced by and starring Lundgren in the lead with the director yet to be named, the Skin Trade story began life as a New York based story involving the Russian mafia and human trafficking, though that location has shifted with the addition of Jaa to the cast. John Hyams - Lundgren's director on the most recent Universal Soldier films - was brought in to do some script revisions but does not appear to be directing.

Announced for international sales in Cannes by Arclight, Lundgren has just made the Jaa casting official with a post on his official website while also stating that the film will go into production in early 2014. Check the video below for a pitch trailer shot all the way back in 2010 - before Jaa joined and when the film was still set in NYC - to help raise finance.

AMWR thread here.

[GeneChing]

This looks like a good vehicle for Jaa.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Sweetness.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

SKIN TRADE: Interviews with Tony Jaa, Dolph Lundgren and Michael Jai White by david j. moore

[GeneChing]

Enter to win KungFuMagazine.com's contest for SKIN TRADE on Blu-Ray Disc (Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 8/27/15)!

[Jimbo]

I've watched this and, TBH, I felt this movie is a big step backwards for Tony Jaa. Action-wise, there are a couple of good fight scenes, but nowhere near as good as Tony's early starring vehicles. And while Dolph Lundgren gets to show off more of his karate than in most of his films, there's just a certain flatness about the choreography, IMO.

It could be that Dolph is one of those real-life fighters (in his pre-Rocky IV days, he was a champion Kyokushinkai karate fighter), whose MA skills simply don't translate well to the screen. There are many great fighters who have appeared lackluster when put into MA/action films. I'm not sure that's the sole reason, though, as Tony Jaa and even Michael Jai White don't look as exceptional here as they are capable of. That clearly shows that the director, choreographer and cinematographer have a huge role in how well even the best MA stars look onscreen. It gave me the feeling of "what if" and "if only..."

[GeneChing]

See our WINNERS: SKIN TRADE on Blu-Ray Disc thread.