FORBIDDEN KINGDOM: the movie

[冠木侍]

She's one of those girls that looks beautiful no matter what color her hair is. That was the same for Bridgette Lin (in my humble opinion).

But this is a first of firsts.

**She looked younger than 32...btw.

[KungFuPanda]

Was talking about the Jackie and Jet fight with a friend, and he commented how much he enjoyed Jackie's drunken style and liked when they switched to Mantis vs Tiger, but he asked if I knew what Jet was using before he switched to Mantis. I thought I saw a little mantis in there before he obviously went Mantis, but I dunno a thing about kung fu so I ask you people

And sorry if it's already been discussed, I've skipped the thread to ask this question and get out of here

[Lucas]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dOvea5_iw8

lol those guys are funny to set that up.

[GeneChing]

Kung Fu Tai Chi helped Forbidden Kingdom secure some artwork for the “Monkey King and The Eight Immortals” featurette. It's uncredited in the first edition due to an error - in their rush to get it out, all credits were overlooked - but we're promised to have a credit in the second release.

“Dazzling!” – The New York Times
“Jackie Chan and Jet Li make for a great one-two punch!” – Star Magazine

THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

Street Date: 9/09/08
Order Date: 8/13/08
DVD SRP: $29.95
DVD Special Edition: $34.98 (2-disc set)
Blu-ray SRP: $39.99 (2-disc set)

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The first film to bring together two of the greatest martial arts masters – Jackie Chan (Rush Hour) and Jet Li (War) – arrives this September when Lionsgate releases The Forbidden Kingdom 2-Disc Special Edition on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Directed by Rob Minkoff (The Haunted Mansion), written by John Fusco (Hidalgo) and choreographed by the legendary Woo-Ping Yuen (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), the film delivers excitement, adventure and fantasy for anyone seeking an adrenaline rush. A tale of two archrivals who unite to challenge a warlord in an epic battle of good versus evil, The Forbidden Kingdom was a box office hit and a favorite of the critics. Nationwide, the film was declared “great fun” (New York Magazine), “a delightful, action-packed martial-arts fantasy” (Los Angeles Daily News), “exhilarating” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) and “the best martial arts epic ever made” (WBAI Radio). The 2-Disc Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray contain a standard definition digital copy of the film as well as thrilling bonus features including multiple featurettes, a blooper reel, deleted scenes, audio commentary and more! The Blu-ray Disc also features MOLOG™, the first BD Live application that allows users to insert and animate shapes, text, audio and other graphics right into the film as well as post “blogs” about the film to share with other registered MOLOG™ users. The standard one-disc DVD of The Forbidden Kingdom will include a Widescreen and Full Screen version of the film.

In modern-day Boston, Jason (Michael Angarano, TV’s “Will & Grace”), a teenage Kung Fu movie enthusiast, purchases a bootleg DVD from his favorite shopkeeper, Old Hop. When a local bully forces Jason to help rob Old Hop, Jason escapes with an old golden staff that magically transports him to ancient China. He is soon rescued from the forces of the Jade Warlord by Lu Yan (Chan), a raggedy wanderer whose wine-guzzling ways conceal his Kung Fu mastery. Yan, along with the Silent Monk (Li), reveals that Jason is the fabled Seeker who must return the staff to the Monkey King (also played by Li), in order to stop the warlord from carrying out his evil plans. Yan and the Silent Monk join forces to teach Jason the ways of the Kung Fu warrior so he can save their world and return to his own.

*2-DISC DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
DISC ONE:
• Audio commentary with director Rob Minkoff and writer John Fusco
• “The Kung Fu Dream Team” featurette
• “Dangerous Beauty” featurette
• “Discovering China” featurette
• “Filming in Chinawood” featurette
• “Monkey King and The Eight Immortals” featurette
• Blooper reel
• Deleted scenes with audio commentary by Rob Minkoff and John Fusco
• Pre-Visualization featurette – takes the viewer from the storyboards through pre-production animation footage to the final finished look for selected scenes throughout the film, accompanied by commentary from Rob Minkoff

DISC TWO
• Digital Copy of the feature film
*Special features subject to change

*BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
• Audio commentary with director Rob Minkoff and writer John Fusco
• “The Kung Fu Dream Team” featurette
• “angerous Beauty” featurette
• “Discovering China” featurette
• “Filming in Chinawood” featurette
• “Monkey King and The Eight Immortals” featurette
• Blooper Reel
• Deleted scenes with audio commentary by Rob Minkoff and John Fusco
• Pre-Visualization featurette – takes the viewer from the storyboards through pre-production animation footage
to the final finished look for selected scenes throughout the film, accompanied by commentary from Rob
Minkoff
• MOLOG™ – network connected community and interactive movie blog tool set

DISC TWO
• Standard Definition Digital Copy of the feature film
*Special features subject to change

DIRECTOR
Rob Minkoff: The Haunted Mansion, Stuart Little, The Lion King

CAST
Jackie Chan: Rush Hour, Kung Fu Panda, Shanghai Noon, Rush Hour 2 and 3
Jet Li: upcoming The Mummy : Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, War, Unleashed
Collin Chou: Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions, Fearless, The Duel
Liu Yifei: Love of May, TV’s "Shen diao xia lu"
Li Bing Bing: Silver Hawk, The Knot, Linger, Dragon Heat, Wait ‘Til You’re Older
Michael Angarano: Lords of Dogtown, Sky High, TV’s “24,” TV’s “Will & Grace”

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Year of Production: 2008
Title Copyright: © 2007 J&J Project, LLC. All rights reserved.
Type: Theatrical Release
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence
Genre: Martial Arts/Action Adventure
Closed Captioned: English Closed Captioned
Subtitles: English and Spanish
Format: DVD: Widescreen and Full Screen
Special Edition: 16x9 Widescreen
Blu-ray: 1080P HD 16x9 Widescreen
Feature Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Audio Status: 5.1 Dolby Digital EX and 2.0 Dolby Digital; Standard: 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital
Blu-ray Audio Status: 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital EX

[uki]

a well-rounded family film... one of my favorite parts was when jackie goes to inquire about jet li stealing the staff... and when jet li pîsses in jackies face. priceless...

[GeneChing]

In retrospect, one of the greatest things about TFK for me personally was befriending John. We continue to correspond.

John Fusco Enters The Forbidden Kingdom
by Kyle Rupprecht | Published September 12, 2008

When John Fusco was working in saw mills and living on the streets of New Orleans, after dropping out of high school at the age of 16, he never would have imagined his future career as a highly successful screenwriter. His latest film, the martial-arts epic The Forbidden Kingdom starring kung fu veterans Jackie Chan and Jet Li, was released on a two-disc special edition DVD and Blu-ray disc on September 9th from Lionsgate. After more than 20 years in the business, Fusco has assembled an impressive list of credits. From the Western re-imagining Young Guns (1988) starring Emilio Estevez and assorted other brat packers, to the Native American reservation murder mystery Thunderheart (1992) starring Val Kilmer, to the rollicking Arabian adventure Hidalgo (2004) starring Viggo Mortensen, Fusco has demonstrated a knack for writing epic, larger-than-life stories with relatable human characters.

MM spoke with Fusco about The Forbidden Kingdom, screenwriting tricks of the trade and how the industry has changed since the beginning of his career.

Kyle Rupprecht (MM): How did you get involved with writing the screenplay for The Forbidden Kingdom?

John Fusco (JF): It was an original screenplay that began as a story I made up for my young son. He was beginning his study of martial arts and I wanted to introduce him to the classical and philosophical roots of kung fu without preaching. To me, it seemed that the best way to get him passionate about the Chinese myth and literature that informs the art was to create an eastern-western adventure fable that I would make up, as I went, night after night.

When I told producer Casey Silver that I was doing this, he encouraged me to turn it into a screenplay.

MM: You have a background in martial arts. How did you draw on this experience to write the script for The Forbidden Kingdom?

JF: I could not have written the script if I didn’t have that background. I even wrote out the fight scenes using practical martial arts applications and Shaolin styles and counter-styles. Of course, the master [choreographer] Woo-Ping Yuen was going to do what he wanted with those scenes, but he tended to anchor those scenes in the fight stuff that I wrote. For instance, Jet and Jackie dueling with Praying Mantis versus Tiger was written into the script.

As far as the martial arts philosophy in the movie, it all comes from my own study. Martial artists who see the movie get it and appreciate it—including some of the highest ranking masters that I know. Some of the film critics called it “fortune cookie philosophy” and assumed it was some screenwriter stretching for Chinese maxims. But all of the philosophy conveyed in the film came directly from Lao Tzu, Cha’n Buddhism or from Jet Li, and it is all relevant to the character’s journey and understanding of martial art. 



MM: Many of the films you’ve written are epic adventures. What draws you to this classic genre?

JF: I’ve always been drawn to the relationship between history and legend, and that canvas tends to be a large one.

MM: What films inspired you growing up; which ones made you want to become a screenwriter?

JF: I loved Westerns, kung fu cinema and the Universal horror classics like Frankenstein and Dracula. When I was 10, I would write my own “remakes” of the latter and shoot them in Super 8 with a neighborhood cast and crew. A little later I did the same with Bruce Lee movies. They’re hysterical, but I loved Super 8 and I had my own small editing deck down in the basement.

 
 

Growing out of that period, I fell in love with films like Lonely Are the Brave, The Night of the Hunter, On the Waterfront, Ace in the Hole. I dreamed of writing screenplays for a living since I was 10 years old. But the films that inspired me to pursue it in a practical way were Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Bonnie and Clyde and counter-culture classics like that. I would eventually get the chance to study with Waldo Salt who wrote Midnight Cowboy, and he mentored me through my first screenplay Crossroads.

MM: How has the screenwriting industry changed since Crossroads in 1986?

JF: It all felt so cutting edge back then. It was very rare for a film school student to break into the business and I was one of only a handful. The New York Times did an article about me selling a script out of my Screenwriting 101 class. Now, that’s not so unusual; there are more opportunities out there with new media and indie films and screenwriters doing their own graphic novels to control their destinies. But it still always comes down to the power and integrity of the story. I think there are more opportunities available, but less inspired and original material.

On a workshop level, computer technology has changed the game in a mind-blowing way since I started. I might be the last of the screenwriters who wrote on an electric Royal and became masterful with a White Out brush. Then Waldo Salt showed me his computer. It was a thing the size of an industrial generator that made crunching sounds when it saved onto a floppy. Having sold my first screenplay, I bought one. But to do research I had to go to the library. A few years later, after moving to Vermont, I’d have to fly to the New York Public to do certain research. Now it’s all right there. The resources and the links to personal contacts are incredible. With that access, screenwriting software and the wonder of e-mail, I think writers have a gigantic advantage compared to when I was starting out. It has certainly made my living and writing out of town easier and I’m surprised that more screenwriters don’t do that now.

As far as trends in the kinds of material, that seems to change monthly, so I can’t point out any overarching transformation. Just when I think a character-driven 1930s Western is dead, I submit a spec script and suddenly there’s as much excitement as I remember when I turned in my first thing 20 years ago. It simply comes down to writing from the heart and that will win over trends and technology every time. It will find its way up the river and nothing will stop it. 
 
 
 



MM: According to IMDb, you dropped out of high school at 16 to travel the American south as a blues musician and factory worker. How did that experience influence you as a screenwriter?

JF: It was the best prep school for film school that I could’ve had. When I got into NYU (by some miracle or mistake in paperwork), my first class was Basic Screenwriting. The assignment for the semester was to complete a 10-page screenplay. I was shocked that these students began groaning about the task. I didn’t have the vocabulary or the French cinema terms down like they did, but I turned in a 120-page screenplay in a month. Most of the students never did complete their 10 pages.

Hoboing, working in saw mills and living on the streets in New Orleans had given me a backpack of material. I had the 120 pages already worked out in my head, almost line-by-line, because I’d been gathering it and shaping it and taking notes on trains. The road also made me hungry and insanely determined to go back for that first dream, which was telling film stories.


MM: Do you have any advice for aspiring screenwriters wishing to break into the industry?

JF: Try to tap into content that you truly love and stop reading the online trades to see what’s selling. Even if you have to stop going to the movies for a while, break the cycle of influence and try to reach back to what it was that made you want to write in the first place. Pull out of the pack.

If I look back at the stuff I’ve gotten made, it all comes from some place of passion or interest. Even if you think there might not be something there on the surface, keep digging. Some people are surprised that I just wrote a kung fu movie with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. But that one has been brewing for more than 30 years, steeping back there in the pool of the stuff that I lived for as a kid. That’s where the juice is, I think—way back in that childhood magic. Ray Bradbury wrote a little book called Zen in the Art of Writing. He speaks to this process more eloquently than I can. I recommend reading that book even over Aristotle’s Poetics.

More importantly, go blue collar. Work harder than every other aspiring screenwriter you know. If the other guy is writing for three hours before he goes to his day job, get up an hour earlier than him. Give up your weekend and put a sleeping bag beside your desk—go on a marathon writing bender and barricade yourself. Especially from all of those people who want you to give up. Twenty-three years later, I still do that.

[banditshaw]

Just watched this on a plane ride to Atlanta.
I have to admit I liked it. For all it's sappyness in certain areas, it worked out to be a decent actioner with some good fights.

I was stoked to see the ''Monkey'' Tv show shown on dudes TV in the background at the beginning of the movie.

I would recommend this to people w/family new to the genre.

[iron_leg_dave]

Uber cheese. I was really excited about Jet and Jackie being in the same movie.

This movie was so walt disney that it made bambi look badass.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Iron_Leg_Dave, I agree whole-heartedly.

One wire-fu scene between the two (bleah), and the rest of the time it felt aimed at 6 year olds.

Plus, What a friggin insult to the Monkey King.

[iron_leg_dave]

Iron_Leg_Dave, I agree whole-heartedly.

One wire-fu scene between the two (bleah), and the rest of the time it felt aimed at 6 year olds.

Plus, What a friggin insult to the Monkey King.

On

The real.

What a let down. The previews were mostly dramatic clips showing the kung fu highlights. It was definately marketed to us, but for kids.

Every extrememly well known bit of chinese wisdom was in the movie too. Line after line, it was annoying. Lacked any kind of subtance really. I think a person could look for some meaning, but they would just be delusional to find it.

The best part of the movie?

When Jet li climbs a boulder and ****es on Jackie Chan.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

The best part of the movie?

When Jet li climbs a boulder and ****es on Jackie Chan.

LoL, I forgot about that! Yes, that scene was slightly redeeming.

...but only slightly.

[MasterKiller]

I watched about 15 minutes and turned it off. Crapola.

[GeneChing]

Enter our FORBIDDEN KINGDOM 2-DISC Special Edition with Digital Copy of the Film sweepstakes. Contest ends 9/29/08. Good luck all!

[Lamassu]

I'm a fan boy plain and simple. I loved everything about the movie. Especially recognizing various lessons and drills that both Jackie and Jet use to train Jason (like Jackie with the tea overflowing from Jason's cup; "empty your cup", and he just chucks the tea w/o drinking it ), also the knuckle push ups and the stance training. I recognized most of the teachings that were demonstrated in the film from my own training and I knew right away that this movie is a labor of love, and I think it's really awesome. I even picked up my copy today.

[doug maverick]

I'm a fan boy plain and simple. I loved everything about the movie. Especially recognizing various lessons and drills that both Jackie and Jet use to train Jason (like Jackie with the tea overflowing from Jason's cup; "empty your cup", and he just chucks the tea w/o drinking it ), also the knuckle push ups and the stance training. I recognized most of the teachings that were demonstrated in the film from my own training and I knew right away that this movie is a labor of love, and I think it's really awesome. I even picked up my copy today.

i wouldn't call this film a labor of love. you making it sound like it was some sophisticated art house film. when it was just a fun kiddie action film. i mean even jackie chan was bashing the **** thing before it started doing big numbers.