‘Coweb’ braces for release, new trailer and pics

CHOCOLATE star Jeeja Yanin may have some real competition soon when action director Xiong Xin-xin’s COWEB and its female star Jiang Lu-xia are unveiled in May. Chinese media reports that post-production has ended on this contemporary wushu movie and that mainland Chinese censors have now approved final cut.

COWEB stars Jiang Lu-xia, a female martial artist who rose to fame in China by displaying her martial arts skills in a series of short films on the internet before becoming a finalist in Jackie Chan’s reality TV series THE DISCIPLE.

COWEB Trailer

In the film, Jiang is a mainland wushu coach named Nie Yi-yi who finds herself implicated in a kidnapping case involving her employer and his wife in Hong Kong. In order to rescue them she is forced to battle a variety of fighters. What she doesn’t know is that her fights are being video taped and broadcast live on a web site linked to an illegal gambling den.

Jiang is joined by co-stars Sam Lee (INVISIBLE TARGET), Cheung Siu-fai (FATAL MOVE), German stunt actor Mike Moller (THE CHALLENGE), and Japanese-American martial arts actor Kane Kosugi, son of ninja movie star Sho Kosugi.

This film came about due to Xiong’s interest in bringing fresh martial arts talent to the Chinese film industry, something that has been widely regarded as being in decline despite the continued success of established talents like Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Jacky Wu Jing.

Xiong, a veteran wushu performer since the age of 12, is best known to martial arts movie fans for his role as “Clubfoot” in the ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA film series but he had been an active stunt actor since 1985 when he had his first break as a stuntman in legendary martial arts director Lau Kar-leung’s groundbreaking Hong Kong/Chinese co-production MARTIAL ARTS OF SHAOLIN. Thanks to Lau, Xiong was introduced to the Hong Kong film industry’s once thriving stunt community and he soon found his gifted physical skills in great demand, particularly as a double capable of performing specialized fighting moves that others could not. By 1998, he had fully graduated to action director and despite the downturn in Hong Kong filmmaking, Xiong found his skills in demand on a variety of action films locally and even abroad where he was called upon to choreograph wire action for THE MUSKETEER (2001) and work with Hollywood action director Art Camacho on Steven Seagal’s HALF PAST DEAD.

For COWEB, Xiong set out to feature a female martial artist who could do her own stunts. After thorough auditions, Xiong settled on Jiang who reportedly worked without complaint throughout the film’s demanding shoot despite pain and hardship.

The production wasn’t easy for Xiong either. As a first-time director working with a new star, he was unable to secure major funding and ended up producing the film himself on a small budget with support from industry veterans Joe Ma and Eddie Chan.

Regardless of how COWEB turns out to be in the end, I have tremendous respect for Xiong for doing, despite limited resources, what majors like Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan have not done and that’s get behind the camera and put every effort behind fostering new and genuine martial arts talent. Based on the trailer, it looks like Jiang Lu-xia is off to a good start.

More photos from COWEB and other Xiong Xin-xin projects can be found at the filmmaker’s photo library on Sina.com.cn. Also, check out more information on COWEB at the official site.

Source: Wu-Jing.org