Jet Li has been working overtime of late. He currently has three epic period films in the works and one of them is as the lead villain in THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR. This is the third entry in the blockbuster, fantasy adventure series starring Brendan Fraser.
The first two films had always been packed with action sequences that employed the best of Hollywood stunt work and computer effects. With Li on board as well as Michelle Yeoh, writers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough have now steered the action in a new direction that should interest fans of Asian action cinema.
Director Rob Cohen (DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY, xXx) has kindly been keeping an informative production blog, much like the blog that was set up for 300. In it, he details the plot, posts some behind-the-scenes videos and drops a few insider gems.
“Jet Li plays a despotic Emperor in 50 B.C. whose evil is punished by a terrible curse laid on him by wizardress Michelle Yeoh: he and his army are turned into terra cotta for all time; that is, unless he is re-awakened which, of course, is where the O’Connell’s come back into it.
“The story moves to the year 1946. When we find them, Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn (Maria Bello) are retired to Oxfordshire, England, having been spies for the British during World War II. They are bored silly and welcome the offer of ‘one last mission’ from the Foreign Office. Their assignment: courier a precious artifact back to the museum in Shanghai, China from which it was stolen.
“Back to Asia: China is in turmoil but Jonathan (John Hannah) owns an Egyptian-themed bar in Shanghai. Unbeknownst to his parents, now grown-up Alex O’Connell (Luke Ford) is following in the family business as a young archaeologist on a dig in north-central China. He makes the discovery of a lifetime: the tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which has been buried for millennia. A beautiful assassin (Isabella Leong) tries to kill him to keep the location secret but Alex prevails. The Emperor’s monument is transported back to Shanghai where another plot is in motion: military zealot Anthony Wong intends to awaken the Emperor and aid him in the re-conquest of China and the raising of his terra cotta army of ten thousand clay warriors.
“The family is reunited and high adventure ensues: crash landings, treks thru the Himalayas, Yeti, avalanches, Shangri-la, three-headed dragons, pools of eternal life, epic battles, a shape-shifting Jet Li….”
With Jet Li as the main villain for Fraser to tangle with in the film’s climax, there was clearly a need for some quality screen fighting. Rather than attempt to match Li’s years of wushu experience, Cohen came up with the idea to have Fraser use a direct and efficient fighting system. His choice was the Israeli art of Krav Maga.
“I never saw an actor take a suggestion so much to heart,” said Cohen in his blog when speaking of Brendan. “He has trained continuously in the art and I think you will all see an enormous difference in the mano a mano action scenes in my film. He’s still charming and funny but the power has been turned up many notches.”
Due to the complexities of the film’s varied action sequences, MUMMY 3 has several stunt teams. Some of the members of the U.S. team are interviewed in a video on the blog.
When Li showed up towards the end of the Montreal shoot, he brought along with him veteran action choreographer Ku Huen-chiu who previously worked with Li on FEARLESS and numerous other films in Hong Kong and Hollywood, going all the way back to ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA (1991). Cohen says he was working with Ku and co-choreographer Mark Southworth in “madly refining” the fight between Emperor Han and Rick O’Connell prior to leaving for Beijing and the Tian Mo desert location three hours north of the capitol.
THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR is scheduled for release Aug. 1st, 2008. Other upcoming Jet Li movies include WARLORDS which opens in Hong Kong December 13th and THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM which opens April 18th in the U.S.
