By Mark Pollard | Published August 21, 2008

Chinese news media reports that Emperor Motion Pictures is in the early development stages of producing a Wing Chun-themed movie. Although not confirmed by the studio, Benny Chan (INVISIBLE TARGET) is expected to direct while Nicholas Tse and Gillian Chung, who recently starred together in THE SPIRIT OF THE SWORD wuxia TV series, have been named as the stars.

Gillian Chung and Nicholas Tse in THE SPIRIT OF THE SWORD (2007).

Isabella Leong (THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR) was originally picked as the female lead but was replaced by Chung following a dispute with EMP.

Anyone following the latest career moves of Nicholas Tse will know the screen idol has spent the last several years working hard to polish his kung fu fighting skills in mainland China, both in intensive off screen training and onscreen work in several martial arts TV series. One of his most notable series so far has been WING CHUN, an epic tale co-starring screen fighting legends Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung where Tse portrayed real-life Wing Chun exponent Leung Bik.

In the past, I have given Tse a lot of criticism for failing to impress in either his acting or screen fighting. I still don’t think he has what it takes but I respect the man for making the effort and wish him all the luck should this project go through. Tse’s presence could be salvaged if they ditched the chick and got his buddy Philip Ng in there instead. I could see the potential for a David Chiang/Ti Lung-style match up so long as action director Nicky Li takes a walk. Unfortunately, with Benny Chan directing that won’t happen.

Despite being caught up in a high-profile sex scandal last year that could have ended her career, Gillian Chung appears to be on the comeback trail – whatever that means given her laughable filmography. Surprisingly, she’s co-starring alongside international superstar Zhang Ziyi in a new Chinese opera biopic from mainland Chinese director Chen Kaige.

The Wing Chun movie would mark her return to the martial arts genre after starring in Yuen Woo-ping’s HOUSE OF FURY. I had once put hope in Chung as a future female action star after she managed some decent fight work under the direction of Donnie Yen in TWINS EFFECT. However, she’s made nothing but bad career moves since by starring in a series of absolutely dreadful Hong Kong movies such as PROTÉGÉ DE LA ROSE NOIRE and TWINS MISSION.

Regarding Benny Chan and EMP, I have zero faith in both the filmmaker and the studio to pull together a respectable martial arts movie, regardless of their poor choice of casting. Despite the slick production values they consistently manage on a modest budget, EMP has been responsible for some of Hong Kong’s worst action flicks of the last decade with SLAM DUNK being one of their latest high-profile genre turds.

As for Benny Chan, the GEN-X COPS director managed to pull off a modestly good action film with NEW POLICE STORY but has since proven to be only a mediocre talent with subsequent films like the lightweight action comedy ROB-B-HOOD and the farce that is INVISIBLE TARGET. I’ve noticed a trend that the less involvement Jackie Chan has with Benny’s movies, the worse they tend to be.

In short, this Wing Chun movie has about as much chance of being a success by genre fan standards as Gillian Chung has of getting those compromising pictures of her off the internet.

Source: Wu-Jing.org

Related Topics:
Benny Chan  •  Nicholas Tse  •  upcoming  •  Wing Chun