Teaser for wuxia comedy ‘Chasing the Shadow’

It’s been less than two months since production began on CHASING THE SHADOW, a wuxia comedy from co-directors Francis Ng and Marco Mak and producers Huayi Brothers Pictures, yet there is already a wirework-filled teaser trailer circulating online. It can currently be found at German film site Affenheimtheater (also at Chinese-language site Sohu.com).

Known as Zhui Ying in Chinese, the film does not yet have an official English title but the Chinese title translates to “Chasing the Shadows” which so far has stuck.

Sharing lead credits is Francis Ng as “Longbow Yehe,” Pace Wu as a female ninja and Jaycee Chan as a bookish rent collector.

Based on the script by a film critic named Wei Jun-zi, the film is set in the late Ming Dynasty and centers on the elaborate efforts of several martial arts fighters to gain possession of an imperial treasure map.

According to Wang Zhonglei, CEO of Huayi Bros., CHASING THE SHADOW pays tribute to classic wuxia films of the past such as King Hu’s DRAGON GATE INN and Chang Cheh’s THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN.

In a Chinese media report translated and posted on Wu-Jing.org, the film has the Chinese names of the four main characters derived from a combination of different names of legendary martial arts movie directors including King Hu, Tong Gaai, Chor Yuan, Li Han-hsiang, Chang Cheh, Lau Kar-leung, and Sammo Hung. It is reported that a few of the living ones may have cameos in the film.

Ma Yuk-sing (AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS) is choreographing the film’s elaborate wirework action.

Huayi Bros. are planning for a Chinese release of CHASING THE SHADOW sometime this summer.

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