IP MAN, Wilson Yip’s biopic of Bruce Lee’s famous Wing Chun master Yip Man opened across China on December 12, a week ahead of schedule following the world premiere in Beijing last Wednesday. Starring Donnie Yen, with action direction by Sammo Hung, the HK$40 million (US$5 million) period martial arts drama raked in 1.4 million yuan (US$200,000) on its opening day amid favorable early buzz from moviegoers.
The film concerns itself with the period of Yip’s life prior to the war with Japan and his association with Bruce Lee which didn’t begin until 1954. It largely takes place in Yip’s hometown of Foshan in China’s Guangdong province which borders Hong Kong.
Producer Raymond Wong has already announced plans for a sequel that will continue the story of Yip’s life, specifically with regard to his training of a young Bruce Lee. Yen and Wilson Yip are planning a worldwide talent search to find a suitable actor to play Lee.
Actor Simon Yam, Yen’s co-star from KILL ZONE (aka SPL) appears in IP MAN along with actress Lynn Hung as Ip’s wife and veteran screen fighter Fan Siu-wong, portraying Yen’s main martial rival. Fan is most famous in the West for his starring role in the gory cult classic STORY OF RICKY (1991). He previously worked with Sammo Hung in the forgettable wuxia pian FLYING DRAGON, LEAPING TIGER (2002).
Sammo Hung was hired to choreograph the Wing Chun fighting due to his previous experience in adapting the close-range martial art to the screen in the kung fu classics THE PRODIGAL SON (1982) and WARRIORS TWO (1978).
“Those two films for me were the most accurate Wing Chun movies ever made, and our mission here is to top that,” said Yen. “It was also great to have Sammo on board to do the action, so that I could concentrate 100% on just acting the role.”
Yen reportedly spent as much as nine months preparing for this role, a rarity in Hong Kong cinema. He trained extensively in Wing Chun, maintained a strict diet to trim down his muscle and even applied method acting techniques behind the scenes to get into character.
Interestingly, this was not the first time Yen was offered the chance to portray Yip Man. A decade earlier he had signed on to an Yip Man biopic with Jeffrey Lau and Corey Yuen attached but the project never got off the ground.
Even more amazing is that there has never been another movie about Yip Man made, this despite years of kung fu movie output from Hong Kong, often featuring famous folk heroes such as Wong Fei-hung or inferior rip offs of Bruce Lee.
The soundtrack to IP MAN, featuring the music of composer Kenji Kawai (BATTLE OF WITS) goes on sale today at Yesasia.com.
Below are high-res videos that include the trailer, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and a sneak peek at the action. Unfortunately, all dialogue is in Cantonese with no translation except for the trailer.
VIDEO: Pre-production
General prep work mixed with some of Yen’s unfiltered Wing Chun moves. The guy has done his homework. It’s amazing, considering he devoted his last film to real-world MMA fighting. Both styles are light years from his modern wushu background and wire-fu experience with Yuen Woo-ping.
VIDEO: Shooting Diary
Lots of great action set footage here. You know it’s a quality Hong Kong action movie when the live stunt work looks at least as good as the finished fight work.
VIDEO: Major Scene – 1. Cotton Mill Factory
Simon Yam talks briefly as a cotton mill set is shown. Segment ends with Yen performing some vigorous pole work reminiscent of his early ’90s heyday.
VIDEO: Scene Introduction – 2. Ip Man House
Wilson Yip is interviewed. Shown is some of the film’s elaborate interior sets and towards the end we get to see a little bit of fighting between Yen and Fan.
VIDEO: Scene Introduction 3: Foshan Mainstreet
Fan Siu-wong is featured in this segment You’ll also be able to briefly spot Sammo at work and a little wirework.
VIDEO: Trailer
This is Mandarin Films’ full trailer, nicely subtitled in English.
Source: Wu-Jing.org, CRIEnglish.com, The Star Online
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Tags: Donnie Yen, Ip Man (2008), Sammo Hung, upcoming, Wing Chun, Yip Man
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