A new promotional still of Tony Leung as Yip Man has been released. Unfortunately, it seems to be a slight variation on the previous ones.
Cung Le Returning to China in April to Film The Grandmasters
In an interview with Strikeforce’s website MMA fighter-turned-actor Cung Le said that he would be returning to film ‘The Grandmasters‘ in April:
Basically, I was in China in early October for a Wong Kar Wai movie called “The Grandmasters†for two weeks…On December 23rd, I wrapped “Dragon Eyes†and came home for Christmas, and then left on the 26th for China for another movie, “The Man with the Iron Fist†for nine weeks of filming. At the same time, “Grandmasters†was filming out there, so I worked a week on that film. It ended up with them wanting to expand my role, so now I’ve got to go back out to China at the end of April to do some more shooting. I’m getting to work with some big names. Wong Kar Wai is a big-time director out there, and Tony Leung, who’s like the Brad Pitt of China.
http://strikeforce.com/news/2011/03/cung-le-movie-star-or-mma-fighter/
On his Twitter account, he noted that he would be “Back to China sometime in April. I have a week of filming on The Grandmasters (2012)” and that “Wong Kar Wai expanded my part on Grandmasters.”
The Grandmasters Continues to Shoot
A few days ago the Wong Kar-wai directed martial arts film ‘The Grandmasters’ was rumoured to require a production halt as Tony Leung would begin work on the Derek Yee’s new film ‘The Great Magician’. However, Sil-Metropole (the production company behind ‘The Grandmasters’) have said that the film has always been in production and no production halt has taken place. Recently more large scale scenes were shot, in one scene over 100 actors were mobilised. Due to the director’s high demands, the extras’ clothing buttoning was not overlooked. Tony Leung has always been working as well. Zhang Ziyi and Zhao Benshan in the forthcoming days will work on important parts of the film as well.
According to the source at the company, ‘The Grandmasters’ was expected to shoot as scheduled then the release companies would decide on its release date.
Filming Halted on The Grandmasters, Release Delayed Until Winter 2011?
Sohu Entertainment News are reporting that filming on ‘The Grandmasters’ has stopped and Wong Kar-wai has something else to be busy with. The film has been in preparation for almost 8 years and in production for 2 years, yesterday was rumoured to be coming to a production halt. It had been assumed that the film was near completion and was in the promotional phase. However, this could not be further from the truth.
In the interim its lead actor Tony Leung, who has focused on making and not taken any other role, recently accepted a role in Derek Yee’s ‘The Great Magician’ whilst he waits for ‘The Grandmasters’ to resume.
According to an insider of ‘The Grandmasters’, actress Song Hye-kyo has left the team in December 2010, and she has not returned in January 2011 when filming resumed. According to the staff, Hye-kyo was ‘very gentle’, she has not complained about the shooting delay as what has been rumoured. She did not need to do any kung fu fighting scenes. Though she should be playing an important role, she has only done a small portion of the shooting, so she might need to return to continue shooting later. However, Wong Kar-wai still has no idea how to fit her into the movie. There is a chance that not only Hye-kyo, but some of the other actors/actresses portions will be ‘cut’. All the main roles including the part played by actor Chang Chen, except Hye-kyo have a lot of fighting scenes.
The release date for ‘The Grandmasters’ has repeatedly been delayed, from National Day to Lunar New Year of this year. Thus its goal was to finish by May. Reportedly from the current progress it would have difficulty with its completion. Wong Kar Wai decided to halt the production for Tony Leung to make money first while he could explore new elements before consider when to resume production. For the past two years Tony Leung has decided not to accept any other film roles so that he could focus fully on playing the role of Yip Man. However, it has been decided that he will begin work on ‘The Great Magician’ in the next few weeks and resume filming on ‘The Grandmasters’ at a later date.
http://yule.sohu.com/20110304/n279640686.shtml
Meanwhile The Hollywood Reporter has noted that the film “has been delayed until the fourth quarter.”
http://http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bona-posts-2010-revenue-gain-163845
Weinstein Company Acquires UK & Australian Rights to The Grandmasters
Deadline are reporting that The Weinstein Company have snapped up the UK and Australian distribution rights to ‘The Grandmasters’.
“The Weinstein Company has closed a deal for United Kingdom and Australian distribution rights to The Grandmasters, the Wong Kar-wai-directed Chinese language martial arts film. Harvey Weinstein is among a small group vying for domestic rights, with Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics also in the mix. TWC’s investment was north of $1 million for the offshore rights. Buyers were shown about 15 minutes of expertly choreographed martial arts footage, and also were given a 5-page synopsis of the film. Distributors are going on faith that the director’s vision holds together in a cohesive story. The film is the life story of the martial artist Ip Man, and Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen are in the cast. CAA is repping The Grandmasters.
The Grandmasters was one of the hottest titles to be shown to buyers at Berlin, where Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Productions became an investor in the film for a rumored $3 million.”
http://www.deadline.com/2011/02/berlin-weinstein-co-acquires-uk-australian-rights-on-the-grandmasters-as-u-s-heats-up/
Heiress Megan Ellison Set to Acquire Rights to The Grandmasters
According to the Hollywood Reporter, heiress Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Productions is reportedly in final talks to pick up North American rights to Wong Kar-Wai‘s martial arts epic “The Grandmasters†which stars Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen and follows the story of artist Ip Man, best known as the mentor of Bruce Lee.
“Ellison is in final negotiations to pick up the rights and to make a significant financial commitment to the movie and its marketing. The plan is for Ellison and Wong to partner with a distributor in the coming months.
Grandmasters, starring Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen, is a biopic of famed martial artist Ip Man, who practiced the art of Wing Chun and is best known as the man who taught Bruce Lee. Action sequences were choreographed by Yeun Woo-ping
The movie is still in production but Wong took a break from filming to trek to Berlin, privately showing buyers footage from his epic Friday. (Wild Bunch is selling the film internationally while CAA is handling domestic.)
Ellison, who did not attend Berlin, practiced her own Wing Chun in Berlin to sweep the legs from under Weinstein Co., Fox Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics and Focus Features, who were in the mix to nab the rights as well.
Wong was won over by Ellison’s personal touch and personal commitment to him and the film, which is being bought off of 10 minutes of footage. With the deal that steps off the beaten parth, Wong will now also be partnered with a financier who will have more at stake than a more traditional company.
Annapurna has been making surgical moves to be involved with top talent as the company makes a name for itself as a producer and financier. Ellison was an exec producer on True Grit, and is a producer on The Wettest Country in the World, the Shia LaBeouf-Tom Hardy crime drama selling at EFM.
She recently partnered with Mark Boal and Management 360 to option The Boy Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, a New York Times Magazine article on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Annapurna and Wong are repped by CAA.”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/berlin-annapurna-productions-takes-wong-99620
The Grandmasters Generating Heat in Berlin
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Weinstein Company, Fox Searchlight and and Sony Pictures Classics are among those interested in Wong Kar-wai’s martial arts movie ‘The Grandmasters’. Also it seems that the film may still be shooting.
“One of the films to watch in Berlin is The Grandmasters, Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai‘s sumptuous telling of the tale of martial arts legend Ip Man.
The story has previously been told in films like Ip Man and Ip Man 2, but Kar Wai, director of Chungking Express and My Blueberry Nights, is generating buzz because the project is his first action movie.
Kar Wai took a break from filming to trek to Berlin, privately showing buyers footage from his epic.
Among those showing strong interest, according to insiders, were execs from Weinstein Co., Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics. Focus Features is likely in the mix as well.
Wild Bunch is selling international while CAA handles domestic.
The $25 million Chinese-language film might seem to be a tough sell in the U.S., for the mere fact that it isn’t in English. Then again, that didn’t stop Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon from crossing over from art house fare to becoming a major North American box office hit as well as a multiple Oscar winner.
Grandmasters stars Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen. Action sequences were choreographed by Yeun Woo-ping.”
Courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/martial-arts-epic-grandmasters-generating-98791
The Grandmasters Unveiled in Berlin
The Wong Kar Wai directed film THE GRANDMASTERS earlier unveiled lead actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai’s GRANDMASTER look, surprising the American Film Market, leading to attention from buyers and fans everywhere and even started an online poster bid fever. THE GRANDMASTERS (YUT DOI JUNG SI) has been in production for awhile. In order to satisfy everyone’s curiosity the film company would strike again by displaying Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi’s action sequences from the film at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and demonstrate the GRANDMASTER fashion without holding anything back.
After Tony Leung’s dark clothes and white straw hat Yip Man look in THE GRANDMASTERS was revealed, people proclaimed the birth of a Chinese super hero and a new icon of a dark warrior. Immediately it became the target of imitation in the business. Because Tony Leung’s dark warrior in the rain look did not clearly show his face, this time the film company will display his heroic look fully in Berlin. Tony Leung’s unique Yip Man look swept across Europe and America and started a GRANDMASTERS fever. Even European and American distributors would spare no expense on promoting this Wong Kar Wai kung fu epic at this year’s Berlin Film Festival film market. They would attract buyers with Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi’s action sequences. Conceivably after Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi, other key characters’ unique looks in the film would gradually be revealed.
European distributors outside the film market center deliberately selected an eye catching spot, built two buildings and filled their walls with Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi’s GRANDMASTERS posters. In the poster Tony Leung used both fists and kicks and displayed his Wing Chun. Zhang Ziyi showed her eight diagram palm style and brought a refreshing look to everyone. Their stills surrounded the building walls and became one of the promotion focus. Wong Kar Wai broke into the European and American markets with IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (FA YEUNG NIN WA), which also began one of the foreign films in the European market with the box office.
Tony Leung’s Stunt Double in The Grandmasters
Tony Leung‘s stunt double in the Yip Man biopic ‘The Grandmasters’ is Henry Araneda, an Applied Wing Chun master based in Melbourne. He posted some photos of him on his website with Tony Leung, director Wong Kar-wai, action director Yuen Woo-Ping and MMA fighter Cung Le (who he shares a fight scene with).
The Grandmasters Press Conference and Teaser Trailer
Director Wong Kar-wai and cast members of The Grandmasters appeared at a special press conference held in Beijing on December 28th.
The event was for the 60th anniversary of Sil-Metropole Organisation Ltd, one of the film’s production companies.
Most of the attention went to the cast of The Grandmasters, including Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Benshan, Song Hye-kyo, Xiao Shenyang and Wang Qingxiang, who rushed from the Guangdong set. The team presented an oil painting poster to the company.
The event showed a promotional reel for The Grandmasters but it did not include any actual footage from the film. Host Zhang Guoli joked that this trailer was mysterious enough, after such a long shoot the trailer had no scenes at all.
Then actors Leung Chiu-wai, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Song Hye-Kyo, Zhao Benshan, Xiao Shenyang, Wang Qingxiang appeared on stage.
Speaking of the fight scenes, Tony Leung said that he was not worried as he practiced for a long time. He practiced so much that his arm was broken at the hands of his Wing Chun teacher. Zhang Guoli joked that the scene of Tony Leung’s arm being broken was not preserved, which truly was a regret for Chinese film because it was worth a lot of money. The fight scene in the rain he said was very difficult and took 30 days to shoot. Zhang Guoli joked that it only took 30 days, someone had to thank Wong Kar-wai as normally it might take 3 months.
Zhang Ziyi plays a martial art expert in the film, Zhang Guoli praised her eight diagram palm technique in the snow scene, saying it was very pretty. Zhang Ziyi said that this scene was shot last winter. At the time, the crew joked that this shoot would not be completed as they predicted whether or not they would have to shoot it again next year. Surprisingly they were right. She recalled the 30 degree below zero (Celsius) shooting environment as truly tough.
Chang Chen plays an eight diagram expert in the film. For the film, he trained for two years but the training benefited him a lot and his health improved.
Song Hye-kyo plays Yip Man’s (Tony Leung) wife in the film, but they did not stand together on the stage. She joked that they (she and Tony) were together everyday during filming so they didn’t have to stand together now. Zhang Guoli said that this was understandable to avoid suspicion from Tony Leung’s wife (Carina Lau). This was Song Hye-kyo’s first film shooting in China and she was truly pleased to be able to work with a group of such great actors. She thanked director Wong Kar-wai for his help, because at first she was not too used to his style of directing. Director Wong helped her a lot.
Wong Kar Wai appeared in the end to pose for a group photo with the cast.
Host Zhang Guoli asked Tony Leung to make a kung fu pose but Tony only had his hands in his pockets and played cool. He explained that he was dressed modernly so he posed with his hands in his pockets in front of the poster.
The actors finally sang a birthday song to celebrate Sil-Metropole’s 60th year, but they looked somewhat embarrassed.
Video: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/1pJ4zaNwui8/
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2010-12-28/23443191325.shtml?from=nominated
http://ent.qq.com/a/20101229/000025.htm#p=7
After two days promoting The Grandmasters in Beijing, Tony Leung returned to Hong Kong. Reporters asked him about the filming schedule and he revealed that he will return to the Mainland later to continue the shoot. He has been shooting more than 10 hours a day, most likely with no time off during the new year. He thinks they will finish around the Lunar New Year (February).
Tony was in good spirits and full of smiles. He said, “Maybe it’s because of this Grandmaster hair cut.” His earlier injury has now basically healed, but during action scenes he would be even more cautious as he did not want to be injured again.
According to news in Hong Kong, initially the investors wanted ‘The Grandmasters’ to be released in the Lunar New Year period (early February), but now they are saying that the film will be in Chinese theaters during Easter.
http://news.sina.com.tw/article/20101230/4076088.html
Teaser Trailer:
Translation of the text in the trailer:
“Their valor is transmitted by men of chivalry, accurately recorded by the brushes of history that begin to flow into myriads of seas, and due to the dao, the fortunes of their affection are long, and the elements once a generation bear witness to the masters.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnlUQjUn-8o&feature=player_embedded