Sina:
‘The Grandmaster’s director Wong Kar-wai and actors Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen earlier attended an audience appreciation event in Beijing to celebrate the box office hit. Later Wong Kar-wai went to Shanghai to attend an audience meeting, sharing the experience with viewers and clarified that the film had no 4-hour version. He joked that if viewers wanted they would have to wait 10 years. On the other hand the Cantonese original sound version will soon be released.
Earlier Wong Kar-wai led Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen and the script consultant Chang Ta Chun to a Beijing cinema for an audience appreciation. The lead actor Tony Leung shared the experience with the audience and said that he particularly liked in the film’s opening when his mentor tied Ip Man’s belt for him. “One belt one breath, from now on live with this one breath. Our production process isn’t easy. Over these four years I completed the film with this one breath. Suddenly I got very emotional, the four years of persistence that everyone gave was not easy either.” A viewer asked Leung, “Did Ip Man fall for Gong Er?” He said, “He admired Gong Er, your best opponent is your confidant. Finding someone who understands you is very rare. He hoped to have a chance to compare, saying that he wanted to see Gong Clan’s 64 hands was only an excuse to go to the Northeast.”
Chang Chen was asked about his character Yi Xiantian who only had three scenes in the film. His encounter on the train with Zhang Ziyi even led to questions. Zhang Ziyi graciously admitted, “My Gong Er and Yi Xiantian were in love, but the director determined why it didn’t appear. I especially hoped to see my reunion with Yi Xiantian in Hong Kong.” Chang Chen revealed that Yi Xiantian’s White Rose barber shop and Gong Er’s clinic were on the same street. They ran into each other in a Muslim noddle shop in Hong Kong.
Later Wong Kar-wai said in Shanghai how ‘The Grandmaster’ became the Berlin Film Festival’s opening film. “Film and martial art are the same, without any differentiation between the East and the West. I believe the audience of the entire world will be able to see the beauty of Chinese martial art films and the beauty of Chinese people. I hope foreigners will be able to see the valuable presence of Chinese people, that introverted calmness.” He denied that the film had a 4-hour version. “That was a misunderstanding, anyone who wants to see it will have to wait 10 years. The Cantonese original sound version will be released very soon. Film lovers will be able to experience it again.”