Why didn't Vincent Zhao and Wu Jing become the next Jet Li and Donnie Yen?

[Iron_Leopard]

Both are skilled martial artists who have screen presence. 

 

Both have been in some classic movies but just never broke through as the next big thing.

 

Maybe they just didn't have a director to help them rise to stardom. Both worked with Woo Ping but he was past his prime in Tai Chi Master 2 and True Legend.

[Asmo]

Their limited proficiency in Cantonese (at least in the 1990s/early 2000s, not sure about now) might have hindered them in HK.

[AlbertV]

It just seemed Vincent Zhao, while he has impeccable skills, seems to lack the charisma of a Jet Li. Plus, it didn't help that in 2013, he had that fiasco with Special ID where he was originally cast as the lead villain before being replaced by Andy On. So I think that hurt his reputation. He pretty much trashed Donnie Yen for unprofessionalism (https://ericjacobus.com/2012/03/16/vincent-zhao-breaks-his-silence-reveals-secrets-on-shooting-special-identity/)

As for Wu Jing, he's another great martial artist but I think for him, it's more in the projects he was involved in post SPL. However, I think him doing the Wolf Warrior films and Climbers as well as Wandering Earth proves that he doesn't either want or be typecast as just another kung fu hero. It's clear he wants to do other things to broaden his horizons. So he has something to fall back on. Plus if I remember right, Wu Jing was plagued by injuries as well from what I read.

That's my two cents anyway. 

 

[CT KID]

10 hours ago, AlbertV said:

It just seemed Vincent Zhao, while he has impeccable skills, seems to lack the charisma of a Jet Li. Plus, it didn't help that in 2013, he had that fiasco with Special ID where he was originally cast as the lead villain before being replaced by Andy On. So I think that hurt his reputation. He pretty much trashed Donnie Yen for unprofessionalism (https://ericjacobus.com/2012/03/16/vincent-zhao-breaks-his-silence-reveals-secrets-on-shooting-special-identity/)

As for Wu Jing, he's another great martial artist but I think for him, it's more in the projects he was involved in post SPL. However, I think him doing the Wolf Warrior films and Climbers as well as Wandering Earth proves that he doesn't either want or be typecast as just another kung fu hero. It's clear he wants to do other things to broaden his horizons. So he has something to fall back on. Plus if I remember right, Wu Jing was plagued by injuries as well from what I read.

That's my two cents anyway. 

 

I would have to pretty much agree with this assessment, they just didn't have the same charisma or screen magnetism as Yen and Li. And also Wu Jing made for a better villain than leading man in martial arts films imo, he just had that look.

[kami]

I think after both Wolf Warriors and Wandering Earth Wu Jing is quite the big star now. Furthermore, stardom and fame qute often have more to do with luck than with talent. Jet Li wasn't overly charismatic and his fighting prowess nothing we hadn't seen before but he was discovered by Tsui Hark and made the leading man of the movie that reignited the kung fu craze in HK. So lucky accident. Vincent Zhao and Wu Jing, on the other hand, got their leading roles when this new kung fu wave came to an end. Bad luck. BTW, Donnie Yen starred in movies for more than 15 years until he really became a star.

[Iron_Leopard]

15 hours ago, AlbertV said:

It just seemed Vincent Zhao, while he has impeccable skills, seems to lack the charisma of a Jet Li. Plus, it didn't help that in 2013, he had that fiasco with Special ID where he was originally cast as the lead villain before being replaced by Andy On. So I think that hurt his reputation. He pretty much trashed Donnie Yen for unprofessionalism (https://ericjacobus.com/2012/03/16/vincent-zhao-breaks-his-silence-reveals-secrets-on-shooting-special-identity/)

As for Wu Jing, he's another great martial artist but I think for him, it's more in the projects he was involved in post SPL. However, I think him doing the Wolf Warrior films and Climbers as well as Wandering Earth proves that he doesn't either want or be typecast as just another kung fu hero. It's clear he wants to do other things to broaden his horizons. So he has something to fall back on. Plus if I remember right, Wu Jing was plagued by injuries as well from what I read.

That's my two cents anyway. 

 

I swear Donnie Yen reminds me so much of Sylvester Stallone. 

Both have enormous egos and was always changing scripts mid filming and getting into confrontations with cast and crew.

 

[DiP]

Donnie and Vincent never had any feud (not exactly anyway) at all... The real feud was between Vincent and the studio execs that financed the movie. Donnie was just a co-producer and he was actually the one who recommended Vincent to the investors, who on the other hand didn't want Vincent involved. When that went through however, the studio execs did everything in their power to reduce Vincent's screen time by changing the script and violating the clauses of his contract. That resulted in Vincent dropping out of the project. He later on held a press conference where he blamed the studio execs for poor treatment on-set, and tried to sue them to no success.

To get back at them he, along with director Tan Bing (who claimed he was the one who wrote the script and that his ideas were stolen by the execs), came up with something to decrease box-office income upon release after completion of the movie: Making up accusations on the movie's biggest asset: Donnie. And hence, the accusations merely on Donnie where the studio execs were never mentioned again. As a result, Donnie sued Tan Bing and won the lawsuit. Both Vincent and Tan moved on and has since not been commenting anything.

As for Vincent as a MA actor, he's great in his own right but never got roles to distinguish himself from his peers. He's always played roles made famous by other MA actors.

[CT KID]

Just watched Fatal Contact recently after a long time and Wu Jing was great in that, the action was very entertaining. SPL 2: A Time for Consequences was entertaining too with the added addition of Tony Jaa. Jaa is the one I really thought was going to be the biggest thing in martial arts cinema after Ong Bak and Tom Young Goon but his career just never really went anywhere after those incredible action movies.