Member AlbertV Posted April 19, 2008 Member Share Posted April 19, 2008 While in Seoul promoting his latest movie Street Kings, Keanu Reeves, during an interview, becomes especially excited on the mention of Yuen Wo Ping. He says he met Yuen Wo Ping, whom he addresses as master or Eighth Master in Cantonese, in Beijing around half a year ago to discuss about a kungfu movie, tentatively called Tai Chi Tiger. He'd play a villain character. Tiger Chen Hu will play the lead as a Tai Chi master. Keanu Reeves says that it's still in scripting stage and that the film will be shot on location in China. He'd show the script to Yuen Wo Ping upon completion and hopes that Yuen Wo Ping would direct it. A few months back, Keanu Reeves was in Sichuan scouting locations with Tiger Chen. On being enquired, Yuen Wo Ping says that he's very happy and look forward to collaborating with Keanu Reeves, but clarifies that he'd only be the martial arts director. The film will be directed by Tiger Chen himself, in other word, its going to be directorial debut of this young member of Yuen Clan. Yuen Wo Ping adds that he has also invited Keanu Reeves for another project to be shot next year. Tiger Chen Hu was seen in House of Fury as the superkicking villain Tiger, who was part of Rocco's team with Philip Ng, Josie Ho, Winnie Leung, and Jon Foo. People mistakenly thought that Tiger was played by Wu Jing, but it was actually Tiger Chen Hu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Yi-Long Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Never heard of Tiger Chen Hu before, but seems like it could be fun. I know many disagree with me, but I think Keanu did a good job in The Matrix movies, martial arts wise. He was a bit stiff and awkward looking, but he has no background in martial arts, and you saw him improving with each movie, and he probably worked very hard at it. SO it shows he has the right hardworking attitude towards it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Elhcay Posted April 19, 2008 Member Share Posted April 19, 2008 http://www.wu-jing.org/happenings/archives/488-Keanu-Reeves-Woos-Yuen-Wo-Ping-with-A-Kungfu-Movie-Starring-Tiger-Chen.html Tiger Chen Hu has been working behind the scenes mostly since joining Yuen Clan when Yuen Wo Ping went to US. He was Keanu's coach in Matrix series and also made a brief appearance in the stairway fight in Matrix Reloaded. Keanu plans this movie as a form of tribute to Tiger Chen. http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4881d94f01000dve.html He was supposed to be in Li Feng's directorial debut but the movie had some issues with copyrights and there seems to be no further development (maybe aborted?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted October 19, 2009 Author Member Share Posted October 19, 2009 Good news in some aspect. The movie is moving forward. Keanu Reeves has been working with Tiger Chen Hu and together, scouted locations for the movie in 2007 and now it looks to be back on track. The film has undergone a name change to from TAI CHI TIGER to KUNG FU HERO (still tentative). Chen is quite a kicker as he showed some nifty kicking skills in House of Fury as villainous henchman Tiger but is also a Tai Chi expert. He actually lived in the U.S. for a while and lived with Tang Soo Do master Dominic Giacobbe. I found a 1997 issue of Black Belt Magazine in which he performed a Tai Chi demonstration at a tournament. First chance I get I will scan the picture of Chen. Back to "Kung Fu Hero". Lucy Liu may co-star and has been studying under Chen Hu. It also looks like there may be three possible directors: Yuen Woo-Ping, Yuen Cheung-Yan, and Chen Hu. Han Sanping is slated to produce and Keanu Reeves is one of the executive producers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DeathFuMaster Posted October 19, 2009 Member Share Posted October 19, 2009 Sounds good, but I guess we still have a long time till we can see. Looking forward to seeing Tiger Chen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted October 21, 2009 Author Member Share Posted October 21, 2009 Earlier today, a press conference was held for KUNG FU HERO Ning Ying and Yuen Cheung-Yan are directing the film. And I have learned that TAI CHI TIGER is going to be made and is not KUNG FU HERO. They are two separate films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted December 15, 2010 Author Member Share Posted December 15, 2010 Keanu Reeves officially signed with China Film Group Corporation on December 10 to invest in TAI CHI TIGER. Shooting is scheduled to begin in April 2011. http://english.cri.cn/6666/2010/12/13/63s609839.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Space Posted December 15, 2010 Member Share Posted December 15, 2010 "Woah." Sounds interesting...Yuen is still kind of wire-crazy still and it's hard to imagine Tai Chi II with Keanu Reeves, but hey, maybe it's a modern-day piece. Lot of Tai Chi movies being made, I like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted December 20, 2010 Member Share Posted December 20, 2010 I have to say I can't see the point in Keanu Reeves playing the lead villain in a martial-arts movie. As good as he did in the Matrix movies, relatively speaking, I would rather see a talented on screen martial artist particularly in the final showdown of the movie. And let's be honest he doesn't exactly bring great acting skills either. Regardless though I am still curious to see how this turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted August 10, 2011 Member Share Posted August 10, 2011 Just stumbled onto this. Sounds like it's a go though there have been some changes. http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/08/keanu-reeves-moving-ahead-with-man-of-tai-chi.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Space Posted August 12, 2011 Member Share Posted August 12, 2011 18 fights, or 40 minutes of fighting, nice! I'm not the biggest Keanu fan, but it seems like he's actually passionate about this, hopefully it turns out well. It's been ages since we've had a good Tai Chi movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted August 12, 2011 Member Share Posted August 12, 2011 Agreed. Hopefully any wire-work will be kept to a bare minimum. It would be great if it is a true showcase of the many styles of tai chi: chen, yang, nei chi chuan, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted August 12, 2011 Member Share Posted August 12, 2011 Keanu playing the main villain doesn't fill me with confidence. That leaves me thinking the movie finale will be anticlimactic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Space Posted August 13, 2011 Member Share Posted August 13, 2011 Keanu playing the main villain doesn't fill me with confidence. That leaves me thinking the movie finale will be anticlimactic. I thought he was just directing it? Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted August 13, 2011 Moderator Share Posted August 13, 2011 I thought he was just directing it? The article that ShaOW!linDude posted states that he is going to direct as well as playing the lead villain. Keanu playing the main villain doesn't fill me with confidence. That leaves me thinking the movie finale will be anticlimactic. I have hope, he already proved he`s capable of performing decent screen fighting from the Matrix movies under the direction of Yuen Woo Ping, and people like Liam Neeson have proven that age need not always be a factor in performing fight scenes in the movie `Taken`. Reeves already has a passion about martial arts movies, which makes me think he will give it 110%, especially if he is directing and writing as well, but lets see how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted August 13, 2011 Member Share Posted August 13, 2011 The article that ShaOW!linDude posted states that he is going to direct as well as playing the lead villain. I have hope, he already proved he`s capable of performing decent screen fighting from the Matrix movies under the direction of Yuen Woo Ping, and people like Liam Neeson have proven that age need not always be a factor in performing fight scenes in the movie `Taken`. Reeves already has a passion about martial arts movies, which makes me think he will give it 110%, especially if he is directing and writing as well, but lets see how it turns out. You could well be right but I do feel that the villain needs to be at least equal to the hero, which I really doubt. personally I would have less qualms if the roles were reversed as the other guy would make Keanu look better. let's hope his passion for martial art movies is shown on screen with lots of great fights, where we actually get to see the action and isn't edited poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted August 13, 2011 Member Share Posted August 13, 2011 You could well be right but I do feel that the villain needs to be at least equal to the hero, which I really doubt. personally I would have less qualms if the roles were reversed as the other guy would make Keanu look better. let's hope his passion for martial art movies is shown on screen with lots of great fights, where we actually get to see the action and isn't edited poorly. Well......I understand your point, still...... I think it boils down to character development and the quality of the choreography. Keanu has the potential to play a good villain especially if the character's a ruthless and competently seasoned fighter. I pray he has the sense to surround himself with good choreographers and avoids quick-cut editing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted August 15, 2011 Moderator Share Posted August 15, 2011 I think it boils down to character development and the quality of the choreography. Keanu has the potential to play a good villain especially if the character's a ruthless and competently seasoned fighter. I pray he has the sense to surround himself with good choreographers and avoids quick-cut editing. If I remember correctly it was one of the Yuen Clan members that was due to choreograph, and also star alongside Reeves, the movie - Tiger Chen - who was one of Keanu`s martial arts teachers for the Matrix as well as choreographing some of the fight scenes. If that`s still the case I guess he would be playing the lead character, which would be good news from the perspective of him being a fully trained screen fighter. It would also be refreshing to see a Chinese versus Westerner finale that doesn`t involve ridiculous patriotic overtones from China`s side, and the Westerner being some monosyllabic meat head. I would take the claim of 18 fights taking up a total of 40 minutes with a pinch of salt though, it simply doesn`t seem reasonable for a mainstream targeted movie, with or without China backing. It could be a case of `Bodyguards & Assassins` syndrome, with that movies famous claim of containing "an hour of non-stop action"! They really got me with that one. Completely agree on the quick-cut editing, as far as I`m aware this style originated, in it`s most recent form at least, from the Bourne movies, where it was put to excellent use to really throw you into the desperation of the fight....from there other film makers seemed to utilize it to cover up their actors lack of real screen fighting skill, which in many a movies case got to the point where it was literally impossible to tell what was going on (`Bulletproof Monk` is my best example of this)....but somehow from there it seems to have actually become a trend where even if there are skilled fighters and choreographers, this technique still gets used for the fight scenes, quick-editing is really the scourge of modern martial arts film-making. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted August 16, 2011 Member Share Posted August 16, 2011 I would love to be as optimistic as you guys but as you both state it's a Western movie that will no doubt be targeted to a largely Western audience. I would also love to eat my words when I watch this filmand sincerely wish this film turns out to be something special. But let's face it Hong Kong has a history of awesome martial arts action movies and have been fobbing us off with popstars. I'll keep my eyes open for opinions from you guys hoping for good reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted December 7, 2011 Author Member Share Posted December 7, 2011 Update: As many know from another thread (http://kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15842), Keanu Reeves is currently working on casting his directorial debut MAN OF TAI CHI. He went to Hong Kong to train once again with Yuen Woo-Ping, who has now been called in as the film's martial arts choreographer. Along the way, Keanu ran into Jackie Chan. This is from Jackie Chan's official website And the two stuffed pandas are La and Zy, Jackie's pandas that he takes with him when he travels. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted December 7, 2011 Member Share Posted December 7, 2011 Great, now we have to worry about Yuen Woo Ping bringing the goods too. I haven't been impressed by his recent choreography (even in his own film, "True Legend"). I'd be more excited to see Corey Yuen on board (I really enjoyed his choreography in "Shaolin"). Hopefully, Keanu Reeves has a respect for the genre that will result in something Western audience and true kung fu fans can enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted December 16, 2011 Author Member Share Posted December 16, 2011 http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/universal-boards-reeves-man-of-tai-chi Universal Pictures has jumped on board to co-finance and become international distributor of MAN OF TAI CHI. I believe Univeral also plan to release RZA's MAN WITH THE IRON FIST. Looks like they are jumping on the martial arts bandwagon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted December 20, 2011 Author Member Share Posted December 20, 2011 Twitch has reported that Karen Mok (aka Karen Morris) has won the female lead role in MAN OF TAI CHI. All we know is that she is a police officer. I know most know her as Karen Mok and the reason I put her AKA in, is because her real name is Karen Morris. She used her real name in the credits for Jackie Chan's AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted December 21, 2011 Member Share Posted December 21, 2011 http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/universal-boards-reeves-man-of-tai-chi Universal Pictures has jumped on board to co-finance and become international distributor of MAN OF TAI CHI. I believe Univeral also plan to release RZA's MAN WITH THE IRON FIST. Looks like they are jumping on the martial arts bandwagon. Let's hope these movies don't let the genre down! I'm especially worried about RZA's movie being a failure seeing as it cost what was it $20 million? That could have massive implications on martial arts cinema ever being successful in the West as studios decided its not worth the risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted February 29, 2012 Author Member Share Posted February 29, 2012 http://english.cri.cn/6666/2012/02/29/45s683727.htm Shooting has begun on MAN OF TAI CHI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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