THE latest action thriller, Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy sees action auteur Yuen Woo-ping as its director, with Raymond Wong and action superstar Donnie Yen as producers of the movie. Starring Max Zhang as the lead, the movie also sees former WWE wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista (better known for his roles in Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel’s Avenger) teaming up with our very own Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, Thai action actor Tony Jaa; Liu Yan, Kevin Cheng, Chrissie Chau, Naason, Patrick Tam, Adam Pak, Philip Keung Ho-Man, Anthony Ho and Stephen Wong Cheung Hing.
On Dec 16, the movie had its premiere and awards presentation at the Cinema JP in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The event was held to commemorate all the hard work – both cast and crew – in making the movie a success. The star-studded event was attended by a band of the cast including Max Zhang, Kevin Cheng, Chrissie Chau, Patrick Tam, Naason, Adam Pak, Anthony Ho, Stephen Wong Cheung Hing. Also making their appearances were the movie’s director, producers Huang Zikai, Raymond Wong, Dr. Chen Baili, Deputy Director of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, JP and Legislative Council Member Ma Fengguo, SBS, JP.
Producer Raymond Wong explains that, in the previous Ip Man movie, Master Z is portrayed as someone who is very down to earth. Although Master Z he is defeated in the previous movie, it is worth mentioning that his defeats only further fuel his hunger for success.
Action martial arts star Donnie Yen is named, by fans, as the strongest amongst the universe, while Max Zhang is being compared as the ‘most powerful on earth’. When asked if Max has any qualm of being compared to Yen, the former says that he is more concern about what the audience thinks about his acting. “Being compared, that’s unavoidable. But I only worry whether there are bad comments from the audience even before I step into the cinema,” he says.
Director Yuen and Max have been given the scroll “Wu Xing Zheng Dat” and the “the strongest on earth” award written by Michelle Yeoh through Raymond Wong. Yuen has designed the fighting scenes, some of which sees the actors being suspended in the air, so that the audience may appreciate the interesting signboards in the 50s and 60s, that are unique to Hong Kong. This also makes the scenes more exciting and not constrained to fights on-ground.
Yuen points out that Michelle put up a good show when shooting a scene where she has to fight with Max without using a stunt double. As a result, Michelle is covered in bruises and exhaustion. When Michelle’s bruises are shown in photos, Yuen argues that they are all make up, one will get hurt when shooting fighting scenes. Max jokingly replies that she needs make up to cover up the bruises so that they could continue shooting the next scene. Max further adds that his filming partners Michelle, Tony Jaa, Dave Bautista are of interesting strength; Michelle is fast with her knife, Tony Jaa is aggressive and Dave is strong and sturdy. Later, Yuen and Max demonstrate the ‘Chi Sou’ method, used in the traditional Chinese martial arts, Wing Chun.
When being interviewed by the Malaysia media, Yuan admits that he has very high expectation towards himself as well as all in the production team. Without any standard set, we will not excel, so he sees this as a good challenge.
Max joined the movie industry by joining Yuen’s production team and later became the stuntman and martial arts director before that path leads to many spectacular acting roles. Yuen is hopeful towards the martial arts actors and he is full of praises about them. He feels that each individual will bring out the different essence of martial arts, and Max has successfully portrayed Master Z – this is truly his style. When asked which is his most impressive and memorable fighting scenes in Master Z, Yuen is overall happy with all fighting scenes but the outstanding ones would be Max fighting high up in the air and fighting with Michelle on a bar table using four hands only.
Kevin received the award for his break through acting skills. The Hong Kong actor says that Yuen has set a very high expectation for him,of which he has problem fulfilling it on his first day on the set: “I “slapped” Chrissie a few times and yet the director was not satisfied. Before the camera starts rolling, I tell Chrissie that I have vast experiences in “hitting” people, drive from my past acting experience. I realized that my past experience is nothing compared to this set,” he says.
Chrissie who plays a bar girl receives the “most sorrowful award” at the award ceremony. In the movie her character is constantly involved in drugs and hit by Kevin. When asked by the host would she be interested to turn herself to be one of the action actress like the others in the set, The Hong Kong-based actress says she would pick Michelle’s role— and immediately poses a Kung fu pose. Patrick is being awarded the “talk back award”. His character and Kevin’s are buddies in the movie. His character is someone who is very good with words and would go the extra mile in order to get money, even if it means hurting those around him.
Naason and Anthony Ho are given the “most defense and attack award” and “gone through a lot” awards, respectively. Naason shares that he suffers from slipped disc on his neck after getting punch (accidentally) by Dave Bautista. In order not to delay the work he continues the scene although he is in severe pain. Anthony says that he is the one taking the most beating in the entire movie, with Kevin slapping and Naason punching with real force. “The bruises on me are small matter if compare with Naason’s slipped disc,” relay Anthony. Both of them then reenact the scene where Yu Xing punched Anthony, but that is all for fun.
Towards the end of the ceremony , the Deputy Director of Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Dr Chen Baili, JP, Legislative Council Member Ma Fengguo, SBS, JP, Producer Huang Zikai, Producer Raymond Wong, Director Yuan Woo Ping, Yuen Shun-Yi on behalf of “Yuan Jiaban”, Max Zhang Jin, Kevin Cheng, Chrissie Chau, Patrick Tam, Naason, Adam Pak, Anthony Ho, Stephen Wong Cheung Hing are invited on stage and poses in Wing Chun hand pose. They later wishes for “Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy” great success in the cinema later.
“Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy” is the first action movie picked as closing movie in the recently-concluded Busan Film Festival, in Busan, South Korea. Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy picks up after Ip Man 3, where Master Z returns for a final fight.
“Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy” distributed by Lotus Five Star will be out in Malaysia cinema nationwide on Dec 25, with sneak shows starting Dec 21, 2018.
