In a detailed interview with South China Morning Post to promote the week’s newly released action film from director Clarence Fok, Special ID, martial arts action cinema superstar Donnie Yen briefly talks to writer Edmund Lee about reprising his role as the iconic Wing Chun grandmaster, Ip Man, in the long-awaited third film.
It was at the bottom of the interview, long after delving into the intricate details of his personal journey in film, the topic of his latest production company, Superhero Films, and the issue of doing films on subjects he likes, which he says is difficult in the movie business. “I’ll leave that to fate, but I’ll definitely play Ip Man again,” he says. “I won’t be doing it any time soon, though, because there are so many Ip Man [movies] around. You are Ip Man! He is Ip Man! Everyone is Ip Man! Even the audience is getting bored at the moment.”.
The statement comes just over a week after the 50-year old action hero adhered to similar feelings in an exclusive with Yahoo! Singapore, but expressed more willingness to deviate from the character in general to advance his career. “I know that people like “Ip Man” very much.” says Yen at the time. “I can keep on making sequels but the truth is I don’t want to continue be stereotyped into a role. I want to show improvement.”.
Following the success of the first two films in 2008 and 2010, the third was announced last year amd was set for a 3D shoot to the tune of a reported budget of $36 million dollars with producer Raymond Wong, and his son, Edmund Wong, providing the screenplay. Since then, the film recently hit a brick wall with Yen parting ways from the project alongside director Wilson Yip, who reportedly lost interest in the franchise’s third installation due to their own prior bookings, leaving many fans with the hopes of seeing a third film much to be desired, despite the last reports of Yen and the elder Wong being in talks. Of course, the actors new statements brings on some glimmer of hope that fans will get to see the actor’s classic portrayal of the late-great Bruce Lee’s teacher, which may or may not include a theatrical rendition of Lee himself. This, of course, is up to the men behind the curtain.
All in all, in my opinion, between Kowloon Walled City, The Master, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2 and a previously-hyped sequel to Special ID if it comes to that, if Ip Man returns to the big screen once more, then it happens, it happens. If not, then at least Yen will still be making movies and pursuing his craft on his own platform as initially intended. But what do you think?
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Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below, or on Facebook or Twitter.