I suppose if it were going to ever be that the likes of action stars Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa would be in a movie together after all these years, that time would ultimately be now. Leave it to actor Vin Diesel who manages the updates on his own Facebook page when it comes to productions he’s involved in, including the latest installment, xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, in which he is both starring as well as producing with I Am Number Four‘s D.J. Caruso directing
The actor posted the above photo on his Facebook fan page featuring himself along with the Ip Man trilogy star in the wake of Jet Li’s departure, reasons pending. The news comes less than a day following the announcement of Paramount Pictures’s addition to the film in its worldwide distribution with Diesel’s One Race Films along with Roth Kirschenbaum Films and Revolution Studios producing.
Yen’s role will be that of Li’s former which was last reported to be that of the villain, Xiang, which, apart from Yen’s action hero status, shouldn’t be too much of a problem; The martial arts star who broke out in Hollywood in 2000 as one of the main antagonists next to Bruce Payne opposite actor Adrian Paul in Highlander: Endgame before landing the support role of Sandman in Blade 2 which he also lended some of his own action direction.
The news is a milestone for Yen who now finally appears to be gaining the Hollywood foothold he’s so deserved following news of titles like Priority Run and Noodle Man, neither of which seem to have any traction in the last few years. Time will tell if any of this changes, but with this, next to his upcoming appearances in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and possibly others in lieu of a forthcoming Flash Point sequel, it’s unlikely the excitement here will fizzle anytime soon.
H/T: Twitchfilm