Director Law Wing Cheong’s Iceman Cometh 3D is setting up to be an epic production, after completing filming of a big scene alongside Chingbai Mountain, with actor and choreographer Donnie Yen, and co-star Wang Baoqiang, which took nine days to complete. On Wednesday, Martial Arts Movie Junkie provided new photos and BTS video of the snowy high-altitude location set in China which have been made available to the public, in addition to recent news that the film has become an official selection for this year’s Cannes film festival.
This week’s Cannes announcement marks an already busy year for Yen whose recent launch of his brand new production company, Superhero Films, will begin with the production of two new titles, including Dragon City, and The Master-the latter being an otherwise reported change in film name and the director, deducing previous updates that the film, and the title “Enter The Master” were individual titles.
Throughout the production, Donnie Yen was said to be placing a lot of emphasis on quality, especially when it comes to Iceman Cometh, a remake of the 1989 Hong Kong action sci-fi thriller with Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah. The quality he refers to largely attributes to the action scenes, reshoots and having the technology that is required for this latest 3D installment, among other things. As a result, the film ultimately ended up exceeding its budget from $100M HK to $200M HK, with Yen working up to eighteen hours a day on set with little sleep. Moreover, for actress Eva Huang, the slow pacing of the film’s schedule was turning into a metaphor for the name, Wong Kar-Wai, who is not tied to Iceman Cometh, but is referenced for the long production period behind directing the Ip Man biopic, The Grandmasters.
Actor Wong Qiangbao who stars opposite Donnie Yen in the film has had nothing but praise for the visionary action choreographer, partly acknowledging it as a dream come true. And for a production that has seen its own share of troubles along the way, it’s high time the hard work finally began paying off.
Hopefully as Cannes approaches, we will see some footage following the film’s slated release later this year. So stay tuned.
Photo Credit: Martial Arts Movie Junkie