tsui hark

THE SWORD MASTER Director Responds To Fans About Casting

Following up on the previous report regarding the latest concept image for director Derek Yee‘s new film, The Sword Master, Yee recently took to social media to set the record straight regarding some reported backlash over the casting of his new film. The film was finally announced last year with film auteur Tsui Hark attached as producer for a 3D rendering of the Shaw Brothers remake based on a classic novel that inspired the 1977 film, Death Duel. “If a collaboration between Tsui Hark and I still need big stars to get you to waste your time and spend your money on a ticket, then we might as well pack up, go home, drink whiskey and shoot the breeze,” Yee posted on his Sina Weibo account. “It doesn’t matter who’s acting in the film. Tsui Hark and I are the top stars of the film!”. Written by Yee and Hark […]

Yee's SWORD MASTER Flies In New Concept Art

Lee B. Golden III

It was late last year that producer and director Derek Yee was finally able to move forward on his long-awaited theatrical remake of director Chor Yuen’s 1977 film, Death Duel with its former title, Third Master’s Sword. This week, progress on the film’s production under Bona Film Group now goes viral in the form of recent concept art for the film now named Sword Master. Take a look: Based on late Hong Kong author Gu Long whose work inspired Yee‘s then-lead starpower in the original Shaw Brothers production, the story centers around a swordsman whose past catches up to him after he fakes his own death to escape the underworld. More details are needed on who will star, but this week’s concept art looks pretty reassuring, despite how some may feel about remakes. Plus, the film is also being made in 3D with producer and Hong Kong cinema auteur Tsui Hark […]

THIRD MASTER'S SWORD Starts Production Next Year

Lee B. Golden III

Following Bona Film Group’s RMB $1B film fund launch reported in August, Kevin Ma over at FilmBiz.Asia shared some updates on a two-part list of scripts newly approved by China’s state censorship board, SAPPRFT, including Lo-Chi Leung’s The Killer Vanishes, and Derek Yee‘s long-awaited production of Third Master’s Sword; The latter film is based on the writings of late Hong Kong author Gu Long whose work inspired Yee’s lead actor credit in director Chor Yuen’s 1977 Shaw Brothers film Death Duel which starred then-actor Yee in a story centered around a swordsman whose past catches up to him after faking his own death to escape the underworld. The film has taken a while to get things rolling since its initial announcement back in 2000 with Tsui Hark set to direct with a cast that namely included actress Zhang Ziyi and actor Leslie Cheung before his death three years later, in […]