Production is currently underway for The Furious, a new Hong Kong-produced action thriller being shot in Thailand. Variety’s Patrick Frater cites producer Bill Kong’s (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Rise Of The Legend, Jet Li-starrer Fearless) attachment as financier and producer via Edko Films alongside XYZ Films.
The cast includes China’s Xie Miao (Eye For An Eye 1 & 2, Jet Li’s The Enforcer), Joe Taslim (The Raid: Redemption, The Night Comes For Us), Thailand’s Jeeja Yanin (Chocolate, Triple Threat), Yang Enyu (Eye For An Eye 2) and Yayan Ruhian (The Raid franchise, Boy Kills World). International action and stunt stalwart Kenji Tanigaki (Dennis Law’s Fatal Contact, Keishi Otomo’s Rurouni Kenshin franchise, Donnie Yen’s Sakra, Soi Cheang’s Walled-In: Twilight Of The Warriors) directing.
When his daughter is snatched off the street, simple tradesman Konggu (Xie) fights his way through a complex web of criminals in a frantic attempt to win her back by any means necessary. His only ally is tireless journalist Navin (Taslim). The two men from utterly different backgrounds must learn to trust, collaborate and draw on combat skills from their own hidden pasts.
According to the report, The Furious is being made reportedly without Chinese backing and thus is being shepherded without essential references to censorship and can be viewed as an import upon completion.
Kong is also bolstering The Furious as a new standard setter he hopes will revive the action genre in Hong Kong.
“I’m going to do an action movie that rocks the world. And to prove that Hong Kong still has something to give the film industry. I want to show that Asian people can still make an action movie that is better than the rest of the world,”
Kong also spoke highly of Tanigaki’s potential in lieu of the latest successes of stuntmen-turned-directors.
“Think what Chad Stahelski was before directing ‘John Wick,’ of ‘Deadpool’s David Leitch or ‘Extraction’s’ Sam Hargraves,” he says. “That’s what Tanagaki is in Asia right now.”
Todd Brown is producing the film via XYZ Films who is also handling world sales at the Cannes market next month.
“While people may not know who director Kenji Tanigaki is right now, they’re certainly going to. He’s the best there is, his work is incredibly kinetic while also being incredibly grounded and real,” Brown tells Variety. “People know Bill Kong’s previous martial arts productions for being incredibly beautiful and emotional, but this one? Tanigaki is going to punch the world in the face.”
Tanigaki’s early directing credits include directing Versus actor Kenji Matsuda in Shinobi – a series of ninja action flicks from 2003-2005. He also helmed Donnie Yen starrer Enter The Fat Dragon, and took the reigns on post-production for Benny Chan’s Raging Fire in the months that followed the director’s passing. According to Frater, Tanigaki trained the cast in Thailand in a disused showroom in Bangkok before heading to the outskirts of the city for the next few months.
“I’m not interested in making actors who cannot move look as if they can,” Tanigaki says. “Our cast has real skills from different martial arts disciplines. Everything we are doing is going to be practical.”
He adds:
“Take the films of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin or Fred Astaire. We are still watching those movies 50 years after they were made,” he adds. “They are classics, that are practical and real. I hope our movie will be able to live on like that.”
Read more at Variety.
Lead photo: Xie Miao in “Eye For An Eye” (Well Go USA/Hi-YAH!)
