Jackie Chan and Jet Li together in one movie

August 19, 2007

Maybe you've heard this before, but I'll add some fresh details.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li are teaming up for the movie The Forbidden Kingdom, which is scheduled to be released next year. This is the first time the two kung fu superstars are paired on the big screen.

(Update: The movie's title in Chinese is Gong Fu Zhi Wang (功夫之王), which means King of Kung Fu.) 

  

It's been around a couple of months now since they started filming in the Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang, China. Hengdian Studios is also where another Jet Li movie Hero was filmed.

(Oops, some pronunciation tips. "Hengdian" is pronounced HUNG-TYEN, where HUNG sounds like the English word "hung", and TYEN (one syllable) rhymes with "yen", the Japanese currency. "Zhejiang" is pronounced CHUH-CHYANG, where CHUH ryhmes with "duh" and CHYANG (again, one syllable) rhymes with "young". Back to the main story.) 

 The movie is basically about an American teenager (played by Michael Angarano, Jack's son in the TV series Will and Grace) that got transported back into ancient China. The story is inspired by a Chinese legend about the Monkey King. This same legend is also the inspiration for the Dragon Ball anime/manga series.

The movie is directed by Rob Minkoff, the same guy who directed Lion King and Stuart Little.

The action director is Yuen Woo-Ping, the one who also directed the action sequences in The Matrix, Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yuen Woo-Ping was also Jackie Chan's movie director in Jackie's 1978 movies Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master. (Trivia: In both movies, the funny old drunken kung-fu master was played by Yuen Woo-Ping's own father, Simon Yuen Siu-Tien).

The movie also casts Collin Chou, who played the kung fu guy Seraph in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, and who also played Hayate in Dead Or Alive (DOA).

  

In addition, the movie also stars Crystal Liu Yi-Fei, the girl who played the enchanting Xiao Long Nü ("Dada") in the Chinese TV series Return of the Condor Heroes (aka "Love of the Condor Heroes").

Lastly, yet another Hollywood newcomer is on the cast list. She's Li Bing-Bing, a popular Chinese drama actress. Those people who are fans of Ken Zhu and the rest of F4 might be already familiar with Li Bing-Bing, for they  both co-starred in the movie City of Sky.

 

See also:

Jet Li - Filmography - The Forbidden Kingdom

Jackie Chan - The Forbidden Kingdom Official Press Conference

IMDB

Crystal Liu Yi-Fei at Yummy Celebrities 

Li Bing-Bing - Photos