Opinion | Stephen Fung believes his Tai Chi trilogy marks a great leap forward

For years, Stephen Fung Tak-lun battled against detractors who saw him as a former pop idol who had, somehow, managed to cross over to filmmaking by directing a few comedies starring his best buddies.

That's probably a closed chapter now: the 38-year-old has completed two instalments of a planned trilogy of special effects-laden martial arts blockbusters - and launched the first as a non-competition entry at the Venice Film Festival last month.

Financed by mainland film giants Huayi Brothers and Taihe Film Investment, the Tai Chi franchise revolves around the rise to greatness of kung fu hero Yang Luchan (played by Jayden Yuan Xiaochan) in late 19th-century China. Tai Chi 0, the first chapter which opens on Thursday, features Yang's struggle to leave home - where he has grown up bullied as the village idiot - to begin his training to become a warrior with the help of several mentors (including one played by Tony Leung Ka-fai), and Yu Niang, a young woman (Angelababy Yeung Wing) he falls in love with.

The antagonist of the film is her husband, Zijing (Eddie Peng Yu-yen), a top-hat-wearing Anglophile who will stop at nothing to beat Yang down.

"I respect filmmakers who indulge themselves, but I always want to make commercial films that are nicely done," says Fung. " Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings are commercial successes and yet at the same time are still good films that are enjoyed not only by a privileged few."

Tai Chi "is the biggest production I've directed so far, especially as it's a trilogy". Fung says mixing rural Chinese landscapes with industrial-era iconography, such as steam-powered machines, is crucial for the series.