Being Donnie Yen
Superstar Donnie Yen would prefer to focus less on his success in good-guy roles and more on the hard work it took to get there, writes Edmund Lee
three decades since his debut in Yuen Woo-ping's Drunken Tai Chi (1984), Donnie Yen Ji-dan had been an excellent martial artist who somehow couldn't get his big break on the silver screen. It wasn't until the unprecedented success of the two Ip Man movies, released in 2008 and 2010, that the veteran actor suddenly found himself being propelled, however belatedly, to such lofty heights he appears obliged these days to emphasise his humility at every opportunity.
That's what happens towards the end of this interview with Yen, when I throw out a fairly stock question that most journalists would ask to wrap things up: how are your upcoming film projects shaping up?
"The truth is that every film I made has been a very tough experience for me," says the action movie superstar, who turned 50 in July. "I hope the audience can see the hardship I endured and not just the halo on me. The career path of Yen Ji-dan is not as smooth as people might imagine. They don't know the time when I had only HK$100 in the bank."
Not quite the answer I expect, but revealing all the same: it turns out this personal tale is one that Yen has been propagating lately. He seems to want to emphasise that he is just like you and me, and not the egomaniac who cares only about his own success that the local media and his professional peers have sometimes accused him of being. And certainly not "Universe's Strongest" - the nickname that the popular press has mockingly bestowed on him and one that, if you say to his face, will still guarantee a cold stare in response.
As if having a point to prove, Yen is flat-out calling his recently established production company Superhero Films, presumably out of gratitude for those who have made his new-found stardom possible.
"You may wonder if I'm going to make superhero films, but, no, it's actually a metaphor," he says.