Action star Donnie Yen Ji-dan hopes his portrayal of wing chun master Ip Man in Wilson Yip Wai-shun's biopic does justice to the memory of the grand master.
Ip Man is best known for training Bruce Lee, who later revolutionised martial arts films with his style of fighting, jeet kune do.
Yen, the 45-year-old star of Painted Skin, said he was invited to play the role of Ip Man once before. 'I was approached to play Bruce Lee's master more than 10 years ago, but for some reason that project never happened,' he said. 'So when I received a long-distance call from Mandarin Films' Raymond Wong [Pak-ming], it felt like fate that this role landed in my lap again.'
At the time, Wong Kar-wai had already expressed interest in making a film on Ip starring Lust, Caution star Tony Leung Chiu-wai (production on Wong's film is set for next year). Yen's first question for Wong concerned the rights to Ip's story. 'Fortunately, we got the blessing of Ip Man's eldest son, 85-year-old Ip Chun, who holds the rights to his father's story.'
Yen said that preparing for the role of Ip Man was his greatest challenge as an actor. 'I gathered so much information about Ip Man from his books and things from the internet,' he said. 'I also invited his son to go with me to Foshan where Ip Man was born and spent most of his life. We chatted about his father and he gave me some personal insights about him.'
It took Yen nine months to perfect his skills in wing chun - a softer style of martial arts. 'I was very serious about this role because I knew I wasn't only portraying a great wing chun stylist, I was playing Ip Man, the grand master and master of Bruce Lee,' he said. 'I needed to do justice to his memory and bring wing chun to another level never before seen on screen.'
Yen found Ip Man to be more low-key than other Chinese heroes such as Wong Fei-hung or Huo Yuanjia. 'Other kung fu masters were more outgoing about promoting martial arts, but Ip was a more laid-back type who didn't want to be noticed,' he said. 'He was softly spoken, and liked to joke a lot. His son told me that Ip was sarcastic and had a dark sense of humour. That's kind of like me.'