Iron family values at the heart of Ronny Yu's latest film
The best-played Ronny Yu breaks hiatus with action film about family values
A filmography where hit martial arts dramas like can sit alongside Hollywood horror flicks like is testament to his protean tendencies - but these days Ronny Yu Yan-tai professes to have become more selective.
Not even a recent offer to helm a sequel to Ang Lee's Oscar-winning film enticed the 63-year-old filmmaker.
"I turned down [producer] Harvey Weinstein for because for me … Lee is the best director of my generation," says Yu, 63. "He's fearless. He can tackle any subject matter with heart.
"So I said to Weinstein, 'Harvey, is a classic. Classics should [be] put aside and admired. You don't mess around with a classic'."
He has also avoided the type of horror movies that made him famous in Hollywood (his last was in 2003), "not because I don't appreciate horror movies … I [just] need not repeat myself".
Nothing seemed quite worth it since in 2006, he says. That is until producer Raymond Wong Pak-min came knocking three years ago with a proposal that reignited Yu's imagination. It was a film about the Song dynasty Yang military clan, which became legendary for producing men and women generals who served the emperor with distinction.