Ip Man 4’s Scott Adkins on Donnie Yen, Tarantino’s Bruce Lee, and his Hong Kong martial arts cinema memories

Scott Adkins, who stars in Ip Man 4: The Finale alongside Donnie Yen, is no stranger to Hong Kong cinema

The actor has built an impressive career in Hollywood and Europe – but began with a small role in a Hong Kong film

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Scott Adkins, who stars in Ip Man 4 alongside Donnie Yen, has built an impressive career in Hollywood and Europe – but began with a small role in a Hong Kong film in 2001. Photo: Jonathon Wong

Published: 9:00pm, 17 Dec 2019Updated: 1:29pm, 23 Dec 2019

This week sees the release of Ip Man 4: The Finale, the last instalment in Donnie Yen Ji-dan’s blockbuster action franchise.

After squaring off against the Japanese military, British colonialists and even Mike Tyson, the venerated wing chun practitioner played by Yen travels to San Francisco and goes toe-to-toe with a racist US army sergeant, played by 43-year-old British martial artist Scott Adkins.

In an interview with the Post on Saturday, when he was in Hong Kong for the film’s world premiere, Adkins explains why this was a showdown that has been 20 years in the making.

“I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve worked with all the greats, all the guys I grew up idolising as a teenager, and Donnie Yen was the last one,” Adkins says. “In my mind, this is the greatest modern-day kung-fu franchise. Ip Man is the new Wong Fei Hung.”

Born in Sutton Coldfield, outside the city of Birmingham in England’s West Midlands, Adkins began studying martial arts from a young age, even erecting a shrine to Bruce Lee in his parents’ garage.

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