The Grandmaster

[nancix**]

Tony Leung sheds blood, sweat and tears

Singapore Press// showbiz.omy.sg
24/01/2013 by JOY FANG

It was a piece of work that was more than a decade in the making, and which inflicted a direct cost on the health - and sometimes mental stability - of director Wong Kar Wai's cast.

While working on Wong's latest epic, The Grandmaster, superstar Tony Leung Chiu Wai, who plays Wing Chun master Ip Man, spent three years training in the Chinese martial art.

Leung, 50, even fractured his arm twice. But he said that these were necessary sacrifices.

"It is only when you spend a lot of time training, can you truly understand the philosophy of the martial art and the inspiration behind it. You can't read two books and expect to be knowledgable," he added.

Leung's co-stars - Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, 33, who plays a Bagua pugilist; and Taiwan's Chang Chen, 36, who portrays a Baji master - spent years training as well. Zhang said at a press conference in China that, at one point, she was "close to the brink of collapse".

But they were imbued with a sense of duty that comes from their director, on whose shoulders rests the burden of promoting Chinese martial arts to the world, and to doing the masters of gongfu justice.

Wong, 54, put in a total of six years of prep work, three years of shooting, and three years visiting some 100 gongfu masters across China. He feels a strong sense of duty to those masters he met.

"They had a lot of trust in me. They even shared some of their secret techniques," said Wong, known for works like 2046 (2004) and In The Mood For Love (2000). Their wish was for him to promote Chinese gongfu, in the hopes that it would carry on in future.

"I cannot let them down, especially as some of them have since died," Wong said.

He added of the actors' training: "If they hadn't gone through that process, I don't think they would have produced such great performances."

When it comes to Leung, training was most important. Wong said that the question on the audience's mind would be whether Leung, who has never acted in a gongfu film before, can fight. So, "I had to make sure the audience is convinced beyond a doubt", he said.

My Paper asked about the inevitable comparisons with Donnie Yen's Ip Man films. Wong said that where Yen's movies are focused on the gongfu, The Grandmaster delves into Ip Man's entire life and how he became who he was.

And how does Wong rate Leung's portrayal of Ip Man against Yen's?

"When I see Donnie Yen's Ip Man, I see Donnie Yen. When I see Tony Leung's, I see Ip Man," said Wong firmly.

The Grandmaster opens in cinemas next Thursday, 31 Jan 2013.

Source: http://showbiz.omy.sg/Showbiz/E-News/Tony-Leung-sheds-blood-sweat-and-tears-130768
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From Kobe-City with Love

[7thclouds]

Thanks Sandy for the information of the film revews of The Grandmaster 一代宗師。
Waiting for the day of opening in Tokyo&many cities in Japan
I found an interview article in the Idaho Statesman:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/01/23/2422819/tony-leung-says-no-soured-ties.html

The impression that I have from the article...well...as always?! there 's so much to 'say' each other after all those days they've made one but important film with great endeavours from both and everyone for so long.
I would think, at the end of the day,Tony has no offensive feeling about the edit(cuts) Wogn made at the last minutes although i imagine...well:if i were him, i might feel like,,,'oh, then i could have done other things more if u did not need the cuts!!''
Because Tony knows well about the core of the story of ipman that is about the origine of kanfu which has developed from a women who fought against violence&annoyment of men-stawkers. Ipman's theme even reminds me of the India gang rape victims...

Tony's movie always has informative&enlightment aspects along with the joy of watching movie.Looking forward to Tony in The Grandmaster.
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because of your sense of life

[Safran]

Many thanks Ham, Yitian, nancixx** and 7thclouds !.....for sharing various articles, you found...and the lot of most beautiful Tony-pics from Singapore-promotion.

[Jamaica]

Yes, I've been seeing that AP report in various newspapers the last couple of days. I'm annoyed that it's the only international news going out, about the movie. It tries to make Tony look petty, which is ridiculous. If there is ANYONE, who understands how Wong works, who understands no scene is guaranteed to make the final cut, and understands that an actor is there to serve the vision of the director, it's Tony. Twenty years, and seven movies would've shown him multiple times how Wong works. I wonder if that reporter even knows that Tony's played smaller roles in Wong's film's? She seems to think he was the lead actor in all seven of those films, instead of one of an ensemble, and once with nothing more than a cameo.

As a fan of Tony, I am disappointed to hear that Ip Man really isn't the heart of this film. As a fan, I am angry that it took so long to make a film which won't be a landmark character in his canon of work (and I will say otherwise, if the film convinces me I'm wrong, when I finally get to see it). As a fan, my frustrations are that Tony's not getting any younger, and there are less roles available to him. There is so much more he can do, if someone will write character-oriented scripts for him, someone of WKW's calibre, but WKW simply takes too long. The Japanese film looked like a great opportunity, but the political situation keeps getting worse, so that's probably a lost opportunity. Who's going to give this man the work he deserves?

I am thankful, however, that for Tony, the real joy of being an actor is in the process of making the film, not the film itself, so though I am frustrated as a fan, I do know that Tony has experienced a whole life each film he makes, and has therefore, LIVED, which is the whole point of doing what you love for a living. It's really too bad that Heather Tan didn't take that into consideration - only judged Tony's experience through the eyes of an audience member, rather than trust Tony's words that he is content with whatever choices WKW makes with the film. Instead, she has to imply that Tony is some ego-maniac, and this one report is showing up in papers all over the US. It makes me feel bad for Tony, and everyone, who worked on the movie.

Btw, did Carina say those things on her blog? I'm curious, because she's always been as big a fan of Tony's acting, as the rest of us, and if it's true, then she sounds as frustrated as I feel, but at least she's seen the movie. I can at least say that when I see pictures of Tony, in character as Ip Man, he doesn't "look" like Tony, exactly, so there is that.

- Jamaica
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"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

[yitian]

Video links of Promotion in Singapore - The pair look to me have pretty GOOD CHEMISTRY (WKW said in one video that they often argue where to go for dinner )

[Safran]

Thanks Jamaica and Yitian .....I go along with you

Although I don´t understand....The videos are the best example for : "Picture paints a thousand words"...say no more

[ham]

Video : Tony and Wong Kar Wai ( press conference@Singapore)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqk-0K4I6KQ

[yitian]

News video links in English

Taiwan Premiere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px1NHlgMxGs

Singapore Premiere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzyoE320kK4

[Safran]

Thanks to you .....Ham and Yitian

[ham]

[LamLam]

Good News for the ones in Hong Kong

全港獨家！ 一代宗師梁朝偉、劉家勇親臨UA戲院謝票。機會難逢，1月31日約定你，UA朗豪坊見！ 《#一代宗師#》詳情： 日期：1月31日 時間：晚上7時 地點：UA朗豪坊 嘉賓：梁朝偉、劉家勇 戲票明天早上公開預售，請留意UA網頁。

[sparkles_n15]

Darn! Just left HK. Going to miss this chance.

Will have to go see it again in a week or so. Anyone know which theaters play the film with English subtitles? I went to a.p.m and they only showed Chinese subs. I prefer watching with both subs if possible.

[Jamaica]

http://news.insing.com/news/wong-kar-wai-changes-title-for-son/id-706b3f00

Wong Kar Wai changes title for son
by Elaine Ewe

Cinema Online - 25 January 2013 4:06 PM | Updated 8:13 PM

25 Jan – Renowned auteur and director Wong Kar Wai revealed that he changed the title for his latest martial arts epic, "The Grandmaster", from "The Grandmasters" after his son asked him why.

"My son asked me why my film is titled "The Grandmasters" when it was originally called "Grandmaster Ip Man", then "The Grandmaster". He said 'wasn't I making a film about Yip Man', so I got to thinking that although my film was about the many grandmasters Yip Man meets, ultimately, it is about a state of mind," said Wong during his visit to Singapore with actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai recently.

The 54-year-old went on to add, "There can be many grandmasters, but not all of them truly deserve the title of THE grandmaster."

Meanwhile, the title was changed from "Grandmaster Ip Man" to "The Grandmaster" after it was discovered that Wong's film and another Ip Man film were being made at around the same time.

As its title suggests, the Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Zhang Ziyi starrer is inspired by the life of Yip Man (Ye Wen), who mentored the legendary martial arts star Bruce Lee. However, Wong stated that his film will illustrate that there is more to martial arts than violence.

"The stories of martial arts films consist only of fighting, but actually all the martial arts styles showcased are well-founded."

"The Grandmaster" will see a wide release in Singapore on 31 January 2013 but is currently undated in Malaysia.
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"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

[Eri]

Tony is going to attend the discussion about The Grandmaster at Hong Kong Univ. start at 3:30pm HK time
http://uvision.hku.hk/portal/live_broadcast.php

[Tin-Yau]

Thanks for the link Eri.
Video isn`t running smooth on my side, it`s more like a still image.
Did anyone record it?
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