It’s a busy year for Donnie Yen. He’s been filming for ‘XXX’ and ‘Rogue One’… and now he looks to have made another ‘Wise’ career decision…
The martial arts movie dynamo that is Donnie Yen finished up a co-staring role in XXX:The Return of Xander Cage, before hitting London for re-shoots on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and shows no signs of slowing down with regards to projects.
He’s set to star alongside Andy Lau in a new ’70s era Hong Kong crime thriller, and looks like he’s finally going to be moving forward with his take on the classic Chinese adventurer Wisely, the author/adventurer who has previously been brought to the screen in such projects as The Legend of Wisely with Sam Hui, The Seventh Curse with Chow Yun-fatt, Bury Me High with Chin Kar-lok Young Wisely with David Wu… and the last time in Wisely: The Mysterious File with Andy Lau as the character. The character was created by another Hong Kong legend Ni Kuang whose Wisely adventures began in the 1960s.
About three years ago, Yen announced a number of projects many of which would be produced under the auspices of his new company Super Hero Films, among them being Dragon City, an action thriller that sounded like it was riffing on The Raid (with a group of Hong Kong Cops caught in Kowloon Walled City as a bust goes bad and they have to fight their way out) and a new take on Wisely which would see him working with Ip Man producer Raymond Wong and Director Wilson Yip once more. This latest news and confirmation comes that Wisely will be the second film in an ongoing deal with Raymond Wong’s Pegasus Motion Pictures.
There’s no word yet on any additional cast or crew – and we’re still not sure if Wilson Yip will be helming the adventure – but the official synopsis has been released: Adapted from the detective-science fiction novel series “Wisely by Ni Kuang, this film centers on Wesley’s investigation adventure starting from a murder case, and then involving a charismatic woman and some priceless ancient treasure.
In the meantime Yen won’t be absent from our screens for long. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set for release in December, followed by XXX appearance in January, and we just might finally get the second part of Yen’s Iceman Cometh remake, (a trailer for part 2 was screened a few months ago at the Hong Kong Filmart). Yen’s name is still linked to a number of other projects including the delayed Noodle Man and a possible Flash Point sequel.
While we wait for further news, here’s a trip down memory lane and the English language trailer for Legend of Wisely, which hit the UK as Legend of the Gold Pearl and hints at what we could expect albeit on a better budget. We imagine the Yen’ster on a mystical martial arts adventure ala The Seventh Curse
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“He’s set to star alongside Andy Lau in a new ’70s era Hong Kong crime thriller, and looks like he’s finally going to be moving forward with his take on the classic Chinese adventurer Wisely…”
“…among them being Dragon City, an action thriller that sounded like it was riffing on The Raid (with a group of Hong Kong Cops caught in Kowloon Walled City as a bust goes bad and they have to fight their way out)”
Is Dragon City with Andy Lau? It is already known when this film will be shot?