Impact: From the Archive... Rising Yen part 2

Impact: As a director, what do you think you can bring to Hong Kong action films that been lacking from the Western audiences point of view?

Donnie Yen: Above all, heart! I think that a lot of the Chinese action films have been well-executed, technically, but they don't engage the emotions of the audience. When you look at American films like Speed and Deep Cover and True Romance, which is a great favourite of mine, you see that they're really well made, but they have heart to them as well. You have to make the audience care! I believe the audience I already have are aware that I'm well-equipped to deliver action on-screen. What I have to show them is something with more depth to it, something that audiences of any nationality can relate to.

Impact: On which of your films did you first start exercising your talents as a director?

Donnie Yen: I think the big breakthrough for me was a film I made a couple of years ago called Hero of Heroes. I got to shoot a number of major scenes on that film. It was also the first time that I got to work away from the auspices of my situ, the famous kung fu film director Yuen Woo Ping. Then, on Wing Chun, I shot the scene where Michelle fights an enemy on horseback. That was a complicated scene and very hard to do. You had fire. You had horses. We were shooting at night. I said to myself: "If you can get through this, you can direct any scene in the world!" Thank God it came out okay! Afterwards, I was really happy because I had managed to do the scene in nine days, and Yuen Woo Ping told me that even he couldn't have shot the scene so fast. It would have taken him fifteen to twenty days! That was a good encouragement.

Impact: The most recent boom in Hong Kong kung fu movies was launched by the success of Tsui Hark's Once Upon a Time in China. You co-starred in the sequel to that film, and in subsequent period actioners like Dragon Gate Inn and Iron Monkey. Now that the latest wave of kung fu flicks is over, what do you see the next trend being?

Donnie Yen: I think the whole industry is cyclical. You asked me a few years ago what the next trend would be, and I said "Kung fu movies are going to come back", which they did. Now, I see modern day action coining back. However, I won't say this is 'in' and this is 'out'. I mean, kung fu movies may not be hot at the moment, but some will continue to be made, just as some contemporary actioners were made during the kung fu boom.

Impact: During the recent spate of kung fu films, traditional Chinese folk heroes like Wong Fei Hung, Fong Sai Yuk and Hei Kwoon returned to the screen. If you could play any hero from history, who would it be?

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