Photo: Kungfunews.com

In his latest film, Zhen Zidan teamed up with Ye Weixin to produce another of Zhen’s Kunfu epics, ‘IP Man’. In this interview Zhen tells Sohu how in light of China’s current lack of Kungfu movie talent, Zhen wished to play this part as a Kungfu Master. In his third film of 2008, Zhen put in all his efforts in making IP Man and before it even hit the screens a sequel was being drawn up. It is Zhen Zidan’s plan to evoke a new Kungfu craze in China.

Sohu: Can you tell us how IP Man differed from the other Kungfu characters you’ve played in the past?

Zhen: IP Man was a very extreme character, extremely introverted. He starts his own Kungfu school in Hong Kong and stays loyal to the roots of the art. He takes on very few apprentices, one of whom was Bruce Lee. Although he came across in real life as very shy, he apparently had a great sense of humor, and the more I researched the man, the I grew to like him and resemble him. The IP Man film that just came out was the part 1, the story of the first half of his life. We’re just about to finish filming part 2.

Sohu: Our audience might not be too familiar with IP Man, can you tell us some of the highlights of his life?

Zhen: He was Bruce Lee’s Master and taught him everything he knew. There was one scene we shot that was about the time he took on a Japanese fighter. During the fight someone stepped forward and pointed a gun at IP. IP just grabbed the gun in his hand and with one squeeze, forced the cartridge out! And that was a real story!

Sohu: From watching the film the thing that left the greatest impression on me was how fast your fists moved in the fight scenes, you could barely see them sometimes. It also looked like each punch was very strong.

Zhen: This is the specialty of Yongchun Fist style, getting the most impact in the shortest time and distance when attacking and defending, this saves energy and is very scientific. By the time I finished filming I needed emergency massage for the pain in my shoulders and neck.

Sohu: Everyone knows that Wang Jiawei was asked to play the role first but refused, so people say that you were forced to take the part, is that true?

Zhen: Actually, people had asked me to play the role 10 years ago, but funding was pulled at the last minute. It really doesn’t matter who plays IP Man, so long as his son agrees. I’m not close to Wang Jiawei and don’t know what he thinks on the matter, in fact I can’t imagine what kind of a job he would have done had he got the role. I saw his last film and thought it wasn’t very good.

Sohu: So which films have you thought that were good recently?

Zhen: Well, obviously IP Man, and Kungfu Panda as well.

Sohu: You’ve done a real mix of films, how do you judge your career so far?

Zhen: I got into Kungfu movies after doing Shapo Lang in the late 90s. It was the great public reaction that made me want to stick with this genre. I then went on to make big films such as Hero and Seven Swords. Painted Skin was more like a comedy than Kungfu, but still not like old Jackie Chan.

Photo: Sohu.com

Sohu: And how do you feel about IP Man?

Zhen: It was a very traditional Kungfu movie. There was one scene when I was fighting Fan Shaohuang and he was coming at me with an axe. In other styles of Kungfu I could have reached out to defend against it. However the Yongchun school requires very close quarters combat, so that wouldn’t have been authentic. I had to let him come at me and the axe caught me on the corner of my left eye. They had to stop filming and rush me to hospital for stitches. The end result was amazing though. The more I watch it the more I like it. I hope it will become the Croaching Tiger Hidden Dragon of 2008-9, and start a new Kungfu craze.

Sohu: Finally, how many fight scenes did you do?

Zhen: Loads, we ended up including about 10 in total.

See this interview in its original form at Sohu.com

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