ROTTEN TOMATOES: Jet Li Kicks Up Dirt on "Forbidden Kingdom"

Jet Li Kicks Up Dirt on "Forbidden Kingdom"

by Binh Ngo | July 09, 2007

In a posting on his official blog at Alivenotdead.com, Jet Li sheds light on his character(s) in the highly anticipated movie "The Forbidden Kingdom," in which he pairs (finally!) with Jackie Chan in a Westernized take on the classic "Journey to the West" tale.

In this re-telling, an American teenager (Michael Angarano) discovers a staff which transports him to ancient China where he joins in a quest to return the staff to the Monkey King. Jet Li plays the dual role of the Monkey King and Silent Monk while Jackie Chan will play a kung fu master named Lu Yan.

"[W]hen I first received the script three years ago the producer approached me to play the role of the Monkey King, but at that time there were problems with the script ... At that time they portrayed the Monk as a great fighter [which is a huge departure from the original story]," he writes.

Feeling Asian audiences would not accept this drastic of a change, Jet suggested they have the Monkey King transform into the monk. "Since the Monkey King knows the 72 'earthly methods for transformations,' he can pull one of his hairs out and transform himself into the Monk."

Other than that, Jet suggested to the producer they take more liberties with the story saying, "This is a dream of this American kid's interpretation of these characters so there is a lot of room for creativity."

As for "Fearless" being billed as Jet Li's final martial arts movie, you wouldn't believe in all that marketing spin, would you?

"Forbidden Kingdom" is directed by Rob Minkoff ("Stuart Little") for a 2008 release; the film also stars Collin Chou, Li Bingbing, and Liu Yifei. Yuen Woo-ping will choreograph all the action.

Check out the full blog here.

Jet Li will host a live chat Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 14:00. (+8:00 GMT - China). Details here.

Source: Alivenotdead.com

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(1-16 of 16 posts) | Reply

Mr. Kong writes:
on Jul 09 2007 05:00 PM

Rob Minkoff? hmmmm...

(Reply to this)

rustdog writes:
on Jul 09 2007 06:08 PM

In reply to this comment (#910808)
yes, this will be a family action movie and most likely lame.

(Reply to this)

Mr. Kong writes:
on Jul 09 2007 06:12 PM

In reply to this comment (#910809)
I mean, I'd be fine if it was someone like Steve Oederek (notice, I said LIKE) or Tom Dey, but he's better off with disney animated movies.

(Reply to this)

gorilla325 writes:
on Jul 09 2007 07:37 PM

i don't put much faith in this film. but i wish them good luck.

(Reply to this)

eastern2western writes:
on Jul 09 2007 07:47 PM

[b]Lower ur expectations[/b]
I have very low expectations for this movie for these reasons:
1) Amercian productions are heavily insured, which means major stars can not perform their own stunts.
2) Both stars are getting old and also accumulated lots of injuries. There is probably no way that they can perform moves like what they use to.
3) White director making an english film that is base on an old chinese story. A lot things in Chinese does not translate very well in english. They should have made the movie completely in chinese and subtitle it with english or what ever other languages for the foreign market.
In conclusion, every one should just go home and watch their old dvds and stop expecting these two to pull another drunken master of fist of legend instead.

(Reply to this)

lilsamuraijoe writes:
on Jul 09 2007 09:25 PM

[b]I disagree.[/b]
Jackie and Jet Li are not trying to make this the next action movie, instead they are trying to spread a little Chinese culture. "Journey to the west," is not some old Chinese story like you said it is. It is one of the greatest pieces of Chinese literature to ever have existed. I can tell that this one is going to be good, because Jackie and Jet are actually passionate about making this movie. Jackie has always said he hates Rush Hour because he doesn't get to do what he does best, dangerous stunts, and instead has to appeal to a very different audience. I have a feeling that this is the first Hollywood movie Jackie would actually feel good making.

(Reply to this)

eastern2western writes:
on Jul 09 2007 09:52 PM

[b]Do u know how old jackie is?[/b]
Let me tell u something, the man is 55 years old. Do u actually believe that he can still jump around and run in to glasses like he use too twenty some years? Another thing u have to understand is that he was doing all of those stunts back then was all due to fact that he did not had the budget or technology back then. In today's CGI world, most of chan's crazy old stunts can be perform safely with blue wires, computer graphis and came editing.
Another reason he is not going to perform crazy stunts in his old hon kong days is because MPAA does not allow him to perform them. It is very likely that this movie is trying to a PG rating to appeal to a larger audience and PG means less action and more comedy.

(Reply to this)

Shaomaike writes:
on Jul 09 2007 10:10 PM

[b]Good article[/b]
Thanks, Binh Ngo. There's also new information about the film at kungfucinema.com

The possibility of a live chat with Jet Li is intriguing...

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Jul 09 2007 10:29 PM

[b]Another Jet Li post[/b]
After we posted this article, Jet wrote again on the blog. Ironically (considering everyone's comments) he addresses his and Jackie's ages, filming an action scene, not having any expectations going into the film as an audience, etc. He seems to accept that everyone will have a different opinion. Check it out. Nice to see an international star give his candid thoughts.

(Reply to this)

kungfu_sage writes:
on Jul 09 2007 10:37 PM

[b]Yuen Wo Ping[/b]
I don't care about the story, I know it will obviously be a huge departure from the original story. but if you have Jacki, Jet, and above all Yuen Wo Ping, I don't care what people say, this will have wonderful fight scenes.

(Reply to this)

jmo2ski writes:
on Jul 10 2007 12:53 AM

[b]It might work[/b]
Well as we all may know, Directors who direct family movies, never do good with action films, and expecially working with Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

But if Yuen, can do his job as a choreographer, than it may reach a PG-13 standard.

(Reply to this)

eastern2western writes:
on Jul 10 2007 12:40 PM

[b]Two reasons that this movie could be good.[/b]
1) Yuen woo ping: the man who had created some of the best looking fight sequences in cinematic history.
2) Movie is produce in china also helps a lot because there are lots of great martial artists in china who are willing for a much lower price comparing to american stunt people.

(Reply to this)

i.love.LYF writes:
on Jul 17 2007 01:40 AM

lol, i dnt give a crap if its goin to be good or bad, Liu yifei is in it OMG. (thats like the only thing ii care about ;P

(Reply to this)

i.love.LYF writes:
on Jul 17 2007 01:42 AM

lol, i dnt give a crap if its goin to be good or bad, Liu yifei is in it OMG. (thats like the only thing ii care about ;P

(Reply to this)

rawmuscler writes:
on Aug 10 2007 05:32 PM

In reply to this comment (#912163)
Can we add in Donnie Yen into this movie maybe as a bad guy or something??

(Reply to this)

kingofcool21 writes:
on Sep 19 2007 12:40 PM

i think it looks pretty cool

if it has fights like rush hiur 2 then itll be great

(Reply to this)