‘The Ip Man’ Actor Donnie Yen To Star In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny
"The Ip Man" star Donnie Yen has officially joined the cast of the sequel to the Oscar-winning martial arts film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" after it was rumored before that he was already out for casting and that Andy Lau would play the lead role. It is now a sure ball that Yen will be playing Silent Wolf after signing the contract for the film last April. Michelle Yeoh will reprise her role as Yu Shu Lien.
After talking with Zhang Zi Yi to return as Yu Jiaolong in the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny", the Weinstein Co. failed to get her onboard. This brings them to cast Nicholas Tse to play the role of the son of Yu Jiaolong.
It is not only Zi Yi who will not join the martial arts fantasy sequel but also the renowned director Ang Lee ("Life of Pi"). However, the legendary martial arts master and action choreographer Yuen Wo Ping will be stepping behind the camera. Ping was also the one who directed Jackie Chan in 1978 film "Drunken Master" and Yeoh in his latest film "True Legend". The appearance of Chow Yun-Fat in "The Green Destiny" is not yet clear. The sequel is penned by John Fusco who also wrote the screenplay for Hidalgo, Young Guns, and Young Guns II.
The first installment "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" earned six Oscar nominations, winning the Best Foreign Language Film award and three more in the technical categories. It remains the most successful Chinese-language film to date, grossing $213.5 million worldwide on its release and the highest grossing foreign language film in the US. This is something that the sequel has to beat apart from the viewers' expectations.
The film production is set to begin this coming August and will take place in studio in Auckland, New Zealand and China. The release date is slated in 2015.
