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Tony Leung Kar-fai: 'Taichi 0' is your only choice!

By InCinemas / 05 Oct 2012 (Friday)

Taichi 0 Director Stephen Fung and actors Yuan Xiaochao and Tony Leung Kar-fai were here in Singapore to promote their first 2 parts of the Taichi Kungfu trilogy - Taichi 0 and Taichi Hero!

With Taichi 0, Chen Kuo-fu and Stephen Fung deliberately set out to create an edgy, hot-blooded and funky Chinese epic. The film-makers were inspired by Hollywood's re-imagining of the Western epic with visually striking films such as 300. With so many similar historical epics now being produced in China, they felt it was the perfect time to completely reinvent the genre.

(Read our InCinemas review for Taichi 0 - by Jason Lin)

Besides getting inspirations from Western Hollywood movies, Stephen Fung introduced fresh elements to the movie to appeal to younger audiences and even turned to Japanese animation and video games for this movie. He revealed that these are stuffs that he loved since young and wants to create something different for the audiences. In addition, with the overall packaging of the movie with the sound effects, edits and music added, he believes that his will help set a unique style for his new company.

Veteran actor Tony Leung was chatty during the press conference, often teasing his director, praising him as an all-rounder artiste with a huge talent. He hopes that Taichi 0 can be a film that will be shown to people all over the world, spreading the art of China’s martial arts.

On the other hand, Yuan Xiaochao was shy and nervous as it was after all one of the first few press conferences that he attended. Taichi marks his first ever-acting gig and lucky for him, he landed as the main lead in this trilogy. It’s no surprise that this young lad was selected to star in this movie as he has been competing professionally since 2001 and won the gold medal in the Asian Games in 2006 for the Men’s Changquan Wushu.

Although Taichi and Changquan were very different styles of martial arts, the charismatic Yuan went through two months of intensive training with Taichi experts before the film went into production. Regarding his acting abilities, he prefers to have the audience to be the judges.

Asked what Tony Leung had learnt from Taichi, the actor replied, "A lot of people had a misconception about Taichi. They think Taichi is only for the elderly. In fact, it's a form of good martial arts that is suitable for the everyone, including the youth."

During their only appearance in Singapore at the Gala Premiere, director Stephen Fung pointed out that Taichi in the movie is out that in the movie "Taichi was originally known as "Chen Jia Quan" and that they follow closely to the roots of the elegant style. he later added, "Do also stay back during the credits for an interesting sneak peek of the second movie, Taichi Hero."

On his thoughts about Taichi 0, here's what Tony Leung has to say. "If you wish to watch a movie that has good content, that is interesting, that showcase the Chinese culture and one that is suitable for family, elderly and the youth, Taichi 0 is your only choice."

Did you know that several Tai Chi experts were on set during the six months shoot to assist action-director Sammo Hung in developing the realistic actions?

It is no wonder Tai Chi Zero landed at the no.1 spots in the box office as it was said to be a very refreshing and unique movie.

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Tony Leung Kar-fai: 'Taichi 0' is your only choice!