John Fusco, the screenwriter of The Forbidden Kingdom, wrote an article for Kung Fu Magazine that chronicles the production from the unique point of view of someone who was there. Also in today’s update, the great movie site Twitch Film has posted a cinematic itinerary of Jackie and Jet movies for newcomers to the kung fu superstars! Also, a new Forbidden Kingdom photo gallery from Jackie Chan!!
Read more after the cut…
A New Photo Gallery on Jackie Chan.com!
Jackie Chan.com has posted a new photo gallery with beautiful pics from the set of The Forbidden Kingdom! Check out Jackie’s new gallery at Jackiechan.com! (Spoiler Warning: he’s got two awesome new pics of the Monkey King himself!)
John Fusco’s Journey East!
John Fusco tells his personal story of this movie, from his own martial arts background to dreaming up the script to standing on a soundstage in Hengdian watching two superstars take each other down. Like the movie, his own story stars Jackie and Jet…
It’s not just the historic union of Li and Chan that has me pinching myself; my fight scenes are being choreographed right here before my jet-lagged eyes by Master Yuen Woo-Ping and captured on film by the Oscar-winning cinematographer Peter Pau, the man who photographed CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. My screenplay, I tell myself, is in the steady and deadly hands of this genre’s Dream Team.
Jet, taking a cue from the page, sinks low with some Six Harmony Praying Mantis and deceptive Monkey footwork. Jackie counters with Shandong Black Tiger. They explode at each other in a dizzying, improvised blur, two men clearly exhilarated by each other’s prowess and this long-awaited opportunity to bust open each other’s bag of licks. If this was tennis it might be McEnroe and Borg. A blues bar: B.B. King dueling with Clapton. A boxing match: Ali and Frazier, pounding it out in Manila. Here, on the Hengdian backlot, the brawl has simply become known as “the J and J Fight,” a fight that is now careening off the page, igniting into a blow-for-blow Hong Kong donnybrook that is vintage Woo-Ping; but in seconds it will break away from that, too, becoming pure Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Defying age, gravity, and the inevitable hype, they both seem to go into a zone, provoking each other’s arsenal, unleashing strikes and counter-strikes as quickly as the other can react. My eye catches Snake, Leopard, Tibetan White Crane, Willow Leaf Palm, some more Mantis�what appears to be the Seeking Leg style�and Eagle Claw.
When the shot is over we play back the sequence on the bank of video monitors. Woo-Ping lets out some cigarette smoke with an enthusiastic cackle. “Tai fai la,” he says in Cantonese. “Too fast.”
This is a very cool article, not just for martial arts movie fans but anyone interested in writing or filmmaking. Fusco witnessed a moment of history, and has the chops to bring it to life such that you can see it unfolding before your eyes!
Read the whole thing at Kung Fu Magazine: ‘FORBIDDEN FIST: The Making of THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM’
Twitch Film’s Jackie and Jet 101!
Like Quint at Aint It Cool News, Twitch writer Mack sees the film as a “stepping stone” movie that can lead kids on their own journey through martial arts cinema.
So where do you go from there? You’ve seen The Forbidden Kingdom and a little spark has lit in your gut. You liked what you saw. You want more kung fu. And because we here at Twitch sometimes see ourselves as film educators, second to being fans of this type of cinema, we’re going to look at the key players in this movie and tell you what your next rentals are going to be. All titles mentioned hereafter are available domestically.
Read their list of seminal must-sees at Twitch: ‘OK, I’ve seen The Forbidden Kingdom. What is next?’
