Hong Kong's Mandarin Films is producing a biopic of Ip Man, the kung-fu master of global superstar Bruce Lee, which is set to star Donnie Yen and Simon Yam.
Wilson Yip is directing the film which is currently in pre-production, with Sammo Hung as action director. Yip and Yen previously collaborated on martial arts action dramas Flash Point and Dragon Tiger Gate, which both scored substantial box office and overseas sales.
Yen will play Ip Man and has been training for several months in wing chun, the style of kung fu of which Ip was a master. Mainland Chinese model Lynn Hung is being lined up to make her big-screen debut playing his wife.
Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai is also developing an Ip Man biopic which is set to star Tony Leung Chiu-wai, although the film is not expected to go into production until later this year.
Wong is currently working on a re-mastered verison of his acclaimed 1994 martial arts epic Ashes Of Time.
Mandarin is also selling Tsui Hark's romantic drama Missing, starring Isabella Leong, Angelica Lee and Chang Chan, and 30-episode TV series The Theatre, directed by Clifton Ko and starring Korean singer Park Ji-joon and Taiwanese idol Vanness Wu.
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