Yuen Woo-ping

Go!

The martial arts scenes in the movie were choreographed by the famous Hong Kong action director, Wo Ping.

Hugo Weaving creates a sinister presence as one of the agents of the Matrix.

Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.

And to achieve that monumental task, they brought in an undisputed master of the craft.

The article notes they hired the legendary choreographer Yuen Woo-ping.

Now, if you are a fan of action cinema, that name is sacred.

He is the genius who choreographed The Matrix.

Yeah, that's how you get fired.

But we have to understand why it was so difficult.

Yuen Woo-ping is a master of wires, but usually wire work is done in a controlled environment.

You build a steel grid.

Yeah, I had a question for both of you because I actually watched this a few times in preparation.

This year specifically, I'm thinking of Yuen Woo-Ping's Blades of the Guardian and The Furious, right? So action movies have got into this level of elaborate choreography, and the stakes are so raised in these environments, and they can be very brutal and hard-hitting.

Your very first action scene in this film, so to your point, Sophia, he never draws his sword.

He uses his sword to... to take him to task.

Nobody can touch this guy, but I found watching this, there was that same level of excitement and appreciation for the choreography going on, and it didn't have to hit Yuen Woo-Ping levels.

Don't get me wrong, Blaze the Guardian is my favorite film from this year, but I was amazed at how a film from the sixties and even how they film it and choreo, you know, choreography that is being shown in front of you still looks exciting because it's one guy against, I mean, he's, he, I think he takes out like 20 guys within a matter of minutes.

And it's not flashy.

Really very interesting, 'cause it reminds me very much of another real life thing that happened.

I was out in California at the American Film Market one time, and I got to have lunch with, uh, Yuen Woo-ping and his entire family, who just happened to be at the same [laughs] Chinese, the best Chinese restaurant in Santa Monica apparently.

And, uh, there, and in came, uh, Donnie Yen, who had been given his, his major start by Yuen Woo-ping, but they had separated, and we had a scene exactly like this one.

Wow.

Where Donnie was first embarrassed, but then came over to the table and bowed.