2017 Super family entertainment opens on Chinese
New Year’s Day
Yesterday the principal cast and crew of Kung Fu Yoga hold a reunion in the restaurant Le Quai in Workers’ Stadium in Beijing. Jackie Chan, Aarif Lee, Lay Zhang, Mu Qimiya, Sonu Sood, Disha
Patani, Amyra Dastur and Jiang Wen all attend the dinner. In such a boisterous
atmosphere, they play various games and have a raffle. Getting together on the day before the Chinese New Year, they
chat to each other like a big family.
It is the first time
for Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang to have worked with Jackie Chan. Looking back at
the shooting, they get quite emotional and comment. ‘Jackie worked with us on
the set during the day and took us out to dinner in the evening. Now looking
back at these days, it feels like a dream.’ When sharing the interesting
anecdotes happened during the shooting, Aarif Lee
“slips”, revealing the fact that Jackie Chan had got hurt. Then Lay Zhang asks
Jackie Chan jokingly. ‘Sir, can you teach me how to risk my life?’
At the dinner, Jackie
Chan receives a present from his fans – a video clip that shows a collection of
Jackie Chan’s Chinese New Year greetings from the previous years. The
“declarations” from his fans include ‘watching Jackie Chan movies is as
important as having dinner with my family on the Chinese New Year’s Eve and the
special TV programme’, ‘when I was little, my parents watched Jackie Chan movies
with me during the Chinese New Year. Now I keep my parents company when they
watch Jackie Chan movies’; the familiar images and the comments move Jackie Chan
to tears. Having watched the clip, Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang is hit by a pang of
nostalgia. They grew up with Jackie Chan movies, and it has become a habit to
watch these films during the Chinese New Year. It feels that Jackie Chan movies
have become an indispensible part of the Chinese New Year celebration.
Kung Fu Yoga opens in the cinemas in China on the 2017 Chinese
New Year’s Day.
A supposedly 45-minute surgery that took five hours
to complete
Aarif Lee accidentally reveals Jackie Chan’s new
injury
What does it feel
like when making a film with Jackie Chan? Kung
Fu Yoga is Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang’s first collaboration with Jackie Chan.
When Jackie Chan is mentioned, they simply cannot stop talking about him. Lay
Zhang says. ‘When we were filming in Dubai, I felt really happy. After we
wrapped up, Jackie took us to dinner and taught me how to drive a manual car. I
had such a great time!’
Aarif Lee describes
the duel he fights against Jackie Chan in Iceland with such excitement that a
secret slips out of his lips. ‘Jackie had a surgery right before we shot the
scene. The surgery was supposed to finish in 45 minutes, but it took five hours
in the end. His assistants burst into tears outside the operation room.’
Although Jackie Chan was not fully recovered, he concealed the fact in order to
finish the scene with Aarif Lee. Jackie Chan and Aarif Lee spent several hours
fighting to make it perfect, and everyone on the set was moved by their professionalism.
Jackie Chan movies dominate online parkour videos
Lay Zhang asks: ‘Sir, can you teach me how to risk
my life?’
Learning new skills
while making a film with Jackie Chan? At the reunion, Aarif Lee expresses that
he has indeed learned so many new skills while working with Jackie Chan on Kung Fu Yoga. He has learned how to
climb the snowy mountain, how to do kip-up, and in Dubai he was taught the driving technique
drifting, which felt new and interesting to him. Lay Zhang says that since he
has to do parkour in the movie, he not only practices it but also searches for parkour
videos online.
However, when
searching for the parkour videos on the Internet, Lay Zhang found that the
majority of them are clips of Jackie Chan movies. ‘Jackie’s movies are so
impressive. Our parkour coach tells us that they could not even do the moves
that Jackie did in the movies.’ Then Lay Zhang turns to Jackie Chan and asks.
‘Sir, how on earth did you manage to do that? Can you teach me “how to risk my
life” to achieve such an amazing result?’
Getting together, playing games and having a raffle
Jackie Chan laments: ‘Don’t know how much longer I
can keep making films.’
It is understood that
Kung Fu Yoga does not hold a press
conference for its release. Instead, on the day before the Chinese New Year’s Eve, a dinner with not only the cast and crew but also the audiences is
hosted. As all the principal actors are present, it becomes a “real family
reunion”. They have dinner together in such a joyful atmosphere, celebrating
the Chinese New Year, and this is exactly the same as how the audiences will
feel when watching Kung Fu Yoga.
At the dinner, Jackie
Chan leads the principal cast and crew, including Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang, to
wish everyone a very happy New Year. Jackie Chan sincerely expresses his
gratitude to his fans for their support over the past few decades, and reveals
his true feelings. He sighs and says that he himself loves cinema with such
burning passion. ‘Cinema is my life. I want to keep making films and bringing
joy to the audiences. However, ageing is unavoidable. I don’t know how much
longer I can keep going.’ Jackie Chan’s earnestness brings the dinner to the
climax.
Jackie Chan movies are indispensable for Chinese
New Year Celebration
Zhang Yishan and Yang Zi: ‘It has always become a
tradition to watch Jackie Chan movies during the Chinese New Year.’
Jackie Chan
introduced the concept of “Chinese New Year celebration movie” into China with
his Rumble in the Bronx, and
therefore when one remembers the previous Chinese New Year holidays, one is
bound to think of Jackie Chan movies that have brought so much joy to everyone
in the family. As a result, Jackie Chan movies have become an essential part of
the Chinese New Year celebration. At the reunion, a video made by Jackie Chan’s
fans is played; it is a mix of clips from Jackie Chan movies, including Rumble in the Bronx, Police Story 4: First Strike and CZ 12: Chinese Zodiac. These movies not
only awake our happy memories of watching them during the holiday but also become
a tradition together with the Chinese New Year’s Eve TV special, firecrackers
and the big family dinner on the New Year’s Eve. Zhang Yishan and Yang Zi, who
sing the theme song of Kung Fu Yoga
with Jackie Chan, express. ‘Watching Jackie Chan movies during the Chinese New
Year has already become a tradition.’
Cute pets, super sports cars, Bollywood dance,
adventure, fighting and laughter
“Kung Fu Yoga” is hailed as Jackie Chan’s best
family entertainment
This year Jackie Chan
returns to the Chinese New Year season with action comedy Kung Fu Yoga, a collaboration with his long-term partner Stanley
Tong. At the reunion, they talk about why Kung
Fu Yoga is a great family entertainment, and the lead actors such as Aarif Lee
and Lay Zhang share their favourite parts of the movie suitable for everyone in
the family. They include the cute pets that children are bound to warm towards,
the super sports cars that men will fall for, the sexy young actors that no
woman could resist and the songs and beautiful scenery shot around the world
that older audiences will be attracted to. Moreover, one will get to see
exciting fights, funny acts, yoga and adventure in the movie. Director Tong
expresses. ‘Jackie Chan is the lead actor in Kung Fu Yoga, and everyone in the family loves him.’
Kung Fu Yoga is the eighth
collaboration between Jackie Chan and Stanley Tong. Their previous works such
as Rumble in the Bronx, The Myth and CZ 12: Chinese Zodiac, broke many box-office records. Kung Fu Yoga is not only a typical
Jackie Chan action comedy but contains many fresh elements, including the crazy
car chase that Jackie Chan, Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang get involved in Dubai,
diving in the ice cave in Iceland, Bollywood dance and thrilling adventure.
Furthermore, the appearances of lions, hyenas, cobras, camels, elephants and
falcons make the movie even more fun to watch and suitable for audiences of all
ages.
According to the
production team, the mysterious sceptre with Shiva Eye is decorated with more
than fifty Swarovski crystals. In the shape of a classical Siamese rose, the
delicate pink crystal in the middle is a special stone tailor-made for this
movie by Swarovski.
-Press note
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