Bruce Lee's kung fu master to be profiled by Hong Kong directors

Min Lee, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FOSHAN, China - Bruce Lee is the master to many martial arts fans.

Less is known about his master, Ip Man, a pioneer in the kung fu style that influenced Lee. Hong Kong filmmakers hope to change that by bringing Ip's story to the big screen. On Tuesday, action stars Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung from the U.S. TV series "Martial Law" prepared to start shooting one of two planned movies about Ip, as they joined Ip's sons in paying tribute to their father at his hometown in the southern Chinese city Foshan, a four-hour drive northwest of Hong Kong.

Performers staged a traditional Chinese lion dance featuring four bright orange lions on an outdoor platform near a memorial hall that honours Ip.

Yen posed next to bust of Ip and performed a series of manoeuvres against a wooden mannequin - a common practice in kung fu's wing chun style, which is known for its practical, no-frills style.

Yen, a veteran action star whose credits include "Blade II," "Hero" and "Shanghai Knights," called his role as Ip his most challenging ever.

"We all know that teacher Ip Man promoted Chinese kung fu around the world. He's also the teacher of my idol Bruce Lee. So when I took this role I put a lot of pressure on myself," he said.

Yen said he was focusing exclusively on his portrayal of Ip and leaving the action choreography to Hung, another kung fu movie veteran.

He said he has studied the wing chun style for a few months, but struck a humble tone.

"I've learned a superficial few things. I don't dare say I know wing chun," he said.

"But I hope to use my filmmaking experience and my few years of kung fu training to let more people know about teacher Ip Man and wing chun through this movie."

Yen's reverence for Ip's legacy is testimony to his storied reputation.

Born in Foshan in 1893, Ip started training around 1903 in wing chun - which traces its roots to a monk from the famed Shaolin Temple - said Ip's younger son, Ip Ching.

The elder Ip arrived in Hong Kong in the 1940s to escape the communist takeover of the mainland. In Hong Kong, he started out teaching kung fu to restaurant workers but broadened his reach to hundreds of students, including Lee, before passing away in 1972.

His sons studied under him and also taught. Their students have spread wing chun as far as the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain and South Africa.

But Lee is a standout because of his international fame.

Lee, who died in 1973 at age 32 from swelling of the brain, studied under Ip for five years starting at age 13, his official biography on the Bruce Lee Foundation website said.

"He greatly revered Ip Man as a master teacher and wise man and frequently visited with him in later years," the biography says.

Ip Chun, the older of Ip Man's two sons, said his father got along well with Lee.

"They had a very good relationship. They often studied kung fu together," the 84-year-old said, adding Lee stayed in touch after studying with Ip.

"I saw him very often."

The movie starring Yen isn't the only production about Ip Man in the works.

Famed Hong Kong art-house director Wong Kar-wai is also planning a biopic starring Cannes best actor winner Tony Leung Chiu-wai, although the timetable for that project is unclear.

Wong's Jettone Films has not released any information about the movie but Leung said this week he plans to devote the second half of this year to studying wing chun and hopes to start shooting at the end of the year or the beginning of next year.

Yen's movie, a $5-million production directed by Wilson Yip, aims to start shooting in March in Shanghai and to be released early next year, Yip said Tuesday.

Ip Chun said he would support both productions.

Yip said his movie would focus on Ip Man's time on the mainland and his tensions with China's Japanese invaders - to whom he refused to teach kung fu - in the Second World War era.

© The Canadian Press, 2008