Like father like son
By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-18 09:29
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Ip Chun, the 86-year-old son of the late kung fu master Ip Man, could well become the oldest recipient of a best newcomer award.
Ip has been nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the 7th Movie Channel Media Awards, which will release its results tomorrow, for his role as a kung fu master, which is what he is in real life, in Ip Man: The Legend is Born. It will premiere on June 25.
The master - as in many Chinese wuxia novels - looks rather plain, but he is still energetic even at his age, going to bed at 1 am and getting up at 9 am. We finished the interview around midnight, not because he was tired, but because he had other friends to meet.
The Legends is Born follows Ip Man's life between the ages of 8 and 28. The kung fu master is widely known for his achievements in wing chun, a Chinese martial art specializing in close-range combat. Bruce Lee was one of his disciples.
Ip Chun told China Daily that he joined the project because he was not satisfied with the previous two works on his father, starring kung fu star Donnie Yen.
"His wing chun is hardly perfect. More importantly, my father's character was not fully displayed, especially his respect to his teachers and the martial art," he says.
The new Ip Man film will feature a cast made up of real wing chun disciples. The lead actor Dennis To is a 29-year-old martial arts world champion who has learned wing chun for eight years. The lead actress Rose Chan is a disciple of one of Ip Chun's proteges.
The earlier two films on Ip Man won many awards and proved very popular, making Ip Chun something of a celebrity, too. More and more people came to him to learn kung fu. According to Lam, wing chun schools saw their number of students increase dramatically.
"In the past teaching wing chun was just my way to make a living. I could not choose my disciples," Ip says. "But now I only choose those who really love wing chun and are of good moral standing."
Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai is also working on a film on Ip Man, starring award-winning Tony Leung, who broke his arm while learning wing chun from one of Ip Chun's kung fu disciples. However, the release date is still unknown.