Blade 2: Interview

Review by Clint Morris

Interview with Donnie Yen
Starring in the forthcoming Blade 2 film.

Playing a villain in the recent Highlander: Endgame, and now starring as Snowman in Blade II opposite Wesley Snipes, is all in a days work for rising star Donnie Yen. Growing up in Boston, studying Tai Chi and Wushu with his mom, eventually lead to roles in kick-butt action movies and, from Hong Kong to Hollywood, the gates have opened wide for a life-time fan of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, as Clint Morris discovers.

Donnie Yen gets zipped up before a shoot

Donnie Yen's name first appeared on a poster for Chinese film Drunken Tai Chi. Searching for an actor that could grip physical stunts and pertain strength to a trying role, the director of the film screen-tested Donnie, and he got the post within days.

These days, he's a prominent figure in the Hollywood action film. "Hollywood films enjoy a much more sophisticated distribution network than HK films. HK films for the longest times were made primarily for HK and Southeast Asia market", explains Yen.

"As far as the ups and downs for the two industries, on one hand, more money usually promise from the very detail of a movie prop to paying the best talents for the job. But on the other hand, too many channels before proceeding sometimes can loose its spontaneous creativity. HK films are usually made by a much smaller group of talents, therefore, it can get things done a lot quicker, especially when working with restrained budget and time. Still, HK films can be both brilliantly original to carelessly put together!"

And not surprisingly, money's a big issue when working in Hollywood. "Obviously the budgets are extremely different", he says.

As much as Hollywood is beckoning, Donnie still remains true to his beginnings. "Drunken Tai Chi, Tiger Cage 2, Once Upon A Time In China- 2, Iron Monkey and Hero. They were some of my finest martial arts display on films. Yet, I'll have to say it's Fist Of Fury the TV series that I honestly felt was truly groundbreaking, not to mention it's only a TV production." Yen says.

Donnie's initial American movie was Highlander: Endgame opposite Christopher Lambert, but he's a little mortified of the film. "Frankly speaking, I was not really proud of the film, I had my restriction and problems, especially working in a US film for the first time", he admits.

Blade decides to stretch his arms...

"But I believe I made the best of it under the circumstances". With talk of a 5th Highlander movie, how would the impending Director (rumored to Russell Mulcahy) entice Donnie back? "I'll consider it if everything - script, schedule, etc - comes together." Donnie claims.

Contrary to the fact that his first experience in a Hollywood movie was less than congenial, things looked up when Donnie was asked to star as a good vampire in Blade 2.

Having spent the past 3 months in Prague as both Martial Arts choreographer and "Snowman" - one of the Blood packs who joins forces with Blade (Wesley Snipes) to fight off the half-human-half-vampire Rippers - Donnie's got many a good word to say about his latest production.

"Actually, Snowman was only a cameo which I took because both the director and Wesley wanted me to appear in the film. My main position was the fight choreographer", Donnie admits.

"It depends on what type of film and its characters it is before applying specific styles of fighting. But ultimately, martial arts should only be an enhancement to the story and its characters in my opinion, I'll not have a cop leaping through rooftop like in Crouching Tiger's in a realistic drama and, on the other hand, one-two combinations would be completely boring when audience expect a hero like Blade to get down and move."

Donnie says audiences will enjoy the upcoming sequel more so than the 1998 original. "Because I wasn't in the first one!" Donnie laughs. "But seriously, Wesley Snipes is great! Intelligent and humble, with both real martial arts understanding and skills. I had a great time working with him." And with talk already of a Blade 3, he admits he'd love to reprise his role as Snowman. "Again, for the right reasons, why not!" he declares.

Despite all the buzz about Blade 2, Donnie is more excited about a project called Hero, which he will starting on soon. "We are looking at fall, 2002, and it will be the film to anticipate", assures Donnie. "Jet Li, Zhang Zhi Yi, Tony Leung, Maggie Chueng and myself star," he tells.

"The Director is Zhang Yi Mou, who is probably the most acclaimed director from Asia of our decade. Hero is also going to be the most anticipated movie from Asia this year."

Blade 2 commences March 22nd nationally. Click here for the official site.

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