“Flash Point” with acclaimed Hong Kong director Wilson Yip and veteran actor/stunt coordinator Donnie Yen is scheduled to be released soon. The production began in October of ’06 and took 5 months to finish.  Even with my 20 plus years of film production experiences, the cohesive teamwork between Wilson and Donnie was a real eye-opener, like no other productions I had worked on.   The success of this film is also attributed to the film’s producers Beijing Poly-bona Film Publishing Company’s Dong Yu, Enlight Pictures’ Zhang Zhao, Mandarin Films’ Raymond Wong, and Nanson Shi; having consistently supported Wilson and Donnie when production was over budget and behind schedule.  

 

Donnie and I met years ago while we were working on a movie as guest stars.  Even though we had just one scene together in that movie, I admired Donnie for his talents.  Therefore I have always looked for the opportunity to work with him again.  About a year before “Flash Point” began production, Donnie called me from Hong Kong and asked if I would like to work with him and Wilson.  I was extremely thrilled to take on this unique opportunity. Wilson and Donnie had done a couple of very successful movies in Asia, and even here in the US I have heard lots of industry people praising their work.  From the first day of pre-production in the summer of ‘06, I began challenging myself to reach new heights on both my acting the physical techniques, knowing that both Wilson and Donnie had already prepared themselves for over a year on this production.  A lot of people were curious on why Donnie being such a great marital artist needed any special training for this film.  Through my discussion with Donnie I learned that he wanted to implement a variety of ground breaking techniques for this film by creating more sophisticated camera set-ups on his fighting choreography.  

 

“Flash Point” also gave me the opportunity to work with Wilson Yip for the first time.  I had seen three of his films before, and I was really impressed with his work that gave me all the confidence in him.  Wilson came from a new generation of Hong Kong directors and is known to capture the extreme emotions of his characters through visual and camera movement.  Even during our on set rehearsals, I could feel the realistic tension between all the actors on each take.  

 

The production team, from both above and below the line, was superb.  The biggest highlight of the production was working with a great group of veteran and top new actors from Hong Kong and China.  Their professionalism really raised the bar for everyone.  And the enthusiasm of the crew made work so much more enjoyable, especially during all the long hours of filming.  Day in and day out they executed every scene with great efficiency.  

 

Since moving to the US, opportunities to work on Hong Kong movies have been very scarce.  Working on “Flash Point” I unfortunately could not participate in another major production that I had been developing for a year.  But I have no regrets because this film was a great all around experience.  Hopefully I will be able to work with this awesome team again in the near future.  When this movie comes out, I hope you will show your support and give it a big THUMBS UP!!!