THE FURIOUS: Legendary Producer Bill Kong Hires Big Guns to Make a Big Action Movie!
Yesterday Variety broke news that legendary Hong Kong producer Bill Kong (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers, Fearless) has started production on a new action film called The Furious in Bangkok, Thailand, and he's enlisted the help of some of Asia's leading action talent. Like, the best of the best.
The Furious will be directed by Japanese stunt director and action choreographer Tanigaki Kenji. His Pan-Asian cast includes former Chinese child actor and action star Xie Miao (The New Legend of Shaolin, My Father is a Hero), Indonesia’s Joe Taslim (The Raid: Redemption), Thailand’s Jeeja Yanin (Chocolate), Yang Enyu and Indonesia’s Yayan Ruhian (The Raid: Redmeption).
That's a lot of heavy hitters. Here's the scoop from Variety, of what to expect from this new movie.
Fittingly, the story is straightforward. When his daughter is snatched off the street, simple tradesman Konggu (Xie) fights his way through a complex web of criminals in a frantic attempt to win her back by any means necessary. His only ally is tireless journalist Navin (Taslim). The two men from utterly different backgrounds must learn to trust, collaborate and draw on combat skills from their own hidden pasts.
Kong is looking to put Hong Kong back on the map as far as international action cinema is concerned. He's also doing something different than the films that he has been known to produce.
“I’m going to do an action movie that rocks the world. And to prove that Hong Kong still has something to give the film industry. I want to show that Asian people can still make an action movie that is better than the rest of the world,” Kong tells Variety.
This is one of those full circle moments for ScreenAnarchy founder, Todd Brown, who is on board The Furious as an Executive Producer. Our earliest days under the previous banner - before that even - were spent devouring all the films that Kong produced. For our lord and master this must be a surreal and special moment in his career. That's all for personal reflection on his own time, here he is telling Variety in the same article what he thinks of Tanigaki.
“While people may not know who director Kenji Tanigaki is right now, they’re certainly going to. He’s the best there is, his work is incredibly kinetic while also being incredibly grounded and real,” Brown tells Variety. “People know Bill Kong’s previous martial arts productions for being incredibly beautiful and emotional, but this one? Tanigaki is going to punch the world in the face.”
And Tanigaki is certainly looking forward to doing that with this cast.
“I’m not interested in making actors who cannot move look as if they can,” Tanigaki says. “Our cast has real skills from different martial arts disciplines. Everything we are doing is going to be practical.”“Take the films of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin or Fred Astaire. We are still watching those movies 50 years after they were made,” he adds. “They are classics, that are practical and real. I hope our movie will be able to live on like that.”
The Furious has just become our most anticipated action film of the year.
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