Michelle Yeoh to Star in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” Sequel
After a 13-year lapse, Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) will starring in the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon <臥虎藏龍>. The blockbuster film won numerous international awards when it was released in 2000. However, director Ang Lee (李安) will not return for the sequel.
Citing that wuxia topics have been over-explored in films, Ang Lee decided to not direct the movie. Producer Harvey Weinstein has approached director Ronny Yu (于仁泰) of The Bride with White Hair <白髮魔女傳> fame to helm the movie. It has also been reported that John Fusco who wrote the screenplay for Jet Li’s (李連杰) The Forbidden Kingdom (功夫之王) will pen the script.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had earned $128 million USD at the American box office, while earning more than $213 million USD globally. Among the many awards it received, it also swept four Academy Awards, becoming the highest-grossing foreign-language film to do so. Not an easy feat considering it was made on a budget of only $17 million USD and with dialogues wholly in Mandarin.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was based on the fourth book of a five-part epic wuxia-romance series, called Crane-Iron Series <鶴鐵系列> written by the late author, Wang Dulu (王度庐). There were rumors circulating in the mid-2000s that Columbia Pictures was interested in making a prequel, likely based on the second book, Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin <寶劍金釵>. However, all plans halted in 2005 when a legal tussle between Columbia Pictures and The Weinstein Company ensued, resulting in the books’ rights finally awarded to the latter.
Iron Knight, Silver Vase
It is reported that the sequel of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be based on the fifth book of the pentalogy, Iron Knight, Silver Vase <鐵騎銀瓶>. Since the story will revolve around Yu Shu Lien portrayed previously by Michelle Yeoh, she was invited to film the sequel. Yesterday, at a promotional event in Beijing, Michelle Yeoh admitted that she will soon film for the sequel of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but refused to leak additional details.
Aside from Michelle, there has been no news whether the original cast such as Chow Yun Fat (周潤發) and Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) will return to film for the sequel. With Zhang Ziyi declaring that she will not film another wuxia movie after the rigorous filming of The Grandmaster <一代宗師>, chances are slim that she will return.
Filming for the sequel will begin in May this year and fans may look forward to an early 2014 release of the yet-to-be-titled sequel.
Sources: Oriental Daily, O22net.com
This article is written by Karen for JayneStars.com.
Excited to see Michelle Yeoh return for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sequel, although it is a loss that Ang Lee does not wish to direct the sequel. It was Ang Lee’s romantic and poetic touch to the film that made it stand apart from other martial arts films.
are you serious? this movie is like any other wushu movie. It only seen as a master piece because it miraculously won an oscar. There tons of movie of the same genre that is way better. Even Ang Lee knows that lol
Totally agree. Won awards only because cgi was used extensively (I actually find the roof top chase awkward because there were times when their feet fail to touch the tiles)and with the absence of a good female wuxia heroine for years, the appearance of ZZY (who did an extremely good job), the west was mesmerised by this pocket-rocket**
Much as I love CYF, he is really wrongly cast as he’s never been a wuxia fella. I was smiling throughout whenever he crossed swords.
If this is sequel, surely Chow Yun Fatt can’t return since he DIED in the 1st movie. And I suppose Ang Lee said no because probably he didn’t like the script or the story.
As for the movie itself, hated it. Should have been Jet li in that movie. I didn’t see it as poetic or romantic. I thought Hero was more poetic in a sense with the use of colours.
Funn,
Hated the martial arts? Would Jet Li starring in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” have saved the movie for you?
Probably, because Chow Yun Fatt was an absolute miscast. It should have been Jet Li. But in the end I suppose not. The kung fu is either loved or hated. I hated it.
I also wanna know why you didn’t like it.
agree, jet li should in there instead of cyf.the kung fu part could be more spectacular if with jet li. i hope yun woo ping also in cthd2.
I say both CYF and Jet Li are not the rigght choice. CYF is too heavy set, and moves too slow, Jet li is too stoned faced without the needed emotions, no kung fu actors out there seem to fit both requirements, Michelle is the only one that can, and Zhang Ziyi is great in that movie as the rebellious noble girl, she deserves all the accolades.
I have a feeling Jet Li was the 1st choice. And stone faced is Li Mu Bai by the way.
Funn Lim,
Ang Lee had Jet Li in mind for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” but his wife, Nina Li, had just given birth that year and he promised he would take 1 year filming break to be with her. So Jet passed on the opportunity to act in the movie and Chow Yun Fat was cast. In the film, many of Chow’s scenes were cut, in which you barely saw him attack his opponents and just simply point the swords at their throats. Chow was reported to be upset in how Ang Lee had cut his scenes in the movie.
lol, li mu bai indeed didnt have much expression on his face.but cyf looks more like a mentor than jet li i think.
Ang Lee should have taken Yuen Biao….fantastic fight choreography, matured age gentleman, still good looking.
I hated Michelle’s mandarin, it was absolutely deadpan and monotone, full of canto accents**
Having Cheng Pei Pei in a cameo was a master’s stroke.
I find the martials arts moves in this movie was mundane, seen them all before. Only those ‘stupid’ caucasians have not and find them fresh.
Many times, you can see the wire work in play, rendering them artificial.
‘stupid’ Caucasians? Man, that’s tough. The wuxia was something new and fresh to the western audience therefore they found it appealing. To call them stupid is outrageous and uncalled for.
Yes, @Serious, Stupid it is….
Wuxia and martial arts have been in HK and Chinese cinema for well over 50 years and yet they haven’t seen it before!
How narrow minded can they get and are???
Calling them stupid is not uncalled for or outrageous, it is waking them up from burying their head in the deep sand.
After all, they know how to make fools of Asians is the old ‘Fu Manchu’ movies, as gangsters and prostitutes in ‘Suzie Wong’ and a hosts of others, as the nerdy weird typecast character in an 1980s movie (forgotten name), and all the negative portrayals like Chow Yun Fatt’s first Hollywood movie must have a Chinese villian (Tseng Kong) opposite him and not a white guy becos a Chinese cannot be made to triump over a white baddie but they haven’t seen quality wuxia martial arts films?
Hell, They truly are STUPID!!! There you go.
All cultures have their share of stupidity. No need to call out specific ones.
Lol, reverse racism.
too little too late….took them 13 years to film part 2?
I actually hated CTHD. I thought the story was so so but the scenery was great. For wuxia movies, I think “Reign of the Assassins” is a much better choice in terms of pace, storyline and action. Michelle shoudl film a sequel or a similar film to ROA instead.
I feel that the reason why people felt the fighting was subpar was because Ang Lee tried his best to fit an entire novel into 120 mins. That’s….pretty damn difficult. So the main focus was the story, the action had to suffer a bit.
This movie is so overrated. I’ve seen better ones. I’d say it’s some luck that it got this big cuz westerners seemed to be so fascinated with the fighting scenes that they so-called have not seen before. So odd. Also, I concur with someone before this who said the effects’ too over the top when they were flying over the rooftops. It looked so fake and unnatural.
Also, I think the movie’s really boring. Makes you uninterested after a while.
Someone also mentioned Hero, and this is way better!