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In the Future: Unleashed
Source: Edward Douglas
May 9, 2005
www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php
While in New York to talk about the upcoming action drama Unleashed, the film's stars Jet Li and Morgan Freeman and director Louis Leterrier talked to ComingSoon.net about their upcoming projects.
2005 was a good year for Li, as his historical epic Hero was finally released to critical acclaim and commercial success. Unleashed continues his run trying to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor. In the film, written specifically for him by French action film maven Luc Besson, Li plays Danny, a young man who has been trained from youth to be an obedient dog-like assassin for a tough mobster (Bob Hoskins)
Li's currently shooting a movie in China with directors Ronny Yu and Yuen Wo-Ping. As a producer on this untitled project, Li had a lot more at stake with it, but essentially, it's about the son of a world-class Chinese fighter who disappears after a personal tragedy and then returns for a big tournament. Li waxed philosophical on the questions he asked himself while making the film. "Through my life experiences like learning martial arts for more than thirty years and making movies for more than 25 years, [I wanted to ask] what is martial arts? What is Wu Shu? What is Kung Fu? Why learn martial arts and what do you want to do? I just discovered a lot of personal stuff."
Last time Li was in New York, he told ComingSoon.net about another project he's wanted to do in which he plays a monk in New York, so we asked for an update. "I'm still working on that," he told us, "and tonight, I will meet with the director Wong Wing. A lot of studios want to buy it, but I make the movie from my heart. I don't want to sell it and change it to an action action film. In the beginning, the studio bought it and saw that there was no action and then they don't want to make it, so I bought it back."
"Next, maybe I will make a studio movie," he said when asked about his other ambitions. "I want to make a family light comedy, to prove that I can do comedy. To make a movie for children, my daughters." Li mentioned that he has given Luc Besson the challenge of writing such a movie for him, and joked that his four daughters helped him prepare for his recent appearance on the estrogen-laced daytime talk show "The View."
After winning an Academy Award for Million Dollar Baby, Morgan Freeman was looking for something different, but his turn as the blind piano turner Sam in Unleashed was not too much of a departure. On the other hand, Freeman will branch out a bit by playing an assassin in The Contract, from Bruce Beresford, who directed Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy. "I'm a little concerned," he told us. "There's going to be a lot of action in this and I remember remarking when I did 'Robin Hood' that they would wait until I got gray hair before they started giving me action roles and there was something unfair about that. Now, I'm in the gym and I'm doing yoga to get myself physically prepared to go through this without hurting myself. I'm a little excited, but scared. I know that Bruce is going to protect me though." Freeman also joked that after playing God, the President and an assassin, the only thing left for him would be to play a woman.
Unleashed director Louis Leterrier's claim to fame was his 2002 film The Transporter starring Jason Statham, which did well enough to warrant a sequel, due out September 2. He told us a funny story about how the film's cult success has helped his status with people he meets. "It's great for me because as a Frenchman, I get stopped at the American customs. They don't like the French anymore, because it's worse than being a terrorist," he joked. "They stopped me and said "So, you come here on business. What do you do?"…"I'm a filmmaker"…"And what did you direct?"…"Something called The Transporter"…"Oh! Welcome in, sir!"
"It's a fun little movie," he said when asked what fans should expect, "but it's a simple movie. If I was to do an action movie, I didn't want [it to be] a stupid action movie. I wanted something very human; that's the important part of the movie. So 'Transporter 2' will be the same thing, more human and more action. It was shot in Miami, where Frank Martin is protecting the son of a drug czar. Jason is back, as is François Berléand's French cop." He figured that Qi Shu's character died in the trunk because she's not in the sequel.
When asked about his favorite sequence in the sequel, he told us "I choreographed one sequence, because Corey Yuen couldn't be here for the final sequence, which is a fight with a firehose where he ties six people up. That's a funny sequence. There's also a fight sequence within a falling jet with Zero-G fighting. It's pretty funny." Though finished with the editing, Letterier is having some problems with the film's rating. "I shot a hard R movie, but Fox came back and were like ‘We did a test and I think we want to make it PG-13 now.'"
Unleashed opens on Friday. Look for more with Leterrier, Li and Freeman this week. The Transporter 2 is scheduled to open on September 2.
source:
www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php
Source: Edward Douglas
May 9, 2005
www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php
While in New York to talk about the upcoming action drama Unleashed, the film's stars Jet Li and Morgan Freeman and director Louis Leterrier talked to ComingSoon.net about their upcoming projects.
2005 was a good year for Li, as his historical epic Hero was finally released to critical acclaim and commercial success. Unleashed continues his run trying to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor. In the film, written specifically for him by French action film maven Luc Besson, Li plays Danny, a young man who has been trained from youth to be an obedient dog-like assassin for a tough mobster (Bob Hoskins)
Li's currently shooting a movie in China with directors Ronny Yu and Yuen Wo-Ping. As a producer on this untitled project, Li had a lot more at stake with it, but essentially, it's about the son of a world-class Chinese fighter who disappears after a personal tragedy and then returns for a big tournament. Li waxed philosophical on the questions he asked himself while making the film. "Through my life experiences like learning martial arts for more than thirty years and making movies for more than 25 years, [I wanted to ask] what is martial arts? What is Wu Shu? What is Kung Fu? Why learn martial arts and what do you want to do? I just discovered a lot of personal stuff."
Last time Li was in New York, he told ComingSoon.net about another project he's wanted to do in which he plays a monk in New York, so we asked for an update. "I'm still working on that," he told us, "and tonight, I will meet with the director Wong Wing. A lot of studios want to buy it, but I make the movie from my heart. I don't want to sell it and change it to an action action film. In the beginning, the studio bought it and saw that there was no action and then they don't want to make it, so I bought it back."
"Next, maybe I will make a studio movie," he said when asked about his other ambitions. "I want to make a family light comedy, to prove that I can do comedy. To make a movie for children, my daughters." Li mentioned that he has given Luc Besson the challenge of writing such a movie for him, and joked that his four daughters helped him prepare for his recent appearance on the estrogen-laced daytime talk show "The View."
After winning an Academy Award for Million Dollar Baby, Morgan Freeman was looking for something different, but his turn as the blind piano turner Sam in Unleashed was not too much of a departure. On the other hand, Freeman will branch out a bit by playing an assassin in The Contract, from Bruce Beresford, who directed Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy. "I'm a little concerned," he told us. "There's going to be a lot of action in this and I remember remarking when I did 'Robin Hood' that they would wait until I got gray hair before they started giving me action roles and there was something unfair about that. Now, I'm in the gym and I'm doing yoga to get myself physically prepared to go through this without hurting myself. I'm a little excited, but scared. I know that Bruce is going to protect me though." Freeman also joked that after playing God, the President and an assassin, the only thing left for him would be to play a woman.
Unleashed director Louis Leterrier's claim to fame was his 2002 film The Transporter starring Jason Statham, which did well enough to warrant a sequel, due out September 2. He told us a funny story about how the film's cult success has helped his status with people he meets. "It's great for me because as a Frenchman, I get stopped at the American customs. They don't like the French anymore, because it's worse than being a terrorist," he joked. "They stopped me and said "So, you come here on business. What do you do?"…"I'm a filmmaker"…"And what did you direct?"…"Something called The Transporter"…"Oh! Welcome in, sir!"
"It's a fun little movie," he said when asked what fans should expect, "but it's a simple movie. If I was to do an action movie, I didn't want [it to be] a stupid action movie. I wanted something very human; that's the important part of the movie. So 'Transporter 2' will be the same thing, more human and more action. It was shot in Miami, where Frank Martin is protecting the son of a drug czar. Jason is back, as is François Berléand's French cop." He figured that Qi Shu's character died in the trunk because she's not in the sequel.
When asked about his favorite sequence in the sequel, he told us "I choreographed one sequence, because Corey Yuen couldn't be here for the final sequence, which is a fight with a firehose where he ties six people up. That's a funny sequence. There's also a fight sequence within a falling jet with Zero-G fighting. It's pretty funny." Though finished with the editing, Letterier is having some problems with the film's rating. "I shot a hard R movie, but Fox came back and were like ‘We did a test and I think we want to make it PG-13 now.'"
Unleashed opens on Friday. Look for more with Leterrier, Li and Freeman this week. The Transporter 2 is scheduled to open on September 2.
source:
www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php
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