[2014.12.07] EDDIE PENG OVERCOMES HIS FEAR OF HEIGHTS

RISE OF THE LEGEND makes Eddie Peng fall for kung fu film
courtesy of mingpao.com

Taiwan actor Eddie Peng Yu-Yen appeared on Cable's Film Montage program, discussing the memorable parts of his new film production RISE OF THE LEGEND (WONG FEI HUNG ji YING HUNG YAU MUNG). Playing Wong Fei Hung he admitted that he suffered for the character. One building jumping scene took over 30 days of shooting in a row. Finally even his fear of height was healed without any treatment.

The story of Wong Fei Hung has been adapted for the big screen many times. Peng Yu-Yen admitted that playing a classic character felt rather stressful. Thus he deliberately studied martial art for over a year, everyday he stretched, trained and practiced. The strict lifestyle put his body in the best shape of his life. "Muscles require time to accumulate. Since completing UNBEATABLE (GIK JIN) everyday I still continue to accept different training. Thus my body in this film could be considered as reaching its peak. The director in order to create a character that could rival a foreign super hero wanted me to put a lot of effort into my figure, like leg training, so I looked more powerful."

In the film he had many large scene fight scenes. The more memorable one was with Max Zhang Jin. He said, "Zhang Jin is a Tai Chi champion, but I have never traded blows with a master. Thus I specifically asked him for more lessons." That fight scene took place in a room, then he jumped from the third floor to the first floor and was blasted out of the house. He said, "This scene took over 30 days to shoot. Everyday I kept jumping off the building, it was almost suicidal behavior. I never imagined that after finishing the shoot, my original fear of heights was also gone." Started in romance, he worked on his first action kung fu film and even fell in love with making it. He said, "I hope viewers will like the action film me, Jackie Chan, (Donnie) Yen Chi Tan and Lee Nin Kit (Jet Li) will be my goals. However I also want to develop in other genres. I hope to be able to have a breakthrough in comedy as well."