[2024.12.06] DONNIE YEN TALKS FRANCIS NG INTO FIGHTING HIM ONE ON ONE

Donnie Yen has always been serious at work, of course he would be cautious with casting

Donnie Yen admits to spare no expense for his new film

Donnie Yen talks Francis Ng into going from dramatic scenes only to some fight scenes
courtesy of on.cc

"The Strongest in the Universe" Donnie Yen Chi Tan wore three hats for his movie THE PROSECUTOR (NG POON), and was extremely rigorous in casting. He even recruited television best actress Sisley Choi Si Bui and Mandy Wong Chi Man to make cameos to help. Chi Tan revealed that Si Bui had a re-encounter scene that needed to be reshot 3 times, but it was not because of her acting skills. Two versions were filmed as he hoped to choose the better one among them. In order to be perfect, he kept changing during filming. Ng Chun Yu had a dramatic scene that also became an "one-on-one" fight scene. Chi Tan joked that Chun Yu took a lot of convincing beforehand, and the result was full of sparks!

The Donnie Yen Chi Tan, Julian Cheung Chi Lam and Michael Hui Koon Man starred film THE PROSECUTOR (NG POON) will be released for Christmas. Chi Tan was also the producer, director and star, so he was extremely cautious about the casting. He even personally supervised the auditions. "Every actor in this movie was asked by me to join the team. I was lucky, all of them performed very well. The first one I met was Uncle Lau Kong. He had a video in which he talked about his past, when he was talking he was full of arrogance. So he was very suitable for the role of Fung Ho Yeung's grandpa in the film. As for Si Bui (Sisley Choi), she rarely played a law enforcement officer. The role was very right for her. In addition to the fight scenes, she also had a scene where we ran into each other at the MTR. There were two versions and reshot three times, because I wanted to see which result would be better. She cooperated well every time, great at both dramatic and action scenes."

Mandy Wong Chi Man made a cameo appearance as a lawyer in the film, and her appearance added a lot of points for her. Chi Tan revealed, "I want to find an actress to play a lawyer. This lawyer will not appear to be very sharp on the outside; she has to be a little gentler, but she is very powerful on the inside. Chi Man is very suitable."

Since the film has Yen Chi Tan, of course there would be many fight scenes. This time THE PROSECUTOR has many ingenious fight scenes, including a group fight at the rooftop bar. Chi Tan even used aerial photography for one straight take. He fought with dozens of stunt people at the same time, and the difficulty was super high. "This scene is completely without CG, honestly one straight take is really difficult to recapture. 40 or 50 people fought all night. (Was such a high-pressure shoot that went all night difficult to take?) Yes! I had to depend on will power, not to mention that any carelessness would lead to trouble. In a simple scene of Yeung Yeung (Fung Ho Yeung's nickname) evading pursuit, he only had to climb up the wired fence and be dragged back down. His arm was bleeding from the metal wire scrapes. Stuff like this is beyond our control."

Ng Chun Yu and Chi Tan often confronted each other in the film. They had an argument scene, in which Chi Tan decided to add an "one-on- one" fight scene in order to add more flavor. He was full of confidence in Chun Yu's fight scene skills. "He has been working for many years, so he definitely would have no problem. When I was coming up with ideas with the screenwriters, I felt that adding an one-on-one fight would elevate the whole thing by a lot. However ultimately Chun Yu is an experienced actor, and would filter whether he should do it or not. As the director, of course I had to sell the idea, and analyze it with him from different points of view and perspective. Finally he gladly accepted it, and the result was also great."

In addition to the large-scale action scene at the rooftop bar, Chi Tan also had a fight scene with the killers in the MTR car. Because the whole car would be in tatters, an actual location shoot was impossible. Thus he spent another 7 digits to build the set. He said, "The set's scale ratio is one-to-one, and a lot of stuff like the seats and railings' steel are real. Underground we have to add machinery to make the train move when it is running, which really costs a lot of money. No expense was spared."