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A different take on Donnie and 'Hollywood'

posted 15 years ago by spencermckee007
2 replies | jump to latest

I read the thread about Donnie and Hollywood and I completely agree. Look at the crap churned out over the years by both Jackie and Jet that was more or less "American" or "Hollywood".

But I think I understand the original intentions & desire and if we take a step back, I think that what we all want, as fans of Donnie, is not to have Donnie become a victim of the Hollywood machine. It's to have American audiences have easier access to his amazing talents. The easiest answer is get him in an American movie, but we all know that is a huge mistake. What needs to happen is this: increased American studio support for foreign releases! No edits, no cuts, no mods.....did anyone see the Mirimax version of Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer? YEESH! None of that please.

Let Donnie continue to produce the body of work he has always given us, but just increase the American exposure! When a studio truly believes in a martial arts epic, and gets the word out, they normally do well! Look at CT/HD and Hero, they did quite well here! So give Donnie a chance!

[–] taijiquan12 15 years ago

Yeah, you get it. Many do not.

It bothers me how many people on here want Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa to come to Hollywood. It just amazes me how naieve and ignorant of the obvious pattern they are.
American movie studios don't allow for the high-end intense and dangerous stunt work that we know and love from these guys. This is the reason why Jackie Chan and Jet Li (more noticeably with Jackie)have way toned down movies in the West.

Even the best American made Jet Li/Jackie Chan movies are only lukewarm compared to their Eastern equivalents. The same thing would happen with Donnie and Tony and we all know it.
We'd see them get paired up with little kids and rappers, and they'd load it up with special effects and other B.S. that we don't want to see.

Sure, it would increase their exposure, but the quality would drop immensely. I'm glad that Donnie and Tony know to say no to Hollywood, and I hope they continue to do so.

"Bulls**t MR.Han Man!!"--Jim Kelly in Enter the Dragon

[–] Cognoscente (2642) 4 months ago

In Donnie's 2010 memoir, he wrote: "Blade II brought me back to Hong Kong. That’s the reason why I did Hero. Later, when I returned to Hollywood, I realized more and more that it was not suitable for me. When Jackie Chan and I collaborated on Shanghai Knights, the ending scene would have taken two months to shoot in Hong Kong, but Hollywood gave us only a few days to complete it. I think this is also the result of being restricted by the system and not being able to freely develop creative space."

In a 2005 tutorial book, he wrote: "In recent years, Hollywood has attracted talented martial artists from all over the world, and their physical standard has surpassed that of modern Hong Kong martial artists. Despite this, action in Hollywood movies has not yet made much progress. This is because the average martial artist has no experience with film or knowledge of cameras. Furthermore, even if there is a stuntman or actor who understands martial arts, has experience in filmmaking, and is good at it, he or she is rarely in a position to direct a film. The people who shoot are cinematographers, and most of them are not action professionals. That’s why so many troublesome action movies have been made."