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23 Jan 2013 Tony promoted <Grandmaster> in Singapore

 
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:21 am    Post subject: 23 Jan 2013 Tony promoted <Grandmaster> in Singapore Reply with quote






































Tony Leung: The charming Grandmaster
By Han Wei Chou | Posted: 25 January 2013

SINGAPORE: "He is so charming!" a female guest whispered breathlessly, as Hong Kong actor Tony Leung breezed past her into an exhibition hall at the ArtScience Museum, to speak with reporters after a media conference for his new film "The Grandmaster".

Even at 50, the charismatic Leung still turned heads during his promotional visit to Singapore on Wednesday.

But it was what he had to say about Wong Kar Wai's martial arts epic "The Grandmaster" which piqued the interest of the gathered reporters.

Leung, who plays martial arts master Ip Man in the film, revealed that one of the biggest misconceptions people have about "The Grandmaster" is that it was a pain for him to shoot.

Even though Leung had to undergo over two years of martial arts training for the role, endure two painful fractures sustained during his training, and spend over four years shooting the film, Leung said he didn't mind the hardship at all.

"Whatever you do, there is bound to be hardship," said Leung.

"There is hardship. There is also joy, and a feeling of accomplishment. Hardship is just one aspect of work."

"There is nothing painful about it. It is people's interpretation of how I feel," Leung continued.

As for the years he spent undergoing martial arts training, Leung believed it would have been impossible to play Ip Man successfully in "The Grandmaster" without the training.

"I am not trying to portray a martial artist's look, but show his spirit. You have to understand it before you have the confidence to do this," said Leung.

"When I first read the script, I just could not grasp why the characters have these ideas about marital arts."

"You need to experience it through accumulated practice and discipline. You can only get a deep understanding of these ideas over time," he added.

"Kung Fu is not so simple. It's not a self-defence technique or about physical training. Spiritually, it is about training, cultivating your mind, and is a way of life."

Peace lover

While he did not mind the injuries and the training he had to undergo for his role, Leung found actually having to hit his stunt partners during the film's action scenes one of his biggest obstacles while shooting "The Grandmaster".

"I never liked hitting people. I don't like that feeling," said Leung with a grimace.

"The action director will keep asking me to 'Hit him (the stuntmen he fight in the film), treat him like a punching bag!'

"I said 'I can't do it, he's a person too'. He'd say 'Don't care about that. Hit him.'

"Then I tell him 'This is cruel, get somebody else to do it." said Leung.

What would he do if he was actually attacked in a dark alley?

"If I really end up having to use my martial arts skills, I'd hit him once or twice and run away."

"I don't like violence."

With "The Grandmaster" complete, Leung expressed that he hopes to take a break for now.

However, it might be some time before he can rest, as he'll be busy with all the promotional activities for the film, which opens in Singapore on January 31.

"Besides Singapore, I have to go to Europe, the US, Korea, japan and other countries which I still don't know about," said the actor.

"The word 'Holiday' sounds pretty distant."

-CNA/ha

===============
Tony Leung sheds blood, sweat and tears

Singapore Press// showbiz.omy.sg
24/01/2013 by JOY FANG

It was a piece of work that was more than a decade in the making, and which inflicted a direct cost on the health - and sometimes mental stability - of director Wong Kar Wai's cast.

While working on Wong's latest epic, The Grandmaster, superstar Tony Leung Chiu Wai, who plays Wing Chun master Ip Man, spent three years training in the Chinese martial art.

Leung, 50, even fractured his arm twice. But he said that these were necessary sacrifices.

"It is only when you spend a lot of time training, can you truly understand the philosophy of the martial art and the inspiration behind it. You can't read two books and expect to be knowledgable," he added.

Leung's co-stars - Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, 33, who plays a Bagua pugilist; and Taiwan's Chang Chen, 36, who portrays a Baji master - spent years training as well. Zhang said at a press conference in China that, at one point, she was "close to the brink of collapse".

But they were imbued with a sense of duty that comes from their director, on whose shoulders rests the burden of promoting Chinese martial arts to the world, and to doing the masters of gongfu justice.

Wong, 54, put in a total of six years of prep work, three years of shooting, and three years visiting some 100 gongfu masters across China. He feels a strong sense of duty to those masters he met.

"They had a lot of trust in me. They even shared some of their secret techniques," said Wong, known for works like 2046 (2004) and In The Mood For Love (2000). Their wish was for him to promote Chinese gongfu, in the hopes that it would carry on in future.

"I cannot let them down, especially as some of them have since died," Wong said.

He added of the actors' training: "If they hadn't gone through that process, I don't think they would have produced such great performances."

When it comes to Leung, training was most important. Wong said that the question on the audience's mind would be whether Leung, who has never acted in a gongfu film before, can fight. So, "I had to make sure the audience is convinced beyond a doubt", he said.

My Paper asked about the inevitable comparisons with Donnie Yen's Ip Man films. Wong said that where Yen's movies are focused on the gongfu, The Grandmaster delves into Ip Man's entire life and how he became who he was.

And how does Wong rate Leung's portrayal of Ip Man against Yen's?

"When I see Donnie Yen's Ip Man, I see Donnie Yen. When I see Tony Leung's, I see Ip Man," said Wong firmly.

The Grandmaster opens in cinemas next Thursday, 31 Jan 2013.

Source: http://showbiz.omy.sg/Showbiz/E-News/Tony-Leung-sheds-blood-sweat-and-tears-130768

===============
More to martial arts than violence, says Wong Kar-wai
Posted: 23 January 2013

SINGAPORE: Award-winning Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-wai said Wednesday he wanted his latest film to show audiences that there is more to martial arts than violence, and hoped to open a new chapter in the genre.

"We hope this movie can turn a new page on martial arts movies," Wong told reporters in Singapore before the local premiere of "The Grandmaster".

Billed as an epic drama inspired by the life of Yip Man, the mentor of kung fu film hero Bruce Lee, it stars Hong Kong heart-throb Tony Leung and Chinese star Zhang Ziyi.

Although it is an action film, it also explores the patience and discipline of kung fu masters.

"The stories of martial arts films consist only of fighting, but actually all the martial arts styles showcased are well-founded," said Wong, wearing his signature sunglasses.

Wong, known for taking his time to shoot highly stylised films, is best known for his 1994 romance "Chungking Express", intense period drama "In the Mood for Love", from 2000, and his 2004 sci-fi flick "2046".

=============

Wong Kar Wai: Expect to see “a very different Tony Leung”
by Denise Cheong

Last Wednesday, a dashing Tony Leung and a slightly more elusive Wong Kar Wai graced the floors of the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands for a press conference on their latest collaboration ‘The Grandmaster’, starring Leung, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Cheng and Song Hye Kyo.

The Chinese martial arts film follows the life of legendary wing shun master, Ip Man, played by Leung, 50. This is a film of several firsts as it is not only Wong’s first time directing a martial arts film, but is also Leung’s first time playing the lead in one. Alas, it is also Zhang Ziyi’s last appearance in a martial arts film. The widely acclaimed film was a roaring success at the Hong Kong box office, raking in US$2 million in just four days, and US$28 million in seven days at the China box office.

‘The Grandmaster’, which took a total of 10 years to complete, has been a new and challenging experience for the nine-time Hong Kong Film Awards actor: “Yes, the kungfu was physically challenging and demanding,” Leung admits. “The most important aspect of kungfu, however, is really learning how to understand it. Even through all my training, I’ve learnt that it is impossible to portray the role of a martial arts master just from the script and a few months of training.”

The action-packed film came as a surprise for many WKW-purists, who is well-known not just for hiding behind his signature pair of sunglasses, but more so for his multi award-winning, melodramas like ‘In the Mood for Love’ and ‘Chungking Express’. The 54-year-old Hong Kong director explains: “There is something really magical and mysterious about Chinese martial arts. In my younger days, I used to read a lot of martial arts novels and watch many martial arts films starring the legendary Bruce Lee and Jet Li. To me, martial arts is more than just fighting. It is also about the spirit and philosophy behind it. It has been my dream to direct a movie like this.”

“In making this film, I hope that it would create a new perspective on martial films – that it’s not just about action. I also hope to answer this question: Can Tony Leung fight? I want to create something that is convincing for the audience.”

With regards to Wong’s shift from his more wrought-with-emotion-type films, he explains that the drama and emotions are merely means to an end. “Making a film is an art. What’s more important is learning how to incorporate these emotions into the art of filmmaking.

Even having worked together for 20 years and a total of six different movies, Wong still took a moment to applaud Leung for his hard work and dedication on set: “In the time that has passed, I can see that the various roles Tony took on had some level of difficulty for him – particularly so in this film. Ip Man was an important test for him because this was not a role he has been playing all along. He needed a great deal of spirit to support this feat. To him, it was not only a test of his acting skills but also of his physical abilities. Looking back now, I think what Tony has achieved has surpassed what I had asked for, so I am very happy for him. I hope the audiences who like him will come and watch this film because you will get to see a very different Tony Leung.”

“It was very important to trust Wong,” Leung responded. “When you trust your director, you can focus on your art. I’ve worked with him for so many years now, and this sort of chemistry is very rare.“

Addressing the rumour that the two have been in a tiff as a result from Wong trimming out some of Leung’s most difficult scenes, the Hong Kong actor replies: “I fully trust Kar Wai to edit what gets screened. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a four-hour long movie! He is the director and decides how the story should be told.”

Leung also sustained several injuries on set, including a broken arm, but it did not deter him from giving his best performance possible. He says, “I never thought of giving up. Getting injured is not a big deal. Like a sportsman, it is part and parcel of the job. Like facing obstacles in life, the most important thing is to overcome these difficulties and push through them.”

Source: http://news.insing.com/feature/wong-kar-wai-expect-to-see-a-very-different-tony-leung/id-8d6b3f00

=============
Martial arts epic The Grandmaster reduced Tony Leung to tears
By Elizabeth Soh | Show Buzz – Wed, Jan 23, 2013 7:02 PM SGT

Yes, the normally stoic and calm Tony Leung was so overcome by emotion when he saw the final cut of martial arts epic The Grandmaster that he cried.

"When I saw the finished piece, I had a moment of extreme emotion, and I cried," admitted Leung in Mandarin at the Singapore press conference to promote the film with director Wong Kar Wai on Wednesday.

"I was overcome by the feeling -- it was the fruit of four years of work and challenges."

Challenging would be an understatement -- Leung, 50, reportedly broke his hands twice during training during filming, and he even began taking Wing Chun lessons three years beforehand to prepare himself for his role.

The cast also had to film through rough weather conditions -- toughing it out in China on the coldest winter in ten years and then later through a sweltering summer. The movie's release was repeatedly delayed, reportedly due to Leung's injuries and many scenes had to be cut as there was too much footage.

But if box office figures are anything to go by, it looks like all that pain and suffering was worth it -- "The Grandmaster" has grossed about S$2.3 million in Hong Kong and S$60 million in China so far.

Yahoo! Singapore finds out from the Asian cinema dream-team why exactly the film took so long to be made and if rumours about Wong and Leung being at odds are really true.

Childhood dream come true

"I grew up reading martial arts novels as a child and I was always curious - was Chinese Kung Fu really as mystical as it seemed in the stories? Was it only something visually appealing or was it as invincible an art as what I read?" said the Shanghai-born Wong.

And so the notorious perfectionist set out on an arduous journey to find his answers, travelling across China to meet modern day pugilists and historians who were experts in the fields of Wing Chun, Baguazhang, Bajiquan, and Xingyiquan martial arts.

"I found that it was indeed as mystical and as invincible as my stories -- and I hope that this is reflected in the movie," said Wong.

Wong was so moved by his research that he made it a requirement for all his main actors to spend at least a year training under a kung-fu grandmaster in order to develop the "spirit" of a Chinese pugilist.

Discovering the 'soul' of martial arts

Veteran method actor Leung not only took on Wong's challenge but took it a step further, training for three years until he was strong enough to break a wooden board that was a few inches thick with one blow.

"You cannot find the true essence of martial arts in a book. You must find it through practice -- it is something that will take root in you and grow by itself. After three years of experiencing it, I can start to go beyond the physical aspects of kungfu to find it's true spirit," said the intense Leung, who plays the titular character in the story, Ip Man.

When asked if he ever thought of giving up when he was injured, Leung, who looked taut and trim in a white shirt and black cardigan, paused to find the right words to express himself.

"It (broken hands) was no big deal, you can also injure yourself exercising. What was frustrating was that I had to start all over again. I had reached this level at my training, and then the injury, and I was back at square one. But you just have to figure out how to overcome it."

Comparisons with Donnie Yen's Ip Man

However, fans expecting a straight-up, action-packed reboot of Donnie Yen's 2008 smash hit "Ip Man" may end up disappointed.

Wong's filming style remains cinematic and highly stylised with plenty of slow-mo cuts -- the focus being on the actors and their expressions of inner turmoil.

"To play Grandmaster Ip Man, Leung needed not just strength in body but also spirit and mind. He has exceeded my expectations of him as an actor -- this movie will show a totally different side to him," said Wong - high praise from a man of few words.

"He(Leung) has attained a very high level of acting - by just moving one muscle, he can completely change the expressions on his face and the feel of his performance."

Did Leung and Wong fall out?

It seemed like a silly question to ask after Leung and Wong had bantered with and praised each other repeatedly during the press conference, but rumour has it the two fell out after the release of "The Grandmaster" because Wong had cut many of Leung's scenes, placing the limelight on Chinese actress and co-star Zhang Ziyi instead.

Korean actress Song Hye Gyo, who plays Ip Man's wife, only received six minutes of screentime and has been conspicuously absent from all promotional tours for the movie.

Rubbishing the rumours, Leung said that he was not even sure himself how many cuts had been made.

"If Wong were to use all the footage, the film would be four to five hours long. Look at me, the product I am is the results of 49 years of experience, and it's impossible to share everything about me in one breath. The finished product is Wong's product -- I don't see it as a waste or a pity."

Leung also described the relationship between him and Wong as being one of "complete trust" and "unspoken chemistry" borne of 20 years of friendship and seven movies together.

"We have known each other for 20 years. Although we don't talk very often, we have a relationship of absolute trust. When you work with someone you trust completely, you only have to focus on yourself," said Leung.

However, he was coy about actress Song's absence.

"I have a lot of empathy for Song. I have shot many movies that are not in my native language and I know how it feels when you don't understand the language. It's like you're deaf and dumb," he said.

One last thing -- Wong would like you to know that no expensive qipaos (Mandarin gowns) were damaged by Zhang Ziyi during the three years of filming.

"She (Zhang) is a very cultured lady of impeccable bearing. She would not even sit in between takes so that the dress would not get wrinkled or untidy. I have told the young actors to learn from her," said Wong with a laugh.

"Be aware of your appearance, your behaviour and the impressions you make," he intoned, tongue in cheek.

Source: http://sg.movies.yahoo.com/blogs/show-buzz/martial-arts-epic-grandmaster-reduced-tony-leung-tears-110253391.html

=============

Maybe the real love story here is the one between a man and his director. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Wong Kar-Wai have made seven films together over a period of almost twenty years, and now their seventh film – The Grandmaster – is battling its way into cinemas. It was a long, arduous shoot, with Leung training for three years before a single frame of footage was even shot. The two men, both acknowledged to be at the very top of their game in their respective careers, talk candidly about their love for kungfu movies, the challenges involved in making a the film, and give us a little insight into a friendship that’s yielded the dreamy, artistic likes of 2046 and In The Mood For Love.



THE GRANDMASTER - Q&A with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Wong Kar-Wai
By Shawne Wang

Q: There have been some reports that this film is the fulfillment of your childhood dreams of making a martial arts film – The Grandmaster being the first kungfu movie you’ve ever made. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

WONG KAR-WAI (WKW): It’s not just me – Tony’s the same way. Ever since we were kids, we’ve always been very curious about kungfu movies, but have never really had the chance to enter that world. Doing this film has given me a sense of what the martial arts world really is, and has also afforded Tony the opportunity to play a martial arts grandmaster.

Q: What was it about martial arts that proved so appealing to you?

WKW: I’ve always loved the notion of it – my first experience of it was literary, through martial arts novels and their almost mystical characters. Then I watched the movies: those starring Bruce Lee, Jet Li, the Shaw Brothers films. I wondered if Chinese martial arts was really that incredible… was it something that looked great and cool but didn’t really encompass what was in all the books and movies? Having walked this road [with The Grandmaster], I did discover that Chinese martial arts really is profound. Its philosophy and the spirit of its practitioners are just incredible, and I hope I can communicate that to the audience in this film.

Q: In interviews, you’ve said that you hope that Tony can achieve some kind of breakthrough in this film. Do you think he’s succeeded?

WKW: I’ve worked with Tony for almost twenty years and on six films [not counting The Grandmaster]. I think he’s now reached the point where a lot of roles are very easy for him to play – but I do think this role of Ip Man did represent a challenge for him because he’s never played such a part before. He needed a lot of stamina and discipline to get through the production, because it was a challenge not just to his acting skills but also in physical terms. In retrospect, I think he did what I asked for, and in fact surpassed it. I hope that his fans will come and see this movie because they’ll see a very different Tony Leung in it.

Q: What about you, Tony? Where do you think you achieved a breakthrough where this movie is concerned?

TONY LEUNG CHIU-WAI (TL): I… don’t know. But I think the thing that was most difficult for me was the martial arts aspect of it. I knew about it as a kid, of course, but I’d never had personal experience of it so it was completely new to me. The physical demands were really great. But after going through with the training, I did realise that taking the time to practice martial arts wasn’t just so I could deal with the big fight scenes, but also because it helped me to understand the internal journey, feelings and epiphanies experienced by martial arts masters. Before, I could see it, and understand it intellectually, but I’d never felt it myself – and that took me a long time to comprehend. It’s what allowed me to give the performance I did, not just where the fight scenes were concerned. It’s not something you can learn by reading… To understand how a martial arts master deals with his craft is something that you have to experience yourself, and something that develops slowly through that.


Q: When you were injured or in pain, did you ever consider giving up?

TL: No, because getting hurt wasn’t really a big deal. You can get hurt while exercising. This was just an obstacle I had to deal with during the process. The biggest problem was that I couldn’t move [about as freely] and couldn’t continue practicing martial arts after I was injured. The first time, I broke a bone [his arm]; the second time was on the first day of shooting. I had practiced and reached a certain level of skill, and then I had to start from square one – twice! It was okay, I guess – you will encounter difficulties in everything you do, and it’s a matter of figuring out how to deal with it.

Q: What was it like working with your female co-stars Zhang Ziyi and Song Hye Gyo?

TL: Both of them are excellent actresses. I’ve worked with Ziyi quite a few times, and it goes without saying that she’s a great actress. After experiencing it myself, I thought she was admirable too for going through the process of preparing to be in an action movie. As for Song Hye Gyo, I felt so sorry for her, since I’ve been a part of movies that were filmed in languages I didn’t understand – like Chinese movies, at a point when I could understand it but couldn’t speak it, or Vietnamese films. For her to be so professional in the part was a really tough thing.

Q: The film was originally titled The Grandmasters before it lost the plural and became The Grandmaster. What happened there?

WKW: Initially, we wanted to make sure the audience knew that the film was about a few grandmasters, not just one. But, finally, my son told me that I could achieve the same goal by simply calling it The Grandmaster, which was a better, more impactful title. So I listened to him! As a film title, it actually isn’t tied to any particular individual, but is more about a state of mind – what is it that allows someone to attain the level of grandmaster, or to be called grandmaster?


Q: This is your seventh collaboration – what’s different about it?

WKW: It’s been more and more difficult, because our choices have become fewer and fewer. We are always looking for different challenges, but every time I give him a challenge, he meets it. Perhaps next time we should really do something completely different!

TL: Actually, I haven’t worked with this group of people in about ten years. But every time we get back together, I feel we have a certain kind of chemistry and energy, with all of us wanting to work together to do what we love. It was the same this time around. The biggest difference this time was that he gave me a lot of encouragement and boosted my self-confidence more! All the other films I’ve made with him, I have never been given a character as clear-cut as the one I played in this film – we have a real person that my character is based on, and we wanted this Ip Man to be a blend of the real Ip Man and a little bit of Bruce Lee, so I had a lot of stuff I could work with to prepare… which meant I was the luckiest actor in the production! Only I knew what was going on! The other actors were walking the path I had taken before… perhaps next time you’ll be nicer to them too!

WKW: Actually there’s a reason I was so nice to him! I remember when we were filming The Ashes Of Time in 1994, every night I would see Tony wandering the hotel corridors with a bottle of wine – he didn’t really sleep at night then – with music playing softly in the background. But, this time, on The Grandmaster, he was already injured and he wandered everywhere with a bottle of pills in his hand! So I felt I had to give him special encouragement or I was afraid he wouldn’t make it through the production!

Q: What was your own reaction to seeing this movie for the first time?

TL: Well, my reaction is of course very different from that of the audience. After all, in the four years I’ve been working on this film [three years of training and one of filming], I’ve gone through a lot… it was a very arduous process and a great challenge for many of us involved in The Grandmaster. There were occasions when I was so tired I almost couldn’t take it, but at least – as an actor – I could sneak a couple of days here and there to skive off, take a break and re-charge. But there’s only one director! I remember looking at his face when he finally finished the movie, and wondered if he’d be able to make it through the next few months of publicity. So, when I saw the final product, I couldn’t help thinking about how we’d managed to make it after those four years and I was so moved, I cried.

WKW: I think a lot of people would walk into the cinema wondering whether Tony Leung can fight. And I know that was a great personal challenge for him – reaching a level at which the audience would be satisfied with what they saw from him. So even when he was injured, he was on set, on standby. For him, it was an obstacle that he overcame step by step. And that’s why he had that reaction to the movie.

Q: Over the years you’ve been collaborating, it seems as if the Tony who appears in your movies has become more and more solemn as compared to the earlier films when he could show off some of his youth and comic talents…

WKW: I actually think it’s the other way around! Near the end of this film, when he was almost fifty, I felt he was getting younger and younger! I asked him what was going on!

Q: Your previous movies have highlighted your fascination with the cheongsam. Why do you like them so much? Also, there was a scene in the film when Zhang Ziyi was fighting in a cheongsam and silk slippers – how many dresses did she tear in the process?


WKW: Actually, fashion is the mark and symbol of its era. It’s not that I’m particularly taken with cheongsams, it’s that they were the fashion of the times in which the movie was set. Ziyi was actually wearing changpao in this film, which is a bit more gender-neutral. She had a lot of fight scenes but she didn’t really tear any dresses because she’s very disciplined and careful. Tony and Ziyi would always stand by the side after a take, and wouldn’t immediately change out of their costumes – they wouldn’t just sit down to avoid crumpling their outfits. So I’ve always told younger actors to learn from them. They must treasure their images, the way they’re dressed, as that’s part of the soul of their characters.

Q: Tony, would you consider Kar-Wai to be your soul-mate in the film-making sphere?

TL: Definitely. Over the past twenty years, we’ve been colleagues but also friends. We don’t always talk all the time but you don’t really need to in order to have a level of confidence and trust in the other person. This has to be developed over a long period of time. Work-wise, you do develop a certain kind of chemistry. We don’t really have a lot of discussions during filming – he won’t tell me why he’s filming the way he is and I don’t ask, because he must have his reasons for doing what he’s doing. What I can do is fulfill my own duties to the best of my ability. Sometimes, I only realise why he designed a scene or shot a particular way after I see the movie myself, but I wouldn’t know it at the point of filming. In such a circumstance, you have to trust this person implicitly! But whatever he tells me to do, I will do, because I know he has his reasons. This is the kind of understanding we have. It’s rare to have someone you can trust so much that you just need to focus on your own job and not think too much about everything else.

WKW: This trust is very important and allows us to have sustained this relationship for as long as we have. And we do still keep each other guessing: sometimes, he surprises me with something he does while acting, other times I surprise him with the way I shoot a scene. One of the most pleasant surprises I had with this film was seeing the level of detail and care Tony now puts into his performances. A lot of the time, we’re doing night shoots or filming in the rain or a fight scene – when shooting it, you’d think he did a great job. But, when editing the footage on a big screen, you realise just how much detail is encompassed in his expression. How a muscle in his face twitches or the way his eyes flicker can completely turn a scene around. I really think that Tony has achieved something truly impressive as a screen actor.

Q: Tony, there have been reports that you weren’t happy about some of your scenes being cut from the movie. Can you comment on that?

TL: I really do not know how much exactly has been cut from the movie. But I don’t personally feel a great sense of pity or loss over whatever has been cut. As an actor, I’ve acted it already – whether that footage can be used depends on how the director goes about putting the film together. This is his movie. If he uses everything I did, the movie might end up being four hours long! In the end, the final product is entirely up to him; he’ll use what he needs to tell his story. I don’t feel it but maybe the audience will lament the loss of some scenes they’ll never see.

Source: http://www.fmoviemag.com/c/features/item/1007-the-grandmaster-interview
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