NG MUI Si - NING MUI Monastery - Ning Mui Kung Fu Organisation
NG MUI Si - NING MUI Monastery - Ning Mui Kung Fu Organisation
NG MUI Si - NING MUI Monastery - Ning Mui Kung Fu Organisation
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<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Si</strong> - NI<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Monastery</strong><br />
rival from another Wushu school or an unscrupulous foreigner - but there is no villain in the film. Instead, it is Yuanjia<br />
himself, through is arrogance and self importance, who emerges as the film's antagonist, doing more damage to himself<br />
than any enemy ever could.<br />
Fearless is to the chop sockey film what Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven was to the western. The film redefines the genre,<br />
as opposed to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was a reinterpretation of the genre. Crouching Tiger was an epic<br />
tale of a doomed romance, punctuated by martial arts action. But Fearless is a traditional martial arts film, that takes<br />
the traditions in a new direction. For Jet Li, who has carried on what was started by the greatest Wushu actors of all<br />
time; Fearless is a culmination of a lifetime spent in martial arts and film.<br />
DAVID WALKER: How did you come to make Fearless?<br />
JET LI: This character, Huo Yuanjia, is well known in China. People have made a lot of films about him after he died,<br />
about his students coming back to figure out who killed their master, to get revenge. Bruce Lee made one. I made Fist<br />
of Legend. This story had been in my head many years already, but the motivation to make this movie came in 2003<br />
when I heard terrible news in China. In that year, a quarter million people committed suicide. I was suffering. A lot of<br />
teenagers, they don't know life yet, they just give up. What could I do? I wanted to make a movie telling a story of life.<br />
Even this master who was very strong - everybody knows he's mentally and physically very strong - but he also made<br />
mistakes. He also had a hard time in his life. But don't give up. That's the big motivation for making this film.<br />
Is it true that Fearless is your last martial arts film?<br />
I've made a lot of action films, and when I'm walking down the street a lot of teenagers say, "Jet Li kicks ass!" They are<br />
more focused on the physical part. They are more focused on the violence - using violence against violence. Nobody<br />
talks about what we in Chinese call Wushu. It's taken for two words. The first word is stop. The second is war. Stop<br />
fighting. But right now all action films talk about is fighting. Nobody talks about stopping. Martial arts are a physical<br />
part of these films, but the mental part is more important. That's why I put my personal belief, philosophy and<br />
experiences into the whole story. That's why I say this is my last Wushu movie, because everything I want to say is<br />
already in this film. I will continue to do movies. I just did a movie where a cop fights with mafia gangsters. They have<br />
a fight, but for me, that is not martial arts. That's action - beating each other up. I never know a Chinese punch from a<br />
Japanese kick from an American elbow. What's the difference? It's just humans fighting, to help the story. It's not about<br />
martial arts. This story is perfect to see - through the life journey - what changes you. Why you learn martial arts. How<br />
to use them. Who the enemy is. I believe it is yourself. The enemy is yourself.<br />
Fearless has no real enemy, no real bad guy. The bad guy is Hou Yuanjia himself, his arrogance, his pride.<br />
Exactly. 100% right. Physically, Huo Yuanjia never lost. But he lost by being aggressive, and self-centered. He lost<br />
because of his ego. When you become successful, even today, you have a lot of people around you, making you think<br />
you've become the king of the world. Then you have a big, evil head, and do everything crazy.<br />
Huo Yuanjia was a real man, but much of the movie seems to deal with things like fame and celebrity. How<br />
much of Fearless is based on Huo Yuanjia's real life, and how much is based on Jet Li's life and beliefs?<br />
I kept three original truths of Huo Yuanjia. His name. He started the Ching Wu school. He was the first master in<br />
Chinese history to show people that martial arts should be a sport – training your physical body, training your heart.<br />
Never use martial arts to beat up foreigners, to prove you're the best. We kept this philosophy. And the third is the age<br />
that he died – 42. These three things are true. Everything else is made up through my life journey. When I made the<br />
movie, I was 42. I went through a similar journey. I was young when I became the Wushu champion in China. A lot of<br />
people started to know me and hang around me, until one day I became I big movie star. Then there are more people<br />
around you. Then you become self-centered, and say, "I'm the special one. I'm number one in China." The feeling, the<br />
human feeling is what I made this movie about.<br />
Bruce Lee's career had a tremendous impact on how Chinese people have been portrayed in the rest of the<br />
world, and I know he influenced you quite a bit. But how have things changed since the time of Bruce Lee?<br />
I think now, not just Asian people, but other people of color, have more freedom, their lives are much better than in the<br />
1950s and 60s. This movie shows my personal life experience. Even in China, when I first watched Bruce Lee in Fist of<br />
<strong>Fu</strong>ry, I heard the Japanese say, "All the Chinese are like a sickness." Bruce Lee is the hero who fought back. The<br />
Chinese people stood up and yelled, "Beat them up." That made all Chinese people very proud, and very happy. But in<br />
my heart, I believe if somebody says bad things about you, if you fight with them right away, you are on the same<br />
level. Somebody making me unhappy and me beating them up, that is not a culture. That is not martial arts. If<br />
somebody says, "Jet Li is shit," I need to look at myself. Am I shit? It doesn't matter, they are just making noise. If I<br />
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