By Ip Man 3 (or Ip Man 3D) has been in the works for a while, but the Donnie Yen sequel started shooting today in Shanghai. With the start of production comes news of some really bizarre stunt casting.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mike Tyson (yeah, that Mike Tyson) has signed on to appear in the film. Producer Raymond Wong teased that Ip Man 3 would feature Tyson and Yen in a fight scene, which everyone was clamoring for, obviously.
In addition to a fight with Mike Tyson, Ip Man 3 will feature a computer-generated Bruce Lee, who was a Wing Chun student of the real Ip Man. The producers opted for a CG Bruce Lee because they couldn’t find any real actors who could pretend to be Bruce Lee (i.e., act). This probably means that Ip Man 3 will feature footage of someone’s kid playing Marshall Law in Tekken 7.
I feel sort of bad for Donnie Yen in terms of his recent films. Donnie Yen’s career has been full of amazing fight scenes, but it was Ip Man made him a star in middle-age. Lately, he’s been stuck with some disappointing and middling projects, such as Special ID, Iceman 3D, and The Monkey King. Ip Man 3 probably won’t be the return to form anyone was hoping for, or a new step forward from the promise of Wu Xia. We’ll see if the new film continues the downward trend eventually.
[via THR]