Shooting of Dragon City begins in September. In addition to playing the lead, Donnie Yen will also serve as action director and producer, under direction of Derek Kwok, who is best known for directing the award-winning film Gallants and co-directing Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
“I initially had a completely different idea for Dragon City,” said Derek Kwok. “I wanted it to be dark, depressing, and evil – to have the black and white sides mingling together with a crime-infested story. It is rather heavy, but Donnie wanted to film something positive.”
A crime action-drama also set in the 1970s, Dragon City sees Yen play a cop who gathers a team of policemen to fight their corrupt counterparts and other villains in the notorious Kowloon Walled City, a self-contained project-like community that was torn down in Hong Kong in 1993. It will be interesting to see how the production designers go about recreating the now destroyed city.
Later both Derek and Donnie clarified that Dragon City will still be a dark film, but instead of glorifying the triads, the film will be about the story of a group of small-time, no-good gangsters who fight for justice and survival.
The projects will be produced by Super Hero label and repped by Media Asia.
“By establishing Super Hero Films, I hope to make more films that give off positive energy,” said Donnie.
The second of the planned films is martial arts drama The Master, to be directed by Hong Kong’s Soi Cheang. Set in the 1970s, The Master tells the story of a Hong Kong immigrant and kung fu school owner in the U.S., who inadvertently becomes a gun shop owner’s target of revenge.
Other in-development projects: Kung Fu Killer, Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon 2 and Ip Man 3D.
source: cityonfire, hollywoodreporter, jaynestars