With various Hollywood blockbusters – such as Avengers: Age of Ultron, Fast and Furious 7, and Jurassic World – raking in more than $805 USD million in China, Hollywood film makers now place immense value on the Chinese market and have increasingly cast more Chinese celebrities in films. Disney’s reboot of the Star Wars film franchise, which entails filming the 7th, 8th and 9th episodes, will employ the same marketing strategy. The 8th episode of the Star Wars film franchise will commence filming in London next month. Donnie Yen (甄子丹) has reportedly been invited to star in a substantial role as a Jedi knight who works together with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to battle (a supposedly resurrected) Darth Vader. Donnie will be involved in numerous action scenes. Donnie was allegedly selected from a list of several other male Chinese celebrities, including Tony Leung (梁朝伟), Chang Chen (张震), Daniel Wu (吴彦祖), Wang Lee Hom (王力宏), Jet Li (李连杰) and Stephen Chow (周星驰). The producers’ foremost requirement was that the actor had to speak fluent English, but they also preferred someone with martial art abilities. This narrowed the list down to Donnie and Jet, and it allegedly eventually boiled down to the difference in asking pay between the two actors – while Jet asked for $10 million USD per film, Donnie only commanded $4 million USD per film. Donnie was then contacted by Disney when he was still filming Ip Man 3 <叶问3> . Donnie was reportedly very keen to take on the Star Wars role, as it would greatly increase his international profile. Donnie was so keen that before his contract with Disney was even finalized, he allegedly turned down another film offer which would have paid him about $6.4 million USD. Donnie was asked to confirm whether he will appear in Star Wars: Episode VIII at a recent charity event appearance. As the negotiations are allegedly still in its early stages, Donnie said simply, “No comment, I’m here for charitable purposes tonight.” Creds: ihktv
Smart man...being in the SW franchise will def boost your recognition. This will be great for Donnie, considering Jet's already been in the US Hollywood movies already...
Wow.. such a big difference in asking pay.. I think Donnie would have been a better actor and martial artist then Jet Li... Tony Leung (梁朝伟) and Stephen Chow (周星驰) arent even in the same category in terms of martial arts but 梁朝伟 is definitely in the top notch category in terms of acting.
for me in terms of acting, Donnie Yen and Jet Li is about the same with only little advantage that Donnie is bit better looking In martial arts, it gotta be Jet Li, he is so much faster and swifter than Donnie and of course, the most ideal actor should be Bruce Lee imagine Bruce Lee X Jedi POWAH
Wrong, Donnie yen > Jet Li. Li in his prime was more appealing on camera. Somehow he aged really quick and lost his swag/coolness. Yen is opposite, he is like wine. Better as he got older and mature. My money on Yen if he went 1 on 1 with Li. By the way Li is 52 years old... Yen is 51... Edited : if you mean martial arts as in dancing around and artistic moves then yea Li was better at that. A good fight scene? Yen over Li
I would agree, they have different fighting styles, depending on the type of movie, but for star wars, I like Donnie better, mainly cause his English is better and he'll fit in with the other characters better. Jet had't done any good martial arts movie in a long time.
Star Wars Spin off stories : Rogue One There's Donnie! Looks like he's a blind Jedi Source: ROGUE ONE—THE DARING MISSION HAS BEGUN: CAST AND CREW ANNOUNCED (btw I forgot who asked in chat, so i'm just tagging everyone who I think was the one who asked about it) _Fahrenheit_ KeNNy crasianlee EvilTofu ralphrepo H! mr_evolution
Im not saying he is blind, but the picture itself looks like it. Blind tutor i guess, idk. Will be interesting to see how big of a role he will get. I dont think ive heard him really speak english much.
hoyeah! Awesome BTS photos, the last one looks like they are standing off the side of a wall lol Seeing how they are making lightsabers more versatile. I wouldn't be surprised if they are wrapped around his hands like iron fists. Or finger sabers
Looks like Rogue One is slated for a Dec. 2016 release. Anybody who's interested in the rest of the characters can read up here.
