Donnie Yen, Kris Wu join Diesel's action sequel ‘xXx’
HONG KONG: Martial-arts star Donnie Yen and former EXO member Kris Wu have joined Vin Diesel’s action sequel ‘ xXx: The Return of Xander Cage’.
Yen is replacing Jet Li who has left the project. Diesel also confirmed that Yen has joined the cast with a post on his Facebook page.
“Donnie is one of the greatest martial-arts movie stars of our time,” said Diesel. “I am thrilled he will be joining the cast and can’t wait to work with him on some of the spectacular action sequences we have planned.”
The film, which is shooting in Toronto, with additional filming in the Dominican Republic, is being produced by Revolution Studios, Roth Kirschenbaum Films and Diesel’s One Race Film. Paramount announced Thursday that it will handle distribution.
D.J. Caruso (‘ I Am Number Four’) is directing from a script by Chad St. John, with current revisions by F. Scott Frazier.
Yen will play an alpha-warrior named Xiang in the sequel.
Yen is best known in the US for his role opposite Jet Li in director Zhang Yimou’s ‘ Hero’. He co-starred with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in ‘ Shanghai Knights’ and in the title role of the Ip Man franchise along with ‘ Dragon’ and ‘ The Monkey King’ opposite Chow Yun-fat.
Diesel starred in the original 2002 ‘ xXx’, directed by Rob Cohen, as underground sports star Xander Cage, who was blackmailed by the US government to take down a gang of international terrorists. The film, released by Sony, performed well with US$277 million worldwide.
Diesel was not part of the sequel, with Ice Cube playing the lead role in 2005’s ‘ xXx: State of the Union’, which grossed US$71 million worldwide for Sony. Lee Tamahori directed the second film.
Revolution Studios, founded by Joe Roth in 2000, produced both films. The company was acquired in 2014 by Fortress Investment Group.
The third film follows Diesel’s character as he comes out of self-imposed exile to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box.
Meanwhile, Kris Wu’s appearance in the third instalment of the ‘ xXx’ series has also been confirmed by director DJ Caruso. However, his role in the film has not been revealed yet.
Besides Yen and Wu, Indian actress Deepika Padukone will play the female lead opposite Diesel, joining Ruby Rose and Nina Dobrev. Samuel L. Jackson is returning to reprise his role.
The cast also includes Tony Jaa (‘ Furious 7’), mixed martialarts fighter Conor McGregor, Hermione Corfield (‘ Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’) and Toni Collette.
‘ xXx’ is looking to a 2017 theatrical release.