Hollywood film companies seek to collaborate with Wu Jing
It’s a big movie and a big challenge. With 50 to 100 explosions, it’s like the ‘Fast and Furious’ - with a tank! Sam Hargrave, Marvel’s top stunt master
BEIJING: Wu Jing has made Hollywood sit up and take notice with the success of ‘Wolf Warrior 2’.Since shattering China’s boxoffice record and becoming the first non-Hollywood film to break into the top 100 all-time grossing movies worldwide, many Hollywood film corporations are seeking collaboration with Wu Jing, Guancha.cn reported.
American actor, Frank Anthony Grillo, most recently known for his role as “Big Daddy” in the 2017 mega-hit Chinese action movie, ‘Wolf Warriors 2’, said many famous Hollywood film corporations have expressed interest in collaborating with Wu Jing. Grillo received 15 phone calls from the corporations asking if Wu spoke English.
“I’ve got about 15 calls from Hollywood-studio people, casting people and producers, asking, ‘Can Wu Jing speak English’.
“Wu Jing can do anything. He’s breathing very thin air right now and is in a room with very few other people.”
Celina Jade, ChineseAmerican singer-turned-actress, who plays the beautiful doctor in the movie, echoes Grillo’s words.
In an interview, she recalls: “Wu Jing called me the very last minute and said: ‘I’m doing a movie and I need a lead actress. Can you fly tonight?’ I really wanted to help because my acting career wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for this guy pushing me forward... I knew this was my opportunity to help him back.
“On top of that, my mom is Chinese, and she was worried I was losing my heritage and roots. She wanted me to do it.”
She emphasises that Hollywood has noticed this movie is far more technically sophisticated than a typical Bmovie and easily outstrips Wu’s franchise-founding predecessor, ‘Wolf Warrior’. That’s because Wu clearly styled himself after Stallone’s Rambo with more than a pinch of Jackie Chan thrown in for good measure.
“It is an amazing movie first,” both Grillo and Jade say, using the same words, before the controversy.
The film uses high-level cinematography, complete with sweeping aerial and crane shots, massive underwater and highaction military set pieces. It features deadly drones, seagoing vessels and marauding tanks.
There’s also no shortage of gut-pummelling, hand-to-hand combat scenes and elaborate stunt sequences designed by Marvel’s top stunt master, Sam Hargrave (‘Captain America’, ‘Hunger Games’), along with China’s fight-scene choreographer, Wai Leung Wong (‘Operation Mekong’).
Hargrave says: “It’s a big movie and a big challenge. With 50 to 100 explosions, it’s like the ‘Fast and Furious’ - with a tank!”