Retelling of the legendary Yang family
Renowned hong Kong director ronny yu gathered a starstudded cast for this epic tale on the legendary yang family.
CONFUCIOUS once wrote, “fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue”.
Well, director Ronny Yu might have just defied that centuries-old quote with his most recent movie, Saving General Yang.
Although his cast features some of the most good-looking men in Chinese entertainment, including Ekin Cheng and Raymond Lam from Hong Kong, Wu Chun and Vic Chou from Taiwan, and China’s Yu Bo and Li Chen, you can’t deny that this movie does indeed highlight the virtues of the legendary Yang family.
“When Edmond (Wong, writer of the movie) and I got together to produce this movie, we wanted to have the prettiest and coolest boys for the Yang family, but at the same time we made sure that the boys were assigned to characters that suited their personality,” said Yu, who was in town on Sunday along with four of his cast members – Cheng, Wu, Chou and Yu Bo – for the gala premiere of movie at Pavilion KL.
As an example, Yu pointed out Chou, whom he says is the quiet one. “When I first met him for the role, he only said three sentences, ‘Hello’, ‘How do you want me to interpret the role?’ and ‘Thank you’. So, his character in the movie also had three sentences only!” he said.
Then again, Yu also emphasised that the movie is not just about pretty boys. “It is about the values of the Yang family, which are zhong (loyalty), xiao (filial piety), ren (humaneness) and yi (righteousness). This is the main highlight (of the movie), and we want to remind the youth about these values.”
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The movie centres on the renowned Yang clan led by patriarch Yang Ye (played by Adam Cheng), and his seven sons, who were the loyal defenders of the ancient Chinese Song Dynasty. General Yang’s seven sons set off on a mission to rescue their father, who has been captured by their bitter enemies, the Liaos. The movie, which opens today, is distributed by Lotus Five Star, along with marketing partner RAM Entertainment.
By focusing on the seven Yang brothers and their father, Yu’s film is a contrast to the usual television dramas on the Yangs, which tend to revolve around the widows of the generals, who became female warriors.
The story of the lady Yang warriors are apparently urban legends and were fictional characters created by script writers, explained Yu, who did extensive research and preparation, almost a year prior to shooting the movie.
“(The film) took three years in total. Nine months of training for the casts, three months of production and 12 months of post-production,” said Yu.
Based in Los Angeles for the last 15 years, Yu has directed movies such as Jet Li kungfu blockbuster Fearless, and horror flicks Bride Of Chucky and Freddy vs Jason, and this time, the 63-year-old director wanted to make a Chinese movie that could be on par with Hollywood films.
Together with producer Raymond Wong, they concluded that time and financial constraints are usually the main variables that determine a movie’s quality, so Yu decided to take his time directing this US$26mil (RM80mil) movie.
To ensure the movie looked authentic, Yu made his cast mem- bers wear bulky and heavy infantry armour while riding horses.
In one scene, Wu’s character had to carry a dead body and a stash of weapons on his own.
“The dummy was 60kg and the weapons were not light. Luckily I listened to Yu and worked out at the gym during the training period,” the 34-year-old Taiwanese heartthrob said.
Chou, who played the archer of the family, had to put up with an ancient bow that could not function as a bow because the string and the limb were too stiff.
“On one occasion, they wanted me to try firing an arrow with it, and it ended up just three feet away ily when we were doing the shoots. I learned so much of our history from this movie itself,” added Yu.
As to whether there will be a sequel on the Yangs, Yu hinted at a more contemporary take, the likes of Ocean’s Eleven.
“The boys would definitely be happier with this idea because they will be driving Ferraris and Porsches instead of riding horses!” he concluded with a laugh.
SavingGeneralYang opens in cinemas today.