Words matter. These are the best Donnie Yen Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
For me, shooting, editing, and scoring rely on rhythm.
I always tell younger filmmakers, it’s not just about the acting or the art itself. It’s about how big of an audience watches your film.
I like to stay within the context of the character’s background. If he’s a cop, I have to make sure the audience is convinced that this person, a cop, can do only so much without a gun.
There are two types of Chinese growing up in America. One is the kind that does really well in school, with thick, thick glasses. And the other is involved with the gangs.
As an action director, I always try to bring something fresh and new.
From my experience as an actor, choreographer, action director, and producer, I understand the elements and the dynamics of being a film maker.
I spent a couple of years doing American films. I did a few.
My mum lives in Boston; she’s famous for teaching wushu and t’ai chi. So from when I was young, my mum and aunt were like: ‘You’re training; you’re not playing baseball or football.’ Training every day was normal. Later, when I was almost a teenager, Bruce Lee became my idol.
I always used to wonder why American actors were getting fat, then I made a U.S. movie. I’m seeing all the food every day, and there’s lots of waiting around because making an American movie is very slow.
Like any other actor, I draw on life experience.
Look at every action movie in Hollywood. Every leading man from Spider-Man to Batman to James Bond, ‘Bourne Identity’, every one of them possesses martial arts skills.
I love working with older actors because number one, I can learn so much from them because they have so much experience. And it’s fun to hear their stories from their era, some of the jokes.
I got nominated for my second film as best young director in the Aikido Film Festival in Japan.
My action follows my characters. If a character is a cop, you cannot be posing all the time, you cannot fly off the roof because it doesn’t make any sense – it’s not practical.
I think a lot of people don’t realize that martial arts are just an expression like anything else. It’s just that most people are not trained to punch or kick, but you can walk or run or dance, which is also part of expression.
I try to update my arsenal constantly. Learning different martial arts since childhood. To understand what’s out there. To really be in tune.
A lot of people don’t realize, when you are acting in a martial arts film, you’re not just performing martial arts. You’re not just performing martial arts. You’re actually acting as much as any other actor.
When you direct a movie, you’re basically looking at a story, the way you want to look at it. You bring that director’s vision, and I’m totally open for that.
I gained a lot of confidence after ‘IP Man’ as being a true actor. I went on to tackle what it is an actor is supposed to do before a film. Do a lot of research, get into the character. That’s what I did with ‘Dragon.’
I’m a very emotional guy.
A lot of Chinese martial arts films were based on Chinese martial arts novels. And these novels created a world of putting history, calligraphy, and martial arts into one.
I have always been a great fan of Peter Chan and many other great directors who specialize in anything outside of action.
Whether I’m acting or making it, at the end of the day it’s telling the story; action, drama. You want the audience to feel it – the story, the action, the scene, or a particular shot. I just keep working on crafting my art, on how to make action movies.
In Hollywood, I’m lucky, I only do big movies like ‘Blade.’ It’s much more comfortable: you have a trailer.
For me, the challenge of a period film is that, unlike a contemporary film where the character can be very free-form when it comes to the acting, there’s a burden to acting in a period film because you have to stay within the character’s historical background and the gestures of certain periods.
