The only Chinese film participating in this year's Cannes Film Festival, WU XIA held an official press conference at the Lumiere cinema on April 14. Director Peter Chan Ho Sun and actors Donnie Yen Chi Tan, Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing Mo), Tang Wei, Jimmy Wang Yu, Wai Ying
Hung and Li Xiaoran after the global premiere two nights ago almost did not sleep at all. Yet at the press conference they remained alert and smart mouthed.
After the WU global premiere, many viewers were curious why it was completely different from the wuxia film that they imagined. Would it have martial art but no heroic? Chan Ho Sun honestly said that if he made a wuxia film that everyone felt "right" with, why would he make it? Flying over roofs, walking on walls, jumping back and forth are all other people's wuxia, not Chan Ho Sun's. This time he wanted to use science, medicine, physics to explain wuxia. However some also felt that the film involved almost too much Chinese culture details. He said, "It's the first time I wanted to make Chinese culture so much, just let me shoot it a little more!"
Chi Tan was also the action director of the film. He joked that working with Chan Ho Sun he could not slack off at all. He said, "He always forced me to do something that was completely impossible. Luckily this time he only wanted me to lose an arm. If he wanted me to lose a
leg, I could only chop off my leg for him." Gum Sing Mo in the film spoke the Sichuan dialect only. He said, "The week when the production began, I had no idea what I had to do! Of course, I was like this with every film. In the first scene with Tang Wei, I visited her home. However the feeling of our conversation was somewhat strange, later the director said to me why not try a different language. Just like that we decided to speak the Sichuan dialect. I didn't have any special reason or thought too much about it. (With so many dialects, why choose Sichuan?) Because when we went to shoot in Yunnan, we had a transfer in Sichuan. It just came to us!" Tang Wei this time played a village woman. She honestly said that the most challenge of the role of "Mama". She said, "I don't even know how Mama hold a chopstick or kept an eye on a child. When I got to the set, first I asked the experienced Big Brother Chi Tan how." Yet Chan Ho Sun found feelings from Tang Wei's loss and ignorance. He told her, "Such a woman who didn't even dare to ask whether (her husband) would return for dinner was the most touching."
Martial art superstar of a generation Wang Yu returned to play a sect leader. He even insisted on personally performing all the scenes. He described the team as "a top class luxury car". "Chan Ho Sun was like a brand name engine, Chi Tan, Gum Sing Mo, Tang Wei were all excellent instruments. As for me, I was only a tiny part, but the best quality part. All the parts must operate together to be invincible." Wai Ying Hung also said that she could be her "tire" role well, Big Brother Wang Yu was the left tire and she was the right. Gum Sing Mo fan Li Xiaoran was lucky enough to play his wife. She excited said, "When I made the first shot with him, my heart pounded very heavily. I completely didn't know what I was playing." Chan Ho Sun finally used Xiaoran's first heart pounding scene because it was too real.
