Reunion of “Kung Fu Yoga” principal cast and crew
Aarif Lee reveals Jackie Chan’s new wound as Lay Zhang asks Jackie Chan to teach him “how to risk his life”
2017 Super family entertainment opens on Chinese New Year’s Day
Yesterday the principal cast and crew of Kung Fu Yoga hold a reunion in the restaurant Le Quai in Workers’ Stadium in Beijing. Jackie Chan, Aarif Lee, Lay Zhang, Mu Qimiya, Sonu Sood, Disha Patani, Amyra Dastur and Jiang Wen all attend the dinner. In such a boisterous atmosphere, they play various games and have a raffle. Getting together on the day before the Chinese New Year, they chat to each other like a big family.
It is the first time for Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang to have worked with Jackie Chan. Looking back at the shooting, they get quite emotional and comment. ‘Jackie worked with us on the set during the day and took us out to dinner in the evening. Now looking back at these days, it feels like a dream.’ When sharing the interesting anecdotes happened during the shooting, Aarif Lee “slips”, revealing the fact that Jackie Chan had got hurt. Then Lay Zhang asks Jackie Chan jokingly. ‘Sir, can you teach me how to risk my life?’
At the dinner, Jackie Chan receives a present from his fans – a video clip that shows a collection of Jackie Chan’s Chinese New Year greetings from the previous years. The “declarations” from his fans include ‘watching Jackie Chan movies is as important as having dinner with my family on the Chinese New Year’s Eve and the special TV programme’, ‘when I was little, my parents watched Jackie Chan movies with me during the Chinese New Year. Now I keep my parents company when they watch Jackie Chan movies’; the familiar images and the comments move Jackie Chan to tears. Having watched the clip, Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang is hit by a pang of nostalgia. They grew up with Jackie Chan movies, and it has become a habit to watch these films during the Chinese New Year. It feels that Jackie Chan movies have become an indispensible part of the Chinese New Year celebration.
Kung Fu Yoga opens in the cinemas in China on the 2017 Chinese New Year’s Day.
A supposedly 45-minute surgery that took five hours to complete
Aarif Lee accidentally reveals Jackie Chan’s new injury
What does it feel like when making a film with Jackie Chan? Kung Fu Yoga is Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang’s first collaboration with Jackie Chan. When Jackie Chan is mentioned, they simply cannot stop talking about him. Lay Zhang says. ‘When we were filming in Dubai, I felt really happy. After we wrapped up, Jackie took us to dinner and taught me how to drive a manual car. I had such a great time!’
Aarif Lee describes the duel he fights against Jackie Chan in Iceland with such excitement that a secret slips out of his lips. ‘Jackie had a surgery right before we shot the scene. The surgery was supposed to finish in 45 minutes, but it took five hours in the end. His assistants burst into tears outside the operation room.’ Although Jackie Chan was not fully recovered, he concealed the fact in order to finish the scene with Aarif Lee. Jackie Chan and Aarif Lee spent several hours fighting to make it perfect, and everyone on the set was moved by their professionalism.
Jackie Chan movies dominate online parkour videos
Lay Zhang asks: ‘Sir, can you teach me how to risk my life?’
Learning new skills while making a film with Jackie Chan? At the reunion, Aarif Lee expresses that he has indeed learned so many new skills while working with Jackie Chan on Kung Fu Yoga. He has learned how to climb the snowy mountain, how to do kip-up, and in Dubai he was taught the driving technique drifting, which felt new and interesting to him. Lay Zhang says that since he has to do parkour in the movie, he not only practices it but also searches for parkour videos online.
However, when searching for the parkour videos on the Internet, Lay Zhang found that the majority of them are clips of Jackie Chan movies. ‘Jackie’s movies are so impressive. Our parkour coach tells us that they could not even do the moves that Jackie did in the movies.’ Then Lay Zhang turns to Jackie Chan and asks. ‘Sir, how on earth did you manage to do that? Can you teach me “how to risk my life” to achieve such an amazing result?’
Getting together, playing games and having a raffle
Jackie Chan laments: ‘Don’t know how much longer I can keep making films.’
It is understood that Kung Fu Yoga does not hold a press conference for its release. Instead, on the day before the Chinese New Year’s Eve, a dinner with not only the cast and crew but also the audiences is hosted. As all the principal actors are present, it becomes a “real family reunion”. They have dinner together in such a joyful atmosphere, celebrating the Chinese New Year, and this is exactly the same as how the audiences will feel when watching Kung Fu Yoga.
At the dinner, Jackie Chan leads the principal cast and crew, including Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang, to wish everyone a very happy New Year. Jackie Chan sincerely expresses his gratitude to his fans for their support over the past few decades, and reveals his true feelings. He sighs and says that he himself loves cinema with such burning passion. ‘Cinema is my life. I want to keep making films and bringing joy to the audiences. However, ageing is unavoidable. I don’t know how much longer I can keep going.’ Jackie Chan’s earnestness brings the dinner to the climax.
Jackie Chan movies are indispensable for Chinese New Year Celebration
Zhang Yishan and Yang Zi: ‘It has always become a tradition to watch Jackie Chan movies during the Chinese New Year.’
Jackie Chan introduced the concept of “Chinese New Year celebration movie” into China with his Rumble in the Bronx, and therefore when one remembers the previous Chinese New Year holidays, one is bound to think of Jackie Chan movies that have brought so much joy to everyone in the family. As a result, Jackie Chan movies have become an essential part of the Chinese New Year celebration. At the reunion, a video made by Jackie Chan’s fans is played; it is a mix of clips from Jackie Chan movies, including Rumble in the Bronx, Police Story 4: First Strike and CZ 12: Chinese Zodiac. These movies not only awake our happy memories of watching them during the holiday but also become a tradition together with the Chinese New Year’s Eve TV special, firecrackers and the big family dinner on the New Year’s Eve. Zhang Yishan and Yang Zi, who sing the theme song of Kung Fu Yoga with Jackie Chan, express. ‘Watching Jackie Chan movies during the Chinese New Year has already become a tradition.’
Cute pets, super sports cars, Bollywood dance, adventure, fighting and laughter
“Kung Fu Yoga” is hailed as Jackie Chan’s best family entertainment
This year Jackie Chan returns to the Chinese New Year season with action comedy Kung Fu Yoga, a collaboration with his long-term partner Stanley Tong. At the reunion, they talk about why Kung Fu Yoga is a great family entertainment, and the lead actors such as Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang share their favourite parts of the movie suitable for everyone in the family. They include the cute pets that children are bound to warm towards, the super sports cars that men will fall for, the sexy young actors that no woman could resist and the songs and beautiful scenery shot around the world that older audiences will be attracted to. Moreover, one will get to see exciting fights, funny acts, yoga and adventure in the movie. Director Tong expresses. ‘Jackie Chan is the lead actor in Kung Fu Yoga, and everyone in the family loves him.’
Kung Fu Yoga is the eighth collaboration between Jackie Chan and Stanley Tong. Their previous works such as Rumble in the Bronx, The Myth and CZ 12: Chinese Zodiac, broke many box-office records. Kung Fu Yoga is not only a typical Jackie Chan action comedy but contains many fresh elements, including the crazy car chase that Jackie Chan, Aarif Lee and Lay Zhang get involved in Dubai, diving in the ice cave in Iceland, Bollywood dance and thrilling adventure. Furthermore, the appearances of lions, hyenas, cobras, camels, elephants and falcons make the movie even more fun to watch and suitable for audiences of all ages.
According to the production team, the mysterious sceptre with Shiva Eye is decorated with more than fifty Swarovski crystals. In the shape of a classical Siamese rose, the delicate pink crystal in the middle is a special stone tailor-made for this movie by Swarovski.
