\n<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector Larry Yang and producer Victoria Hon are considering a sequel to Jackie Chan\u2018s \u201cThe Shadow\u2019s Edge\u201d as the action thriller makes its international festival debut at the Busan International Film Festival\u2018s Open Cinema section.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe crime thriller, which has held the No. 1 position at the China box office for four consecutive weekends, represents a reimagining of the Hong Kong classic \u201cEye in the Sky\u201d for contemporary audiences. Director Larry Yang, whose debut feature \u201cMountain Cry\u201d served as the closing film of the 20th Busan festival, collaborates again with Chan following their 2023 success \u201cRide On.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe challenge didn\u2019t come from shaping the story into today\u2019s tech-driven world, but from fitting into today\u2019s audiences\u2019 cinematic tastes,\u201d Yang tells Variety<\/em>. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind tell the same story again if the audiences today could appreciate it, but I guess that would not be the case. Finding the right tone \u2013 a combination of right characters, rhythm and emotional flow \u2013 for today\u2019s audiences is more important than finding the right story settings.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe film features 85-90% new material while drawing inspiration from the original story. \u201cMy respect for the original come from my willingness to buy the remake right even if it\u2019s just 1%, because that 1% is the idea of a film,\u201d Yang explains. \u201cA great idea always comes before a story. There can be countless ways to tell that idea, but a great idea is a great idea.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tYang\u2019s approach to the remake prioritized creative freedom over strict adherence to the source material. \u201cMy opinion of a remake doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be an exact scene-by-scene reboot of the same story, but instead a new breed of the same idea,\u201d he says. \u201cTherefore, I didn\u2019t worry too much about balance. I primarily focused on what would be good for my story and my tone surrounding this great idea.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn \u201cThe Shadow\u2019s Edge,\u201d Chan plays a veteran surveillance expert pulled out of retirement to investigate a high-stakes heist in Macau. Tony Leung Ka-fai reprises his villain role from the original \u201cEye in the Sky,\u201d though Yang reimagined the character for the contemporary setting.<\/p>\n \n\tYang approached Leung\u2019s character as a \u201csimple speculation of \u2018what if,\u2019 like in a parallel universe. What if that guy didn\u2019t die? What if he survived, was saved by a bunch of kids, raised them, trained them, and teamed up with them two decades later? What if, by spending years with these boys, this ruthless guy began to grow a bit of something called love in him? And, what if, due to some misunderstanding or miscommunication, the boy betrayed his love?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe film blends surveillance technology with character-driven action sequences. \u201cThe idea of a covert surveillance team on foot searching for a ghost came from the original story,\u201d Yang notes. \u201cTechnology serves as obstacles and opportunities on both sides, giving new twists to the story. I made sure this part never exceeded the flow of intensive energy while telling the story. It\u2019s still a \u2018human story,\u2019 never tech-driven, but wit-driven.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tYang emphasizes that action sequences serve narrative purposes beyond spectacle. \u201cAction served as a continuation of a dialogue, a continuation of a quiet and covert surveillance mission, and a continuation of the evil-fighting barrier which technology alone couldn\u2019t reach,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe built sequences that \u2018speak\u2019 through character by always holding on to the human factors.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRegarding Chan\u2019s performance capabilities, Yang remains confident: \u201cJackie can still fight, and this movie is far from reaching his limit.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tProducer Victoria Hon emphasizes the film\u2019s thematic exploration of generational dynamics. \u201cWe bought the remake rights for \u2018Eye in the Sky\u2019 a few years ago and have been developing a story for years,\u201d Hon says. \u201cHow to make the story work with today\u2019s audiences has always been an interesting discussion internally. At the same time, we see how AI plays a more and more significant role in modern society. So we wanted to incorporate this element into the story. The idea of old and new became the theme we wanted to discuss and explore.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe challenging production required convincing investors that action films could succeed in the current Chinese market. \u201cI think the biggest challenge was to make this film and this genre itself,\u201d Hon explains. \u201cIn the recent China film market, action films were not doing very well at the box office. To make investors believe in this genre, we worked hard on the script and building the characters.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHon credits the strong screenplay with attracting top talent. \u201cI believe the script is always the first milestone of a project \u2013 being able to talk to masters like Jackie and Tony and convince them there\u2019s something different and unique in their characters,\u201d she says. The production also featured young actors with extensive wushu training and \u201cyoung and talented crew members who are very creative and energetic.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBalancing industry veterans with emerging talent became a key production strategy. \u201cThis is just like the theme of our film,\u201d Hon notes. \u201cI think it is also one of the key to success \u2013 that we respectfully learned from the masters and added young energy and creatives into the film.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHon describes the collaborative process with Chan: \u201cIn all the action scenes, Larry and action director Su Hang had many creative ideas they wanted to try. They shot action demos and showed them to Jackie. With Jackie\u2019s experience, he gave advice on parts that could escalate the tension, or parts that could be dangerous and needed preparations. Other than that, he gave us all his trust, which meant a lot and allowed us to try new things.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe complex action sequences required extensive preparation and significant budget allocation. \u201cAction scenes are very costly and time consuming,\u201d Hon explains. \u201cEven so, we shot the actions scenes with one single crew to keep the action and actor performance consistent. Pre-production time was about 5 months and we shot 84 days. Most of the action scenes were storyboarded, and action demos were filmed during pre-production.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMacau\u2019s distinctive cultural backdrop proved essential to the film\u2019s atmosphere. \u201cMacau is a city with mixed cultural elements. It has very fancy luxurious hotels, and also very old town almost next to each other,\u201d Hon notes. \u201cWe loved that atmosphere, and we felt the story and character could blend into the city well.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe production team spent eight months scouting locations, with some sequences emerging organically from the geography. \u201cThe script\u2019s locations were based on routes we walked ourselves and felt reasonable to include,\u201d Hon explains. \u201cFor example, when the robbers flew from the Macau Tower, they needed to find the nearest platform to land. We stood at the edge of the tower and saw the platform of Wynn Macau. That\u2019s how we first approached the hotel and asked for their support.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith Golden Network Asia handling international sales, Hon expresses optimism about overseas performance. \u201cThis time most of the sales were made in Cannes earlier this year, and many buyers were confident to promote the film after seeing our demos and reels,\u201d she says. \u201cI look forward to the theatrical release in all the regions and hope for strong box office results.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLooking toward future projects, Yang indicates sequel discussions are underway while he develops additional action projects. \u201cWe\u2019re considering the idea of a sequel, but right now we\u2019re unsure what direction it will take,\u201d Yang says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to repeat myself so I will very likely find a new approach. We\u2019ll see how that goes.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe director remains committed to genre exploration. \u201cI love telling a good story, and I will continue searching for great movie ideas and compelling stories to tell, no matter the genre,\u201d Yang explains. \u201cI\u2019m interested to try different genres, including sci-fi or historical stories in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHon sees continued opportunities for Asian cinema in global markets. \u201cCommercial genres like action and thrillers are probably the most popular ones for reaching global audiences,\u201d she says. \u201cWe will keep working in action, and I also hope to do more co-production that can target both local and international audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Director Larry Yang and producer Victoria Hon are considering a sequel to Jackie Chan\u2018s \u201cThe Shadow\u2019s Edge\u201d as the action thriller makes its international festival debut at the Busan International Film Festival\u2018s Open Cinema section. The crime thriller, which has held the No. 1 position at the China box office for four consecutive weekends, represents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[9760,2645,8151,8603,4503,9761,6578],"class_list":{"0":"post-22984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-chans","9":"tag-discussions","10":"tag-edge","11":"tag-jackie","12":"tag-sequel","13":"tag-shadows","14":"tag-underway"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}