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" In Hong Kong, particularly, we craft this art for decades. The action choreographer actually is the action director. He takes over and he choreographs with - by himself or with his team, and place the camera where he feels cinematic effect to bring out that choreography. "

Donnie Yen

Art

Action

Team

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" Like any other actor, I draw on life experience. "

Donnie Yen

Actor

Other

" If you're playing a cop in a modern film, you don't have to walk with your spine straight up and bow before a fight. There's a lot of free form of expressing yourself as an actor. "

" As an action director, I always try to bring something fresh and new. "

" When you watch my films, you're feeling my heart. "

" 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. "

" A period film, where you, for example, where you have a traditional wardrobes, you are bound to act a certain way. But in a modern film, a lot of body gesture. "

" 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 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. "

" In Hollywood, I'm lucky, I only do big movies like 'Blade.' It's much more comfortable: you have a trailer. "

" Many friends of mine told me that normally only guys like a kung fu movie and the girls would be turned off - they want to see a love story. But Ip Man is a family man, so the women see this and go: 'I want my husband to be like this man. He'll be a scholar, he'll be fighting, he'll care for the family.' So we had a bigger audience. "

" Personally, I prefer contemporary films, but the market calls for more period choices, especially since China opened up a cinema market in Hong Kong. There's a lot of restriction for contemporary films simply because of subject matter. "

Donnie Yen

Matter

" Doing a movie is a stressful thing. You spend months of you life focusing into that one project, and I want to make sure I do something I really like or I'm really passionate about. "

Donnie Yen

Passionate

Want

" From my experience as an actor, choreographer, action director, and producer, I understand the elements and the dynamics of being a film maker. "

" I have always been a great fan of Peter Chan and many other great directors who specialize in anything outside of action. "

" I think film, to me, as a director, is about telling a story. "

Donnie Yen

Director

About

" An action choreographer is kind of like a dance choreographer. You choreograph the moves and you let the director, cinematographer take into positioning their cameras. "

Donnie Yen

You

Kind

" When audiences look at an action actor like myself, sometimes we are very easily stereotyped or characterized as one type. They forget that we are actors, too. "

" It's a blessing to be given a variety of roles to what I call an iconic action actor like myself. "

Donnie Yen

Myself

Blessing

" I'm a very emotional guy. "

" I just like to choose projects that will allow me as an artist to make my art. "

Donnie Yen

Art

Artist

" 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. "

" For years, I looked to Bruce Lee as a mentor as being a Chinese and Asian man living in this country. "

" There is also a strong following among the urbanites on the East Coast when it comes to martial arts films. "

" It takes years of building that experience as a filmmaker, as well as physically. You have to have a high level understanding of martial arts. "

" I did a couple comedies to balance myself as an actor and balance how audiences see Donnie Yen as an actor, and I would even say as a celebrity or icon, to some fans. I want to show that I'm not Terminator. "

" 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. "

" Better to be called something positive and inspirational than something negative. "

" There's a lot of thinking when you choreograph something. You're not just choreographing some bodies, arms, legs flying around to look cool. It's a lot more complicated and sophisticated. You also have to deal with the connection of the whole film, so when I choreograph, I think of the movement itself, the camera angles, the characters. "

" For me, shooting, editing, and scoring rely on rhythm. "

Donnie Yen

Editing

Rely

" 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. "