Yuen Woo Ping Picks His Five Favorite Fight Scenes

The director of "True Legend" on the martial arts sequences he's proudest of.

Though he’s hardly a household name (at least in the United States) it’s no exaggeration to say that Yuen Woo Ping is one of the most influential filmmakers on the planet. As the director of 1978′s “Snake in Eagle’s Shadow,” Yuen helped launch the career of Jackie Chan and define his unique style of comedic kung fu. He went on to direct or choreograph the fights in almost every major Chinese martial arts film of the last quarter century, and when he brought his unique style to America in “The Matrix” in 1999, he revolutionized the way Hollywood action films were made for years. Yuen Woo Ping’s new film as both director and fight choreographer is called “True Legend,” but it’s a title that might just as well be bestowed upon Yuen himself.

In honor of “True Legend”‘s U.S. release this week, we asked Yuen to do something even more difficult than fighting a man while standing on a bamboo pole over a pit of fire: pick just five favorite fight scenes from his incredible thirty-plus year career. As you’ll see, he cheated a little bit on the last one, but with so many remarkable sequences to his credit, how can you blame him?

Below you’ll find clips of all five of Yuen’s picks, along with his commentary on each scene. Here’s how he introduced his list:

Yuen Woo Ping: “This is a difficult question to answer because every movie means something special to me. If I am asked to pick five favorites out of them all they are (not necessary in this order):”

1. Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) Versus Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi)
From “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000)
Directed by Ang Lee

YWP: “‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ contains diversified fighting styles. Some are more realistic and some are more poetic. Each of them serves a narrative purpose. In fact, I also greatly enjoy those poetic ones, like the bamboo-top fights, which aren’t common in my past movies.”

2. Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li) Versus Commander Lan (Donnie Yen)
From “Once Upon a Time in China II” (1992)
Directed by Tsui Hark

YWP: “The stick fight between a traditional bamboo one and a “wet cloth-stick” in “Once Upon A Time In China II” was also very memorable and innovative. It features the notion of utilizing common objects in daily life as weapons. Visually it is also very fun to watch.”

3. Chen Zhen (Jet Li) Versus The Entire Japanese Dojo
From “Fist of Legend” (1994)
Directed by Gordon Chan

YWP: “Jet Li’s portrayal of Chen Zhen is different from Bruce Lee’s approach for the same character. Bruce Lee is a master martial artist; his style is straightforward, practical and classic. My design for Jet Li was more modern and visually interesting.”

4. Iron Monkey (Yu Rongguang) and Wong Kei-Ying (Donnie Yen) Versus Hin Hung (Yen Shi-Kwan)
From “Iron Monkey” (1993)
Directed by Yuen Woo Ping

YWP: “Donnie Yen is very good at his footwork. So in ‘Iron Monkey,’ I intentionally focused on his kicks. Normally I prefer choreographing one-on-one fights but Donnie and Yu Rongguang are both experienced martial artists. Directing ‘Iron Monkey’ was a heartwarming experience. And as a whole, the movie gave me the chance to focus on actions as well as emotions.”

5. The Entire Movie
“Drunken Master” (1978)
Directed by Yuen Woo Ping

YWP: “In ‘Drunken Master,’ we were trying some new ideas by putting kung-fu and comedy together. At that time, many action movies were too focused on violence and bloody combat. I wanted to make the fighting comic without losing the intensity and the sense of danger. It was an experiment that eventually became a trend.”