Ah, the
halcyon days of 2000. The Matrix had just come out and
blown everybody away. Warner Brothers wanted sequels sooner rather than later,
and all of fandom was excited for the promise of even greater action and an
expanded scope. It was right about this time that word came that Jet Li was in
talks to take a role in both sequels, but supposedly, his salary demands put
him out of the running. Then, Michelle Yeoh was supposed to occupy the role.
Finally, they went with lower-tier martial artist Collin Chou, who displayed
some fancy footwork (and little else) in a couple of brief scenes in each
sequel.
We’ve
heard little from the guy since, but he’s back in a fairly big way, and
interestingly enough, he’ll be working with
Jet Li this time instead of replacing him. Chou just joined the Jet Li/Jackie
Chan movie The Forbidden Kingdom. The film is based on the Chinese legend
of The Monkey King, so it’s only right that Chou would playing a
magnificently-named character like Jade War Lord. That’s all the info on his
role for the moment, but I’m guessing they didn’t hire him because of his
penchant for quiet, smoldering dramatic performances. Chou’s likely going to be
kicking and punching the hell out one or both of the stars.
At this
point, I am waaaaaay over choregraphed martial arts fighting, but for those who
care, you’ll be able to check the film out when it hits these shores next year
courtesy of Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company.