Wilson Yip
Encyclopedia
Wilson Yip Wai-Shun is a Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, filmmaker and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

. His films include Bio Zombie
Bio Zombie
Bio Zombie is a 1998 Hong Kong zombie-comedy film, starring Jordan Bem Chan. It spoofs George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and shows many similarities to Peter Jackson's Braindead.- Plot :...

, The White Dragon, SPL: Sha Po Lang
SPL: Sha Po Lang
SPL: Sha Po Lang , , is a 2005 Hong Kong martial arts and crime film written and directed by Wilson Yip, starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Jing Wu...

, Dragon Tiger Gate
Dragon Tiger Gate
Dragon Tiger Gate is a 2006 Hong Kong martial arts action film directed by Wilson Yip and featuring fight choreography by Donnie Yen, who also stars in the film. The film is based on the manhua Oriental Heroes, which bears the same Chinese title as the film...

, Flash Point
Flash Point (film)
Flash Point is a 2007 Hong Kong film directed by Wilson Yip, featuring fight choreography by the film's producer and star Donnie Yen. Yen portrays Ma Jun, a police sergeant who plants his friend and partner, Wilson, as a mole in a pursuit against a triad led by three Vietnamese brothers .Flash...

, Ip Man
Ip Man (film)
Ip Man is a 2008 Hong Kong semi biographical martial arts film very loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and master of Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Second Sino-Japanese War...

, and Ip Man 2
Ip Man 2
Ip Man 2 is a 2010 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun. A sequel to the 2008 film Ip Man, the film was directed by Wilson Yip, and stars Donnie Yen, who reprises the leading role...

.

Early career

A film buff at an early age, Yip went to the cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 whenever he could and often wrote reviews on the backs of ticket stubs. He entered the movie business in the 1980s, starting out as a "gofer
Gofer
A gofer or go-fer is an employee who is often sent on errands. "Gofer" reflects the likelihood of instructions to go for coffee, dry cleaning, or stamps, or to make other straightforward or familiar procurements. The term gofer originated in North America...

" and working his way up to assistant director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...

.

His directorial debut was
01.00 AM, a three-segment horror compendium. He directed two of three parts, one with Veronica Yip
Veronica Yip
Veronica Yip Yuk Hing is a Chinese actress in Hong Kong, who is probably most well known for her roles in "adult" Category III films .-Film career:Veronica Yip was born in Hong Kong and started her...

 as a nurse who sees dead pop stars, and Anita Yuen
Anita Yuen
Anita Yuen Wing-yi is a Hong Kong film and television actress. She was the winner of the 1990 Miss Hong Kong Pageant.-Pageant career:At the age of 18, Yuen entered the Miss Hong Kong 1990 pageant. She was a heavy favorite to win the crown from the semifinal to final. During the semifinals on August...

 interviewing a demon.

His next effort,
Daze Reaper, was a Category III
Hong Kong motion picture rating system
The Hong Kong motion picture rating system is a legal system of movie screening and rating. An official government agency issues ratings for any movie that will be shown in Hong Kong movie theatres.-History:...

 exploitation film, based on a true-crime story about a prison guard who turns to crime. Next was
Mongkok Story, an exploitive story in the vein of Young and Dangerous
Young and Dangerous
The Young and Dangerous film series is a collection of Hong Kong films about a group of triad young members, detailing their adventures, dangers and growth in a Hong Kong triad society...

, and another horror trilogy, Midnight Zone, about urban myths. He also turned to comedy with Teaching Sucks, about two Hong Kong teachers played by Anthony Wong
Anthony Wong
Anthony Wong is the name of:* Anthony Wong , a Hong Kong actor, screenwriter and film director.* Anthony Wong , a Hong Kong alternative singer, composer and producer.* Anthony Wong , an Australian actor....

 and Jan Lam
Jan Lam
Jan Lam was a Polish journalist, writer and comic, as well as a teacher in numerous schools of Galicia. He is probably best remembered as the author of a poem Marsz Sokołów, the anthem of the Sokół, as well as a long-time journalist of the Dziennik Polski daily.Jan Lam was born Johann Lam on...

.

In 1998 Wilson co-wrote and directed his biggest cult hit at the time,
Bio Zombie
Bio Zombie
Bio Zombie is a 1998 Hong Kong zombie-comedy film, starring Jordan Bem Chan. It spoofs George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and shows many similarities to Peter Jackson's Braindead.- Plot :...

, which was influenced by Dawn of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (1978 film)
Dawn of the Dead is a 1978 zombie film, written and directed by George A. Romero. It was the second film made in Romero's Living Dead series, but contains no characters or settings from Night of the Living Dead, and shows in larger scale a zombie epidemic's apocalyptic effects on society...

and takes place in a shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

, where a small group of misfits bands together in order to survive.

Turning point

Yip next directed the 1999 crime
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...

-drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 
Bullets Over Summer, starring Francis Ng
Francis Ng
-Career:Like so many of Hong Kong's actors, Ng has his roots in television. He graduated from TVB's training classes in 1985. He acted in minor roles working gradually upwards in the television hierarchy, but his looks did not fit in the conventional leading man role...

 and Louis Koo
Louis Koo
Louis Koo is a Hong Kong actor. He was once a notable local television series actor, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 for Detective Investigation Files IV. In recent years, he has focused on film...

 as two detectives hunting a gang of deadly criminals who have to use a demented elderly woman's (Helena Law Lan) apartment for surveillance. The biggest-budget film of his career up to then, he considers
Bullets Over Summer his "turning point". He shared a best-screenplay award at the 2000 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
The Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards are the annual awards given by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society in Hong Kong, China since 1995. The awards are determined by votes cast in three rounds after a substantial discussion session between the members of the society...

 for the film.

In 2000 he was picked by Golden Harvest
Golden Harvest
Golden Harvest is a film production, distribution, and exhibition company based in Hong Kong. It played a major role in becoming the first Chinese film company to successfully enter the western market for an extended period of time, especially with the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan...

 to direct
Skyline Cruisers, a big-budget action film. Yip did not get along with the cast and clashed with the studio's management over creative differences.

Other films include the science-fiction-action story
2002, and the romantic comedies, Dry Wood, Fierce Fire (with Miriam Yeung
Miriam Yeung
Miriam Yeung, RN, is a Hong Kong actress and Cantopop singer. Before entering the entertainment business, she was a registered nurse at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong. She studied at the Holy Family Canossian College Kowloon...

 and Louis Koo) and
Leaving Me, Loving You (with Leon Lai
Leon Lai
Leon Lai is a Hong Kong-based actor and Cantopop singer. The media refer to Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings . He uses the stage name "Li Ming" or "Lai Ming" which literally means "dawn."-Biography:...

 and Faye Wong
Faye Wong
Faye Wong is a highly successful and influential Chinese singer-songwriter and actress who is usually referred to as a diva . Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong . Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and rose to stardom in the early 1990s by singing...

). In 2004, Yip also directed his first wuxia
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...

 style film,
The White Dragon, starring Cecilia Cheung
Cecilia Cheung
Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi is a Hong Kong actress and cantopop singer. She is the ex-wife of Nicholas Tse, thus being the daughter-in-law of Patrick Tse and Deborah Lee. She and Nicholas have two sons, Lucas and Quintus Tse...

 and Francis Ng
Francis Ng
-Career:Like so many of Hong Kong's actors, Ng has his roots in television. He graduated from TVB's training classes in 1985. He acted in minor roles working gradually upwards in the television hierarchy, but his looks did not fit in the conventional leading man role...

.

Yip also acts, mostly doing small roles. They include a pimp in
The Runaway Pistol and a Taoist
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

 exorcist
Exorcist
In some religions an exorcist is a person who is believed to be able to cast out the devil or other demons. A priest, a nun, a monk, a healer, a shaman or other specially prepared or instructed person can be an exorcist...

 in the Pang Brothers
The Pang Brothers
The Pang Brothers are Danny Pang Fat and Oxide Pang Chun , twin-brother screenwriters and film directors, born in 1965 in Hong Kong. Among their films is the hit Asian horror film, The Eye, which has spawned two sequels, as well as a Hollywood remake and a Hindi remake...

'
The Eye
The Eye (2002 film)
The Eye, also known as Seeing Ghosts, is a 2002 horror film directed by the Pang brothers. The film spawned two sequels by the Pang brothers, The Eye 2 and The Eye 10...

.

Films with Donnie Yen

In 2005, Yip directed his most critically acclaimed film,
SPL: Sha Po Lang
SPL: Sha Po Lang
SPL: Sha Po Lang , , is a 2005 Hong Kong martial arts and crime film written and directed by Wilson Yip, starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Jing Wu...

. A gritty return to the 1980s style of Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...

,
SPL starred Simon Yam
Simon Yam
Simon Yam Tat-Wah , born March 19, 1955, is a Hong Kong actor and film producer.-Background:The son of a former police officer of Shangdong heritage, his father was a Hong Kong Royal Police ship captain who was murdered by his colleague....

 and Donnie Yen
Donnie Yen
Donnie Yen is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film director and producer, action choreographer, and world wushu tournament medalist...

 as Hong Kong police officers
Hong Kong Police Force
The Hong Kong Police Force is the largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. It is the world's second, and Asia's first, police agency to operate with a modern policing system. It was formed on 1 May 1844, with a strength of 32 officers...

 trying to pin a crime on an unstoppable gangster, portrayed by Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...

.

In 2006, Yip re-teamed with Yen for an adaptation of a Hong Kong manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

,
Dragon Tiger Gate
Dragon Tiger Gate
Dragon Tiger Gate is a 2006 Hong Kong martial arts action film directed by Wilson Yip and featuring fight choreography by Donnie Yen, who also stars in the film. The film is based on the manhua Oriental Heroes, which bears the same Chinese title as the film...

. In 2007 Yip released Flash Point
Flash Point (film)
Flash Point is a 2007 Hong Kong film directed by Wilson Yip, featuring fight choreography by the film's producer and star Donnie Yen. Yen portrays Ma Jun, a police sergeant who plants his friend and partner, Wilson, as a mole in a pursuit against a triad led by three Vietnamese brothers .Flash...

, another martial-arts crime drama in the same vein as SPL. The film starred Donnie Yen, Louis Koo
Louis Koo
Louis Koo is a Hong Kong actor. He was once a notable local television series actor, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 for Detective Investigation Files IV. In recent years, he has focused on film...

, and Collin Chou
Collin Chou
Collin Chou , sometimes credited as Ngai Sing, is a Taiwanese actor and martial artist based in Hong Kong known in the United States for his portrayal of Seraph in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as well as the Enter the Matrix video game...

.

Yen and Yip's latest collaboration as actor and director,
Ip Man
Ip Man (film)
Ip Man is a 2008 Hong Kong semi biographical martial arts film very loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and master of Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Second Sino-Japanese War...

, is a semi-biographical account of Yip Man
Yip Man
Yip Man , also spelled as Ip Man, and also known as Yip Kai-Man, was a Chinese martial artist. He had several students who later became martial arts teachers in their own right, including Bruce Lee.-Early life:...

, the first martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

 master (Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

:
Sifu
Sifu
Shifu is the identical pronunciation of two Chinese terms for a master. The character 師 means “teacher”. The meaning of 傅 is “tutor”, and of 父, “father”. Both characters are read fu with the same tones in Cantonese and Mandarin, creating some ambiguity...

) to teach the Chinese martial art
Chinese martial arts
Chinese martial arts, also referred to by the Mandarin Chinese term wushu and popularly as kung fu , are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" , "sects" or...

 of Wing Chun
Wing Chun
Wing Chun , also romanised as Ving Tsun or Wing Tsun, ; ; is a concept-based Chinese martial art and form of self-defense utilizing both striking and grappling while specializing in close-range combat.The alternative characters 永春 "eternal spring" are also...

 openly. It also featured fight choreography by Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...

. The film was released in December 2008 and immediately shot to number one on its opening week in Hong Kong, earning over HK$2.8 million in three weeks.

Ip Man 2
Ip Man 2
Ip Man 2 is a 2010 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun. A sequel to the 2008 film Ip Man, the film was directed by Wilson Yip, and stars Donnie Yen, who reprises the leading role...

which is produced by Raymond Wong picks up on Yip Man's life after his migration to Hong Kong where he took on his most famous disciple - Bruce Lee. It has been released on 29 April 2010.

Director

Film
Year Title Awards
1995 '01:00 A.M.
Daze Raper
1996 Mongkok Story
1997 Teaching Sucks
Midnight Zone
1998 Bio Zombie
Bio Zombie
Bio Zombie is a 1998 Hong Kong zombie-comedy film, starring Jordan Bem Chan. It spoofs George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and shows many similarities to Peter Jackson's Braindead.- Plot :...

1999 Bullets Over Summer
2000 Skyline Cruisers
Juliet in Love Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to a director for the best achievement in cinematic direction.-History:...

2001 Dry Wood, Fierce Fire
2002
2002 (film)
2002 is a 2001 Hong Kong science fiction film starring Nicholas Tse, Stephen Fung, and Sam Lee. The film was directed by Wilson Yip.-Plot:...

2002 The Mummy, Aged 19
2004 Leaving Me, Loving You
The White Dragon
2005 SPL: Sha Po Lang
SPL: Sha Po Lang
SPL: Sha Po Lang , , is a 2005 Hong Kong martial arts and crime film written and directed by Wilson Yip, starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Jing Wu...

2006 Dragon Tiger Gate
Dragon Tiger Gate
Dragon Tiger Gate is a 2006 Hong Kong martial arts action film directed by Wilson Yip and featuring fight choreography by Donnie Yen, who also stars in the film. The film is based on the manhua Oriental Heroes, which bears the same Chinese title as the film...

2007 Flash Point
Flash Point (film)
Flash Point is a 2007 Hong Kong film directed by Wilson Yip, featuring fight choreography by the film's producer and star Donnie Yen. Yen portrays Ma Jun, a police sergeant who plants his friend and partner, Wilson, as a mole in a pursuit against a triad led by three Vietnamese brothers .Flash...

2008 Ip Man
Ip Man (film)
Ip Man is a 2008 Hong Kong semi biographical martial arts film very loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and master of Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Second Sino-Japanese War...

Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to a director for the best achievement in cinematic direction.-History:...

2010 Ip Man 2
Ip Man 2
Ip Man 2 is a 2010 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun. A sequel to the 2008 film Ip Man, the film was directed by Wilson Yip, and stars Donnie Yen, who reprises the leading role...

Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to a director for the best achievement in cinematic direction.-History:...

2011 A Chinese Ghost Story
A Chinese Ghost Story (2011 film)
A Chinese Ghost Story, alternatively known as A Chinese Fairy Tale, is a 2011 film directed by Wilson Yip and starring Louis Koo, Liu Yifei, Yu Shaoqun, Kara Hui, Louis Fan, and Wang Danyi Li...

2011 Magic to Win

Screenwriter

  • Bio Zombie
    Bio Zombie
    Bio Zombie is a 1998 Hong Kong zombie-comedy film, starring Jordan Bem Chan. It spoofs George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and shows many similarities to Peter Jackson's Braindead.- Plot :...

    (1998)
  • Baau lit ying ging (Bullets Over Summer) (1999)
  • Jue lai yip yue leung saan ang (Juliet in Love) (2000)
  • Gon chaai lit feng (Dry Wood, Fierce Fire) (2001)
  • Dai sing siu si (Leaving Me, Loving You) (2004)
  • The White Dragon
    The White Dragon
    The White Dragon is a 2004 Hong Kong wuxia comedy film directed by Wilson Yip and starring Cecilia Cheung and Francis Ng.The White Dragon is directed by Wilson Yip, whose best known works to date are Bullets Over Summer, Juliet in Love and SPL: Sha Po Lang...

    (2004)
  • SPL: Sha Po Lang
    SPL: Sha Po Lang
    SPL: Sha Po Lang , , is a 2005 Hong Kong martial arts and crime film written and directed by Wilson Yip, starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Jing Wu...

    (2005)

Actor

  • Wong gok fung wan (Mongkok Story) (1996)
  • Hui zhuan shou shi (Midnight Zone) (1997)
  • Huo xing gui ji (Among the Stars) (2000)
  • Sui jeuk fun ji (United We Stand and Swim) (2001)
  • You Shoot, I Shoot
    You Shoot, I Shoot
    You Shoot, I Shoot is a 2001 Hong Kong film directed by Pang Ho-Cheung.-Plot:Bart , a professional contract killer, is requested by his clients to film his killings...

    (2001)
  • Zouhou qiang (Runaway Pistol) (2002)
  • Happy Family
    Happy Family (2002 film)
    Happy Family is a 2002 Hong Kong film directed by Herman Yau.-Cast and roles:* Nick Cheung - Sang* Candy Lo - Kaka* Kenny Bee - Mr. Han* Cecilia Yip - Mrs...

    (2002)
  • Love Undercover
    Love Undercover
    Love Undercover is a 2002 Hong Kong film directed by Joe Ma Wai-Ho.The film was followed by two sequels, also directed by Joe Ma: Love Undercover 2: Love Mission and Love Undercover 3 .-Cast and roles:...

    (2002)
  • The Eye
    The Eye (2002 film)
    The Eye, also known as Seeing Ghosts, is a 2002 horror film directed by the Pang brothers. The film spawned two sequels by the Pang brothers, The Eye 2 and The Eye 10...

    (2002)
  • Chuet sai hiu B (Mighty Baby
    Mighty Baby (film)
    Mighty Baby is a 2002 Hong Kong film directed by Chan Hing-Ka and Patrick Leung. It is a sequel to the 2001 La Brassiere.-Cast and roles:* Lau Ching-Wan - Johnny Hung* Louis Koo - Wayne Koo* Rosamund Kwan - Sabrina* Gigi Leung - Lena Li...

    ) (2002)
  • Obake yashiki (2002)
  • Tai yang wu zhi (2003)

External links

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