The Prosecutor
Donnie Yen is continuing his return to the director ’s chair after a 20 - year severance withThe Prosecutor . Having start up his career as a stuntman in Hong Kong , Yen first began finding winner with the television set adaptation ofBruce Lee’sFist of Fury , as well as choreograph and starring in numerous Hollywood action movies , includingBlade II . Though having worked as an legal action director multiple times throughout his career , Yen ’s list of full directorial efforts is comparatively minuscule , ranging from 1997’sLegend of the Wolfto 2004 ’s Protégé de la Rose Noire , after which he would n’t direct again until 2023’sSakra .
The Prosecutorsees Yen reteaming withIp Manfranchisewriter Edmong Wong and manufacturer Raymond Wong , also centre himself as lead fictional character , Fok Chi - ho , a police force tec who , after a bunch leader is assoil of his criminal offense , elects to become a public prosecutor instead . After joining the Department of Justice , Fok ’s first face is a new mankind arrested under complaint of drug smuggling , though title innocence due to having impart his address to a friend , which led to the drug parcel ’s arrival . Pulling from his past as an investigator , Fok begins to realize there ’s something far more mistrustful about the case .
January 2025 is bringing movies for all taste , such as a one - of - a - kind semi - biographical musical , a couple of revulsion films , and more .
Alongside Yen , the ensembleProsecutorcast include Julian Cheung , Michael Hui , Francis Ng , MC Cheung Tin - fu , Kent Cheng , Lau Kong , Yu Kang , Adam Pak , Locker Lam , Shirley Chan , Mason Fung and Chu Pak Hong . After first hitting dramatic art in Hong Kong in December , the movie has gather widespread acclamation from critic , particularly for Yen ’s direction and the firmly - hitting action at law succession , presently oblige a 90 % approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes .
Ahead of the movie make its United States debut , ScreenRantinterviewed Donnie Yen to discussThe Prosecutor , why he was initially reluctant to guide the thriller , how he worked with Edmond Wong to pick off the script to better balance its courtroom dramatic play with its action sequence , and how he pulled from his personal interest and experience to flesh out the cast , including hisIp Manreunion with Cheng .
Yen Initially “Turned It Down” When Presented With The Movie’s Script
“I said, ‘I don’t know anything about courtroom movies.'”
ScreenRant : I ’m obviously very prestigious to chat with you , as a huge fan of yours , but also very excited to talk aboutThe Prosecutor . I keep an eye on it yesterday , and it ’s such a great action motion picture , but it ’s also got a lot of great message to it , as well . I ’d love to hear what it was about Edmund ’s script , his story , the quality that really talk to you to not only want to be a part of it , but also get back in the director ’s chair , along with your late motion-picture show , after 20 years ?
Donnie Yen : Yeah , it ’s a very good question . permit me start off with how I took on this subject . In the very root , I did n’t want to do the film . My Quaker Edmund and his father , Raymond , they are the owner of Mandarin Motion Pictures . We produced the Ip Man series together , as well as Flash Point , so we have a very longsighted relationship . We were cultivate on Flash Point 2 , as well as arise Ip Man 5 , and they presented me this script and subject , and I call on it down . I read , " I do n’t make love anything about courtroom movies . " And we ’ve ensure it all . We ’ve watched the greatest ones , right ? " I do n’t feel any assurance shooting a film like this . "
But it drive them two months to convince me , and finally , I said , " Okay , I ’m going to try and put another script to it . " I revised the script about a dozen time , and every day I was trying to retrieve a way to tell the story in a valued way , not fall into a criterion , classic courtroom scene movie . Combining the two elements was the swelled task . Creating an action world allow someone like myself to bring that extravagant and over - the - top action to audiences , as well as delay true to what the subject is about . The discipline is about this literal casing , but at the same time , I did n’t want to make a documentary , you have intercourse ? I just stay as real to the case as potential , because then it ’s conflicting to the other side of what I wanted to do , which is creating this extravagant action world . So , I in the end found a room of state the story without risking too much losing one or the other .
Custom Image by Ana Nieves
So , I believe the key ingredient is , instead of examine to satisfy every perspective of the audience — some mass , when they watch a celluloid , they go for a joyride , and other types of audience , they go for a soul - look for journey when they watch a movie . But for me , it was about having the audience emotionally sequester and engage with my story , and then once they emotionally plight , they ’re with me . So , a circle of these system of logic will go out the window once they ’re emotionally attached . That was my object lens .
Yen Worked Closely With Wong To Avoid It Feeling Like Other Courtroom Dramas
“…my instinct would tell me that we’ve done this…”
Well , I think you captured that very well . Since you talk about revising the script to find a counterbalance between the sound thriller aspect of it and the activity thriller aspect of it , as well as how it was a minuscule moment of a challenge , what did you feel was the self-aggrandising cay to serve you get that balance between the two genres ?
Donnie Yen : For all the legal dialog and terminology , I did tons of research , and even had a lawyer and sound consultants on the set to make trusted that every telephone circuit was delivered accurately on the effectual scheme . But at the same sentence , because even myself as an audience , I ’ve watched these type of movie so many times . As we were shoot the setting , my instinct would tell me that we ’ve done this , and it gets a little bit boring . I do n’t want to plunge into that guidance . So , it was always about finding those on - set moments of how I ’d shoot the scene .
For representative , my biggest task , which I feel quite sure-footed and happy that that scene was delivered in a well - receive means , was the vast court fit , maybe 15–20 minutes . When I reckon at a cloth like that , I said , " Look , I do n’t need the interview to really mind to this case for 15 minutes without any character of emotion moving them onward , because then the tempo is off . " But at the same sentence , I have to surrender these storytelling musical rhythm within a certain circumstance in the playscript , so the audience understands what ’s going on . So , I kind of broke it down to do three segment , you know , the set about section and the midway segment .
The Prosecutor is a crime drama directed by Donnie Yen Chi-Tan. It follows former detective prosecutor Huo Zihao as he investigates a wrongful conviction in a drug trafficking case, confronting corrupt lawyers and criminals to uphold justice and reveal the truth.
There ’s a lot of humor , as well , and a lot of construction during these court setting to make it refreshing . It was n’t just straight up lecturing , " Okay , you ’re right-hand , wrong . convey in the case evidence , 1,2,3,4 . " There ’s always constant bend and work where the hearing can be caught off guard . Maybe I throw in a couple of antic , or although this guy ’s a prosecutor , he ’s taking the role of not being a prosecutor , but a defense lawyer . So , perpetually throwing the audience off , but at the same meter drive the news report forward . That was my biggest task , and that is the most satisfying scene that I ’ve done , rather than the other natural action scene . I ’ve done those tons of times , so I was quite confident that , from 24-hour interval 1 , those would not be a trouble .
Yen Built “90%” Of TheProsecutor’s Cast “Personally”
“…I just directly went to find them.”
I also really love Uncle Ma and Ma Ka - outfit , they bring so much of that emotion and connection for the audience to the story you were cite . I ’d love to get a line what it was like for you doing that casting search , since they are very much the heart of this write up ?
Donnie Yen : perhaps being an actor leave me some advantage , because from solar day 1 , 90 % of the cast , I draw personally . I had an image of how these character would be perceived , and I just flat went to find them . For example , Uncle Ma , I actually learn Lau Kong ’s audience . I worked with him 30 - something eld ago during a TV series , but back in my immature , inexperient filmmaker / actor twenty-four hours . I ’ve known him for 10 , but it was not until a few month before I commence shooting this picture that I find out an audience that he did , how he was share his story of not having task . He was working for telecasting , then he left tv set and was doing these small Book of Job , here and there .
He ask to make a livelihood for his son ’s breeding , but he had a positive outlook . He had a cocksure tone of voice of vocalization , where he was quite affirmative about life . So I immediately read , " This is the person that I want . " He was my first dramatis personae of all the actor . I desire him the first , and then the second one , and the third one and everybody , you know , the justice , Michael Hui . I wanted a justice that chip in me that kind of offbeat sense of sense of humor where it discombobulate the hearing off when they keep an eye on a debate in a court .
So , talk of casting from your own personal experience , was that also the case with sick Kent ? Because I bed that it ’s sort ofanIp Manreunion .
Donnie Yen : Yes , utterly . In the rootage , in the original script , it was a younger hombre to recreate this variety of partnership , and I thought , " You know what , I require someone who ’s been into that position for the longest time . " That character should be someone who ’s 9 - 5 , he does n’t change , and he goes about just doing his occupation without really realise what his job means to him . So I desire that type of character for exchange , you know ? I demand an older , experienced character like him .
Yen Has One Thing In Mind When Directing Action (Even A First-Person Sequence)
“…audiences may or may not understand how you define putting action on screen.”
So now , plainly , we ca n’t talk about this moving-picture show without talking about the military action . I ’d enjoy to spill the beans about , first and firstly , that opening episode , because I love just how seamless it is between the first - individual and the third - person nature of it . That is nigh - on insufferable , and yet you pull it off so well . I ’d love to take heed when you came up with the first - person idea for it , and then build up it out from there ?
Donnie Yen : Well , I ’ve been doing action films for the longest time , right ? So , audiences may or may not understand how you define assign action on screen . natural process stage dancing , action directing , and directing action at law picture are three different responsibilities . Choreography , in most cases in the manufacture , when you think of action choreography , that is choreograph reasonably much strong-arm motion , good ? Action managing director is how you pullulate these physical movements . You actually get to come out a shot , sometimes you ’re give the self-assurance — look on your senior status , as well as how much say you have in that production — you inject the scenery , and you put all this stuff together .
Directing an legal action movie is you ’re actually take activeness along with how you enjoin a news report . Overall , as a film director , that is the big difference . That ’s why , for the long time , I would direct my own action . You ’d see the difference between the quality and the style of these legal action deliveries , because I ’d get to direct these action scenes , rather than just , " Oh , have Donnie Yen choreograph a twain moves . " I do n’t choreograph as much , nowadays , as when I was begin ten ago . Because , to me , it ’s not about the movements anymore . It ’s about the emotion in that case . It could be simply one , two or three punches , but if the audience is not engaged with your quality emotionally in the moment , then it does n’t weigh what case of profligate choreography you ’re giving the audience . There will be no feedback .
There ’s just a bunch of vaunt thing up which , alas , a sight of these action picture I line up can go in that focus . You bobble up construction , you have these extravagant shootout setting or push scenes , but then there ’s no smell . You do n’t feel , you ’re not force , you ’re not cheering for the hero . So , right now , I have my own teams , and I work with different team . I have a band of different team penis , and I let them choreograph the movements . And most of the clip , I start in , if I have time , and I say , " Oh , I do n’t like it here and there , " not because the movements are not any good than the other movement . It ’s just that it ’s how I differentiate the account , in the end . That is what I ’m searching for . Choreography is like a part of a music composition , of compose this whole huge arrangement of certain notes . I love incisively what I need , and I do n’t call for . So , that is at long last what I do .
AboutThe Prosecutor
A new man is charged with drug trafficking . He plead shamed under excessive influence from his defense lawyer , in exchange for a reduced sentence . Hard - march former cop Fok ( Donnie Yen ) is the unlawful prosecutor assigned to the type . He becomes confident that the conviction is strange and decides to conduct his own investigation . Fok is forced to chance his own life and career to uncover the truth and bring the real baddie to DoJ .
The Prosecutoris now in select theatre in the US from Well Go USA Entertainment .
Your Rating
Your comment has not been saved
Cast
The Prosecutor is a offence dramatic play directed by Donnie Yen Chi - Tan . It follows former detective prosecuting attorney Huo Zihao as he investigates a unlawful conviction in a drug trafficking case , present corrupt lawyer and criminals to maintain justice and reveal the trueness .
