While the name may at first be unfamiliar, you do indeed know the work of Yuen Woo-Ping. He’s the martial arts choreographer behind such flicks as THE MATRIX TRILOGY, KILL BILL Volumes 1 + 2, KUNG FU HUSTLE and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, and the director of the immortal DRUNKEN MASTER. The man is receiving a long overdue tribute at this year’s Fantastic Fest, according to a press release sent to us.
Yuen will get a Lifetime Achievement Award at the world premiere of his new martial arts fantasy TRUE LEGEND, starring Vincent Zhao (Fong Sai Yuk, Dragon Gets Angry) Zhou Xun (The Emperor and the Assassin, Suzhou River) with Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and the late David Carradine. It’ll be his first U.S. festival appearance.
“We are thrilled to have a filmmaker of Mr. Yuen’s incredible talent and filmography attend our festival to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award,” says Fantastic Fest co-founder Tim League. “A large part of our programming at Fantastic Fest is devoted to a genre of which Mr. Yuen represents the pinnacle of quality.”
This only makes Fantastic Fest cooler. If you hadn’t already heard, our own John Fallon a.k.a. The Arrow will be representing as a jury member for the horror flicks showing at the fest. Nice!
KILL BILL star Uma Thurman