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Donnie Yen wanted Ip Man to fight Bruce Lee in "Ip Man 4"

Donnie Yen said that he had wanted his titular character to have a fight scene with Danny Chan's Bruce Lee in "Ip Man 4: The Finale".
Donnie Yen said that he had wanted his titular character to have a fight scene with Danny Chan's Bruce Lee in "Ip Man 4: The Finale".

13 Dec – Having been in the movie industry for 37 years and revered for his martial arts skills, Donnie Yen is no stranger to trading punches with other skilled big screen fighters.

Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Jacky Wu, Mike Tyson, Scott Adkins – these are just some of the big stars he'd sparred with but there's still one that he wishes he, or rather his character Ip Man, had a chance to challenge.

"There's one person I wanted to fight: Bruce Lee, which is Danny," Donnie Yen told Cinema Online in an interview during his recent appearance in Malaysia, gesturing to fellow "Ip Man 4" cast member, Danny Chan.

"I think it'd be interesting to fight...to me it's not the difficulty of fighting the character or the actor. For me, it's how refreshing, how challenging. Not so much, 'oh the most powerful opponent'.

"So I think encountering his student Bruce Lee, I think that could be refreshing but unfortunately, that didn't happen. Edmond Wong didn't put it in the script." He this time gestured to the flustered scriptwriter, who could only grin as Danny guffawed at Donnie's words.

"Ip Man 4" producer Raymond Wong, stars Donnie Yen and Danny Chan, and screenwriter Edmond Wong taking a commemorative photo with distributor Lotus Five Star's Datuk R. Doraisingam Pillai, Mr. Garuna Murthee and Mr. Karhiik Doraisingam at the press conference.
"Ip Man 4" producer Raymond Wong, stars Donnie Yen and Danny Chan, and screenwriter Edmond Wong taking a commemorative photo with distributor Lotus Five Star's Datuk R. Doraisingam Pillai, Mr. Garuna Murthee and Mr. Karhiik Doraisingam at the press conference.

The "Ip Man 4" stars were both in Malaysia on 11 and 12 December to promote their new movie, along with producer Raymond Wong and the aforementioned scriptwriter, Edmond.

All four held a press conference with the media last Wednesday before kicking off their 2-day meet and greet sessions with fans at several locations in Kuala Lumpur.

"Ip Man 4: The Finale" marks Donnie Yen's last appearance as the titular kung fu master since he has announced his retirement from kung fu movies. Though, rest assured, he will still be seen in plenty of other upcoming movies such as next year's "Mulan", "Enter the Fat Dragon" and "Sleeping Dogs".