Xing Yu gets his first lead role

For those who have seen Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle will certainly remember one particular guy aside from Stephen himself as well as Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, and Bruce Leung. I’m talking about Xing Yu, who is a 32nd generation shaolin monk in real-life.

Xing Yu – whose real name is Zhang Shuwu – started his film career in the early 2000s mainly appearing in low-budget films before Stephen Chow noticed his remarkable skills and got him casted as “Coolie” in Kung Fu Hustle and got to show his MA extravaganza in one major scene alongside Dung Chi-Wah and Chu Chi-Ling – two other real-life martial artists – fighting a crowd of Axe Gang members. This was a breakthrough for Xing Yu and has since got himself some decent roles working with bigger martial arts stars. He worked with Donnie Yen in Dragon Tiger Gate (he’s one of the Old Devils using double sais); Flash Point ; and Ip Man (they also appeared in Bodyguards & Assassins but they didn’t share the same scenes), Wu Jing in Fatal Contact and had a crucial role in Benny Chan’s Shaolin . He, again, co-starred with Wu Jing and also got to share scenes with Jackie Chan (in a small role), real-life wushu exponent Yue Hoi and got to fight veteran stuntman and action director Xiong Xin-Xin (Club Foot in Once Upon A Time In China 3 and the later sequels) in the finale. His next film to be released is The Five , which is a contemporary action film co-financed by China and Thailand and will be acting opposite his  Flash Point co-star Collin Chou and Andy On.

But word have just gone out that Xing Yu has gotten his first lead role in upcoming MA film titled Vajra King . The film will be helmed by Law Wing Cheong ( Punished ), co-star Yang Mi and action-directed by Sammo. It’s budgeted at 100m yuan and the story will circle around the art of shaolin kung fu (something tailor-made for Xing Yu) pitting against several other MA styles from around the world; including Brazillian ju-jitsu, karate, hapkido and Western boxing.  Vajra King is already in production and shooting will last till September and is expected to be released at the end of the year.

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