| I don't know about all of you, but when I first saw Ong-Bak, and subsequently 'TYG', I was completely blown away at Tony's talent. I really think he could be the heir apparent in the martial arts world (although he's got some stiff comp from Michael Chin, Shawn Lee, Ho Ro Bin, Kuan Jun Fei, Jung Woo and Im Joon-Il. But if you buy the hype, the future of asian martial arts rests on the shoulders of Wu Jing.)
But I still love Tony. So of course I was happy to see that Ong-Bak 2 was underway. But when Tony cracked under the pressure of starring and directing, left in the middle of filming and went and sat in a cave for a few months, returned with a list of silly demands, and ultimately ended up at a police station claiming to have been chased by men in a van wearing safari suits- I started to wonder.
It's great that he's finishing the film and they've brought in Thai directing royalty Panna Rittikrai to helm.
But has Tony gone over the edge? Will he settle in and make some more great MA flix? Will Hollywood import him, co-opt him, and then marginalize him, all but reducing his career to a bad joke? I know he's expressed interest in working here (his message scrawled on the wall to Spielberg in OB was a nice touch). What would be the smart move for him?
Just curious to hear your opinions? | Garvinstomp 9/27/2008 12:40 AM |