Ip Man (
traditional Chinese:
葉問;
simplified Chinese:
叶问;
pinyin:
Yè Wèn) is a
2008 semi-biographical martial arts film very loosely based on the life of
Ip Man, a
grandmaster of the martial art
Wing Chun and the first person to teach the art openly. One of his students was the widely influential and acclaimed martial artist and filmmaker
Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in the city of
Foshan during the
Second Sino-Japanese War. The film was directed by
Wilson Yip, and stars
Donnie Yen as Ip Man, with
martial arts choreography by
Sammo Hung. The supporting cast includes
Simon Yam,
Lynn Hung,
Lam Ka-tung,
Xing Yu and
Hiroyuki Ikeuchi.
The idea of an Ip Man biopic originated in 1998 when
Jeffrey Lau and
Corey Yuen discussed the idea of making a film based on Bruce Lee's martial arts master. However, the studio producing the proposed film closed, and the project was abandoned. Producer
Raymond Wong decided to develop his own Ip Man film with full consent from Ip's sons, and had filmmakers head to Foshan to research Ip's life.
Ip Chun, Ip Man's eldest son, along with martial arts master Leo Au-yeung and several other Wing Chun practitioners served as technical consultants for the film.
Principal photography for
Ip Man began in March 2008 and ended in August; filming took place in
Shanghai, which was used to architecturally recreate Foshan. During filming, conflicts arose between the producers of
Ip Man and filmmaker
Wong Kar-wai over the film's
working title. Wong, who had been developing his own Ip Man biopic, clashed with the producers after learning that their film would be titled
Grandmaster Ip Man (
traditional Chinese:
一代宗師葉問), which was too similar to the title of Wong's film. The producers of
Ip Man agreed to change the film title, despite Wong's film being in
development hell.
Ip Man premiered in
Beijing on 10 December 2008, and was released theatrically in
Hong Kong on 19 December 2008, receiving widespread acclaim from critics and audiences. Prior to the film's release, Raymond Wong announced that there would be a sequel; a second installment titled
Ip Man 2, was released in April 2010.
Ip Man grossed over
US$21 million worldwide, despite not being released in North America and most of Europe. Following its success, the film was nominated for 12
Hong Kong Film Awards, winning awards for Best Film and Best Action Choreography.