Actor and action director, Donnie Yen is a global action star, who made his way into playing some brilliant roles in Hollywood. Yen, known for his own martial art stunts performed in movies, has come across some wild rides in his career, like when he broke Mike Tyson’s finger.
Former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson has a few titles to his name as well. But it was special when Yen collaborated with Tyson in the action-packed drama, Ip Man 3, the last movie of the widely popular Ip Man franchise. Also, an event on the set will always remain in the memories of the actors.
Also read: Donnie Yen Net Worth – How Much Money Has Ip Man Star Made from John Wick 4
When Donnie Yen Fractured Mike Tyson’s Finger
The John Wick 4 star realized that he has committed a grave mistake when he accidentally broke Mike Tyson’s finger. Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Donnie Yen said,
“I was doing this movie with him uh Ip man part three. I didn’t know what to expect, right? So, I thought, oh you know, Mike, I love him but then he doesn’t really have a lot of film experience.”
Explaining the choreography of the film, Yen said that his character, Ip Man is supposed to be poised and calm even when the hardcore punches from Tyson were coming on his way. The actor said he had to block those punches maintaining the essence of the character, which, as Yen said, was not easy. “I felt his punch was coming at me 90 miles per hour I kid you not and I couldn’t really move uh sooner because remember I had to be poised,” the John Wick 4 actor said adding that he felt Tyson’s arm “I mean his swamp just kind of I felt the wind it was like a tornado.”
In another scene, the former boxer was coming at Yen with “flurry punches” while the actor was applying a martial art technique called theWing Chun style. “There’s a lot of short elbow blocks so I was blocking his techniques and okay the scene went really well,” Yen said. However, the next day, at a press conference, some journalists speculated that Yen might get hurt and asked the actor about his experience working with the boxing legend. But showing his fractured finger, Tyson said,
“All of you were worried that Donnie will get injured. Nobody cared about me. Now I am injured, still, nobody came to console me.”
Yen soon realized his mistake and said:
“I knew that I bumped into him, but I didn’t know it was that serious. He was very professional about it and we even continued filming. It was only later at the hospital that he was told that his finger had fractured. I am truly sorry!”
The movie was as successful as the previous installment but it is very unlikely that the actors would ever forget the incident.
Donnie Yen on Doing His Own Action Stunts
There are only a handful of actors to have performed their own action stunts. Yen, being a master of martial arts feels the necessity of doing his stunts in his movies. Of course, the actor said that doing their own stunts is pretty common in the Hong Kong industry. “That is just the way we shoot films,” Yen said.
“And a lot of times there’s no, uh, like a pre, uh, training or Preparation. We jump on right on the sets and we just uh feel the set-out and we improvise these choreography.”
The actor also revealed that there’s a budget constraint in his home industry. Recalling a moment on set with another martial art action star, Jackie Chan, the actor said how they improvised choreography on set.
“I remember when I was shooting with, uh, folks for example with Jackie Chan. We walked on the set we meet both Jackie and I would look at the set and say, oh, what can we do? Jump off this building kick this door down? And then you know, I punch you and you block and all right let’s shoot just like that.”
The actor also did his own stunts in John Wick Chapter 4 where he played Caine, a blind assassin obligated to chase his former friend, John Wick.
Source: YouTube
