Gong Li to be female lead in Wong Kar Wai's "The Grand Master" Ip Chun, son of Wing Chun's grandmaster Ip Man, said, Wong Kar Wai's version of movie "Ip Man" will start its shooting in June this year and Gong Li may be the female lead of the movie instead of Brigitte Lin. However, Gong will not be acting as Ip Man's wife but a female master of another form of martial art from Foshan. In Wong's version of the movie, titled "The Grand Master", Ip Man's wife will not be featured. If this is true, Lin, who was initially rumored to be taking on the role, will not be making appearance. However, Ip Chun was caution with his words during the interview and said that Wong has not finalized his script and Gong's role has yet to be confirmed. Ip Chun expressed regret that Donnie Yen's version of "Ip Man" was not filmed in Foshan; he also said he will attempt to get Wong to film "The Grand Master" in Foshan so as to drive tourism to the area. Ip thus invited Wong to Foshan to experience their rich martial arts culture and for research purposes. Male lead of "The Grand Master" Tony Leung verified in an interview with Hong Kong media that the film will be shot in June. "My current task is to be practicing Wing Chun diligently," he said. With respect to the comparison between Yen and himself, Leung was humble and said that his skills cannot be compared to Yen. "I believe that Wilson Yip and Wong Kar Wai's versions will be very different as they have different strengths and skills in moviemaking," Leung said.
