8 Amazing Film Stunts You Won’t Believe Didn't Use CGI

5. Donnie Yen Improvises Most Of A Fight Scene

We all know the drill about Hollywood action stars and fight scenes. They go through months of training in whatever style of fighting they're supposed to be portraying in the film and spend another few weeks rehearsing specific fight choreography so that it all goes smoothly on the day of the shoot. Well, Hong Kong has a slightly different approach with their action stars: let 'em figure it out on set. That was the case with Donnie Yen and the combatants he squared off against in 2005's Kill Zone (called Sha Po Lang in Hong Kong). Rather than waste everyone's time planning things, Yen would grow tired of staging the choreography and instead say to his attackers, "I want you to attack, then I'll come at you, and I want you to react." That's the equivalent of telling your sous chef, "I want you to start making a dish, maybe use some rice or noodles or something, then I'll add some vegetables later, and then the diners can eat it and go the f*ck home." But with more potential to be accidentally kicked in the throat. And just in case any of you think it would be easy to toss in a few improvised punches here and there, you should know that this fight scene features a baton and a blade. So when Yen says he wants the guy "to react" to his random attacks, he's supposed to be defending with (an admittedly dull) blade... without stabbing Yen in the fingers or eyeballs or any of his other delicate places. https://youtu.be/vZs48lJXhxM
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Jacob is a part-time contributor for WhatCulture, specializing in music, movies, and really, really dumb humor.