Top 10 Behind the Scenes Secrets of the Ip Man Franchise

What happened behind the camera is almost as interesting as what happened in front of it. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of the Ip Man Franchise.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the most fascinating lesser-known facts behind the making of the “Ip Man” movies.

Since Bruce Lee’s untimely death in 1973, a multitude of actors have played the martial artist and inherited his roles in various forms of media. Taking up the mantle in the “Ip Man” series is Hong Kong actor Danny Chan, who appears as Lee in the third and fourth installments. What fans of Chan will note is that it wasn’t his first go-around portraying the young dragon, as he’d previously done so on the CCTV series “The Legend of Bruce Lee.” While his first stint occurred a full seven years prior to “Ip Man 3,” casting directors must have remembered his turn when realizing he was still right for the part.

With the amount of fight choreography going on in these movies, you’ve gotta know that some people got hurt. Chief among these were the actors who performed their own stunts. In the first film, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi suffered a concussion from being struck one too many times by Donnie Yen, who nearly lost an eye earlier on when an axe got a little too close. In “Ip Man 2,” fight choreographer Sammo Hung refused hospitalization until the scene was completed - fitting for his character - and would eventually receive four stitches. And lastly, legendary boxer Mike Tyson fractured a finger in his thrilling bout with Donnie Yen. Actually, you know what, kudos to the stunt team when that’s the worst it gets.

Though Bruce Lee will always be remembered as Ip Man’s greatest pupil, the truth is that he brought up a whole host of prominent martial artists. Given the amount of on-screen talent in the franchise, one could surmise that someone would have a connection to the real-life grandmaster. Sure enough, Chris Collins, who plays karate master Colin Frater in “Ip Man 4,” is actually versed in Ip Man’s brand of kung fu Wing Chun himself. His teacher was none other than Grandmaster Leung Ting, who studied behind closed doors with Ip Man. On a side note, some contest Ting’s relation to Ip Man, including his son Ip Chun, but there is some photographic evidence.

Speaking of Ip Chun, when pre-production rolled around on the first “Ip Man” movie, producers wanted to inject an air of authenticity in regard to Ip’s hometown of Foshan and the martial arts on display. They consulted a great many Wing Chun experts, and one of them was Ip Man’s real-life son Ip Chun, a grandmaster in the craft as well. Chun, having been born in 1924, roughly thirteen years before the film takes place, naturally made recommendations on certain story elements as well. Though the entire series is filled with factual inaccuracies - more on that in a minute - they couldn’t have gotten anyone closer to the real Ip Man himself to make sure they honored his essence and legacy on-screen.

Now that the series has definitively wrapped up, it’s difficult to imagine us not getting the complete four-film arc for Ip Man that we did. However, based on talk between installments, it looked like we wouldn’t even get three, as there appeared to be something of a consensus between Donnie Yen and producer Raymond Wong that it felt unnecessary. Yen was quoted as saying, “Because ‘Ip Man 2’ will incontrovertibly become a classic, bettering the first. I believe it's best to end something when it's at perfection, and leave behind a good memory.” Thankfully it was franchise director Wilson Yip who convinced them to press on, with the promise that Ip’s relationship with Bruce Lee would be explored.

Don’t let the on-screen text at the end of the movies fool you; these adventures are not based in reality. Yes, Ip Man was a real Wing Chun grandmaster who really did mentor Bruce Lee and did move from Foshan to Hong Kong, but basically everything that propels the plots is embellishment. As awesome as it would be were it true, no, Ip Man did not fight a Japanese general, a British boxer, the Hong Kong Triad, or an American drill sergeant. Sure, he did kick wholesale ass, but mostly on his own time and not nearly with the same level of stakes that Yen’s Ip Man endures. That said, we definitely like to think he could have, if he had ever been put in those situations.

Though the first three “Ip Man” movies were each more successful than the last, the fourth and final installment became mired in controversy in its native Hong Kong prior to its release. Throughout most of 2019, many protested the potential passing of a bill that would see Hong Kong criminals extradited to mainland China, which many feared would undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy. Due to the pro-China stances of Raymond Wong and stars Donnie Yen and Danny Chan, in addition to their outspokenness against the movement, many called for a boycott of the film entirely and the dissuading of others from seeing it by posting spoilers online. While numbers in Hong Kong certainly dropped, that didn’t stop it from becoming the highest-grossing film in the franchise.

When it came time to cast the first “Ip Man” movie, which was released in 2008, Donnie Yen was an obvious choice, particularly because he’d been cast as the grandmaster once before. Back in the late ‘90s, producers Jeffrey Lau and Corey Yuen got the go-ahead to film a biopic based on the life of Bruce Lee’s mentor Grandmaster Ip Man, starring Stephen Chow and Donnie Yen, respectively. However, the film studio, Paragon Films Ltd., shut down, shortly before filming was set to take place. Yen was even partially paid, but regardless, the project was shelved indefinitely. Thankfully, when producer Raymond Wong began developing his own movie on the subject, Yen finally got his shot at the role roughly ten years later.

There have been a number of Ip Man movies over the years, some more high-profile than others. As it just so happens, the 2008 project starring Donnie Yen - originally titled “Grandmaster Ip Man,” came into contention with another biopic on the legend, more simply titled “The Grandmaster.” The director of the latter, Wong Kar-wai, took issue with the similarities and wanted the two films to be differentiated from one another. Thus, Raymond Wong shortened his film’s title to simply “Ip Man,” claiming it was the one he wanted all along. Turns out they perhaps needn’t have worried, as “The Grandmaster” went through development hell and wouldn’t be released until 2013, distancing the two films by five years.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

An Abandoned Storeroom Was Transformed Into a 1930s-era Cotton Mill

Jackie Chan was Rumored to Appear in “Ip Man 4”

“Ip Man” Choreographer Sammo Hung Took on Role in Sequel

No, we weren’t joshing you earlier; Danny Chan did in fact play Bruce Lee in both “Ip Man 3” and “4.” But he almost didn’t. Initially intimidated by the prospect of finding anyone who could replicate Lee’s magnetic screen presence, the makers behind “Ip Man 3” announced that they would instead be recreating him with CGI to get the most authentic result. This didn’t sit well with Bruce Lee Enterprises, who claimed the filmmakers had not the rights to invest in such a gambit. After being threatened with legal action, the idea was scrapped and Chan was ultimately cast. We get that Bruce Lee left some big shoes to fill, but we can’t help but feel that would have landed somewhere in the uncanny valley.