Donnie Yen is continuing his return to the director's chair after a 20-year break with The Prosecutor. Having started his career as a stuntman in Hong Kong, Yen first began finding success with the TV adaptation of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury, as well as choreographing and starring in numerous Hollywood action movies, including Blade II. Though having worked as an action director multiple times throughout his career, Yen's list of full directorial efforts is relatively smaller, ranging from 1997's Legend of the Wolf to 2004's Protégé de la Rose Noire, after which he wouldn't direct again until 2023's Sakra.
The Prosecutor sees Yen reteaming with Ip Man franchise writer Edmong Wong and producer Raymond Wong, also centering himself as lead character, Fok Chi-ho, a police detective who, after a gang leader is acquitted of his crimes, elects to become a public prosecutor instead. After joining the Department of Justice, Fok's first case is a young man arrested under charges of drug smuggling, though claims innocence due to having lent his address to a friend, which led to the drug parcel's arrival. Pulling from his past as an investigator, Fok begins to realize there's something far more suspicious about the case.
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Alongside Yen, the ensemble Prosecutor cast includes Julian Cheung, Michael Hui, Francis Ng, MC Cheung Tin-fu, Kent Cheng, Lau Kong, Yu Kang, Adam Pak, Locker Lam, Shirley Chan, Mason Fung and Chu Pak Hong. After first hitting theaters in Hong Kong in December, the movie has garnered widespread acclaim from critics, particularly for Yen's direction and the hard-hitting action sequences, currently holding a 90% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ahead of the movie making its United States debut, ScreenRant interviewed Donnie Yen to discuss The Prosecutor, why he was initially reluctant to direct the thriller, how he worked with Edmond Wong to tweak the script to better balance its courtroom drama with its action sequences, and how he pulled from his personal interest and experiences to flesh out the cast, including his Ip Man reunion with Cheng.
Editor's Note: This article has been cleaned for clarity.
Yen Initially "Turned It Down" When Presented With The Movie's Script
"I said, 'I don't know anything about courtroom movies.'"
ScreenRant: I'm obviously very honored to chat with you, as a huge fan of yours, but also very excited to talk about The Prosecutor. I watched it yesterday, and it's such a great action movie, but it's also got a lot of great messages to it, as well. I'd love to hear what it was about Edmund's script, his story, the characters that really spoke to you to not only want to be a part of it, but also get back in the director's chair, along with your previous film, after 20 years?
Donnie Yen: Yeah, it's a very good question. Let me start off with how I took on this subject. In the very beginning, I didn't want to do the film. My friend Edmund and his father, Raymond, they are the owner of Mandarin Motion Pictures. We produced the Ip Man series together, as well as Flash Point, so we have a very long relationship. We were working on Flash Point 2, as well as developing Ip Man 5, and they presented me this script and subject, and I turned it down. I said, "I don't know anything about courtroom movies." And we've seen it all. We've watched the greatest ones, right? "I don't feel any confidence shooting a film like this."
But it took them two months to convince me, and finally, I said, "Okay, I'm going to try and put another script to it." I revised the script about a dozen times, and every day I was trying to find a way to tell the story in a precious way, not falling into a standard, classic courtroom scene movie. Combining the two elements was the biggest task. Creating an action world allows someone like myself to bring that extravagant and over-the-top action to audiences, as well as staying true to what the subject is about. The subject is about this real case, but at the same time, I didn't want to make a documentary, you know? I just stayed as real to the case as possible, because then it's conflicting to the other side of what I wanted to do, which is creating this extravagant action world. So, I finally found a way of telling the story without risking too much losing one or the other.
So, I think the key element is, instead of trying to satisfy every perspective of the audience — some people, when they watch a film, they go for a joyride, and other types of audience, they go for a soul-searching journey when they watch a movie. But for me, it was about having the audience emotionally attach and engage with my story, and then once they emotionally engaged, they're with me. So, a lot of these logics will go out the window once they're emotionally attached. That was my objective.
Yen Worked Closely With Wong To Avoid It Feeling Like Other Courtroom Dramas
"...my instinct would tell me that we've done this..."
Well, I think you captured that very well. Since you talk about revising the script to find a balance between the legal thriller aspect of it and the action thriller aspect of it, as well as how it was a little bit of a challenge, what did you find was the biggest key to helping you find that balance between the two genres?
Donnie Yen: For all the legal dialogue and terminologies, I did tons of research, and even had a lawyer and legal consultants on the set to make sure that every line was delivered accurately on the legal system. But at the same time, because even myself as an audience, I've watched these types of films so many times. As we were shooting the scenes, my instinct would tell me that we've done this, and it gets a little bit boring. I don't want to dive into that direction. So, it was constantly about finding those on-set moments of how I'd shoot the scene.
For example, my biggest task, which I feel quite confident and happy that that scene was delivered in a well-received way, was the huge court scene, maybe 15–20 minutes. When I looked at a material like that, I said, "Look, I don't want the audience to really listen to this case for 15 minutes without any type of emotion moving them forward, because then the pacing is off." But at the same time, I have to deliver these storytelling beats within a certain context in the script, so the audience understands what's going on. So, I kind of broke it down to do three segments, you know, the beginning segments and the middle segments.
There's a lot of humor, as well, and a lot of twists during these court scenes to make it refreshing. It wasn't just straight up lecturing, "Okay, you're right, wrong. Bring in the case evidence, 1,2,3,4." There's always constant twists and turns where the audience can be caught off guard. Maybe I throw in a couple of jokes, or although this guy's a prosecutor, he's taking the role of not being a prosecutor, but a defense lawyer. So, constantly throwing the audience off, but at the same time driving the story forward. That was my biggest task, and that is the most satisfying scene that I've done, rather than the other action scenes. I've done those tons of times, so I was quite confident that, from day 1, those would not be a problem.
Yen Built "90%" Of The Prosecutor's Cast "Personally"
"...I just directly went to find them."
I also really love Uncle Ma and Ma Ka-kit, they bring so much of that emotion and connection for the audience to the story you were mentioning. I'd love to hear what it was like for you doing that casting search, since they are very much the heart of this story?
Donnie Yen: Maybe being an actor gives me some advantage, because from day 1, 90% of the cast, I cast personally. I had an image of how these characters would be perceived, and I just directly went to find them. For example, Uncle Ma, I actually watched Lau Kong's interviews. I worked with him 30-something years ago during a TV series, but back in my immature, inexperienced filmmaker/actor days. I've known him for decades, but it was not until a few months before I started shooting this film that I watched an interview that he did, how he was sharing his story of not having jobs. He was working for television, then he left television and was doing these small jobs, here and there.
He needed to make a living for his son's education, but he had a positive outlook. He had a positive tone of voice, where he was quite optimistic about life. So I immediately said, "This is the person that I want." He was my first cast of all the actors. I wanted him the first, and then the second one, and the third one and everybody, you know, the judge, Michael Hui. I wanted a judge that gave me that kind of offbeat sense of humor where it throws the audience off when they watch a debate in a courtroom.
So, speaking of casting from your own personal experience, was that also the case with casting Kent? Because I love that it's sort of an Ip Man reunion.
Donnie Yen: Yes, absolutely. In the beginning, in the original script, it was a younger guy to play this kind of partnership, and I thought, "You know what, I want someone who's been into that position for the longest time." That character should be someone who's 9-5, he doesn't change, and he goes about just doing his job without really understanding what his job means to him. So I wanted that type of character for exchange, you know? I needed an older, experienced character like him.
Yen Has One Thing In Mind When Directing Action (Even A First-Person Sequence)
"...audiences may or may not understand how you define putting action on screen."
So now, obviously, we can't talk about this movie without talking about the action. I'd love to talk about, first and foremost, that opening sequence, because I love just how seamless it is between the first-person and the third-person nature of it. That is nigh-on impossible, and yet you pull it off so well. I'd love to hear when you came up with the first-person idea for it, and then built it out from there?
Donnie Yen: Well, I've been doing action films for the longest time, right? So, audiences may or may not understand how you define putting action on screen. Action choreography, action directing, and directing action movies are three different responsibilities. Choreography, in most cases in the industry, when you think of action choreography, that is choreographing pretty much physical movements, right? Action director is how you shoot these physical movements. You actually get to place a shot, sometimes you're given the authority — depends on your seniority, as well as how much say you have in that production — you shoot the scene, and you put all this stuff together.
Directing an action movie is you're actually directing action along with how you tell a story. Overall, as a director, that is the big difference. That's why, for the longest time, I would direct my own action. You'd see the difference between the quality and the style of these action deliveries, because I'd get to direct these action scenes, rather than just, "Oh, have Donnie Yen choreograph a couple moves." I don't choreograph as much, nowadays, as when I was beginning decades ago. Because, to me, it's not about the movements anymore. It's about the emotion in that character. It could be simply one, two or three punches, but if the audience is not engaged with your character emotionally in the moment, then it doesn't matter what type of extravagant choreography you're giving the audience. There will be no feedback.
There's just a bunch of blowing things up which, unfortunately, a lot of these action movies I find can go in that direction. You blow up buildings, you have these extravagant shootout scenes or fight scenes, but then there's no feeling. You don't feel, you're not driving, you're not cheering for the hero. So, right now, I have my own teams, and I work with different teams. I have a lot of different team members, and I let them choreograph the movements. And most of the time, I jump in, if I have time, and I say, "Oh, I don't like it here and there," not because the movements are not any better than the other movements. It's just that it's how I tell the story, ultimately. That is what I'm searching for. Choreography is like a part of a music composition, of composing this whole huge arrangement of certain notes. I know exactly what I need, and I don't need. So, that is ultimately what I do.
About The Prosecutor
A young man is charged with drug trafficking. He pleads guilty under undue influence from his defense lawyer, in exchange for a reduced sentence. Hard-edged former cop Fok (Donnie Yen) is the unconventional prosecutor assigned to the case. He becomes convinced that the conviction is unusual and decides to conduct his own investigation. Fok is forced to risk his own life and career to uncover the truth and bring the real villains to justice.
The Prosecutor is now in select theaters in the US from Well Go USA Entertainment.
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The Prosecutor is a crime drama directed by Donnie Yen Chi-Tan. It follows former detective prosecutor Huo Zihao as he investigates a wrongful conviction in a drug trafficking case, confronting corrupt lawyers and criminals to uphold justice and reveal the truth.
Release Date
January 10, 2025
Runtime
117 minutes
Cast
Donnie Yen Chi-Tan
, Julian Cheung Chi-Lam
, Michael Hui
, Francis Ng Chun-Yu
, MC Cheung
, Yu Kang
, Adam Pak Tin-Nam
, Locker Lam Ka-Hei
, Shirley Chan Yan-Yin
, Mason Fung Ho-Yeung
, Tommy Chu Pak-Hong
, Mark Cheng Ho-Nam
, Sisley Choi
, Mandy Wong
, Justin Cheung Kin-Sing
, Liza Wang
, Max Cheung
, Leung Chung-Hang
, Philip Chan Yan-Kin
, German Cheung Man-Kit
, Yuen Yee-Man
Custom Image by Ana Nieves
English (US) ·