Stunt Coordinator on Ip Man 3: Working with Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson

Ever since I saw the first Ip Man movie, I thought to myself, it would be so great to work on a movie like Ip Man. 7 years later, I am in Shanghai on the set of Ip Man 3 working as a stunt coordinator with some of the greatest martial arts legends of our time – Donnie Yen, Mike Tyson, and the most renown action director of all time, Yuen Woo-Ping. Full disclosure, I was brought in from the states and mainly had a hand with helping find and coordinate Mike Tyson’s double and this scene specifically. All choreography and action directing credit goes to Yuen Woo-Ping and Donnie Yen’s teams! But let me say what a huge honor and pleasure it was working in the midst of all these great legends of martial arts cinema.

I’ve worked on a lot of films in China and Ip Man 3 in terms of production was one of the most professional and smoothest teams I’ve worked with. Donnie and Woo-Ping who are both amazing action directors brought so much to the table. Woo-Ping was very clear on the rhythm and angles he wanted. Donnie also brought a higher level of martial arts intent into the project. He kept wanting to the push the envelope on creativity and style while also reinforcing the desire for realism in the fighting. There were wing chun and judo experts on set to help make the fight that much more technically accurate.

I brought Khalid, a very skilled stuntman and boxer to help with the stunt work on the Ip Man vs Mike Tyson scene. We were the only people brought in from LA but we were treated very well and the whole team worked together very well. In my experience Donnie and Mike were both great to work with. We even extended the number of shooting days because both Mike and Donnie wanted to make the fight even more spectacular. In the end every one came together and put together a very exciting piece.

Enjoy the scene that we all worked hard to put together.

I had a good time watching it in theaters.