#I think I got a Donnie’s Gifts ask like so long ago lol I can’t remember how I said it went

[cupcakeslushie]

in ew!au, would "donnie's gifts" go differently? i ask because ew!donnie is almost certainly not going to be the type of person to think he needs to fix his brothers, but then i realized that he's more likely to think /he/ needs to be fixed. and then i had this image of ew!donnie building himself a shock collar and giving his brothers the remote so if he ever has an episode thats too bad or hes acting too erratic they can shock him out of it. (none of them react well to this)

No notes lol. That’s totally how it’d go.

[pekorosu]

a compilation of lil mentions of donnie that i found amusing while going through kenji’s blog

(under a cut bc it’s quite long)

September 3, 2009

[...]

But now that I think about it, Hong Kong action directors are all really good talkers. As for Donnie, I may not know if he's the best at fighting or not, but he's unbeatable when it comes to arguments (laughs).

September 27, 2009

[...]

Halfway through our meal, Donnie asked "How's Yuji doing?" so I made a call to him. I thought he'd be in the middle of filming but he picked up the phone!

Donnie (on the phone): "A no~ Yuji-san wa, a ho de su ka!?"※

Yup, Donnie's just pestering him. (laughs)

[※: “Is Yuji an idiot!?”... left it untranslated bc that’s exactly how he said it, probably with a bad accent ^^;;]

October 22, 2009

"Shengjian Bao" as recommended by Donnie. 10 yuan for 6 pieces. Looks like a slightly burnt Xiao Long Bao, but it's insanely delicious!

November 19, 2009

It snowed today...

Tomita(?) had to do a falling stunt from the 2nd floor in that ridiculously cold weather. It's rare for an applause to happen on set for Hong Kong movies, but today it happened spontaneously.

When asked about the stunt later on, apparently "it didn't hurt at all."

When Donnie heard that he said, "Then we should have dropped you from the 3rd floor instead." (laughs)

November 22, 2009

Today wasn't that cold but carelessness was unacceptable. That's because there's going to be rain in this scene (laughs).

I wasn’t directly affected, but other stuntmen had to do their scenes in the rain. It's rough. We didn't have “gangan” like in Japan (containers that look like kerosene cans with kindling in them) and no one even bothered to prepare blankets. We did request for the production team to prepare these things, but it would have been wise if the action team had prepared them too. 

Perhaps Donnie had anticipated it to be that cold, so today he gave out jackets to the entire team (22 people!) as gifts. Yan Hua and I received especially good ones. The action team and the lighting department combined has so many people. Being the boss is really tough...

January 4, 2010

Tried editing the action scenes that we filmed the day before yesterday using clips from video assist. Looks like things are getting quite interesting. 

Halfway through I got a phone call from Donnie, so I went to meet up with him and have dinner at his hotel. 

When I showed him the clip that I had edited so far in my iPod, he mumbled, "...damn, I’m good." (lol) Isn’t that already obvious!

February 2, 2010 (1)

Continuing from yesterday which went smoothly, today we are shooting Donnie's counter-attack scene. Donnie takes off his white Mao suit... 

What the hell!! That is not the body of someone who's turning 47 this year!!

He hasn't been eating much the past few days, and has been bulking up heavily by doing things like push-ups until just before his take starts. To be honest, his body is much better now compared to 15 years ago during "Fist of Fury." I swear, this guy is getting younger and younger...

February 2, 2010 (2)

In the afternoon, we did a couple of shots of Donnie receiving attacks from Colonel Chikaraishi.※ 

As usual, we used dummy arms and legs dressed in costume. For some reason, this unpleasant duty always ends up being assigned to me, so I just went ahead and gave him a good beating.

If I’m not mistaken, during "Bodyguards and Assassins" I had to wear the enemy's shoe on my hand and "kick" Donnie's face. On the second take, it grazed the side of his face by accident and formed a bruise. I've got to be more careful this time! (that’s what I thought, but it’s not like I was being particularly careful...)

In the end, I think we did over 50 punches to his temple, cheeks and shoulders...? The people who get hurt and the people who do the hurting in action movies both have it hard! 

Well then, tomorrow's the finale~!!

[※: the antagonist for legend of the fist.]

pics from end of shooting:

February 4, 2010

Habit is a real scary thing. Woke up at 6am even though there was no filming today. Watched DVDs until past noon, went for lunch with the Japanese team. After that, we watched "14 Blades" and discussed our thoughts and impressions.

Nighttime was spent at Donnie's hotel. Had a dinner party with the main staff and action team. Donnie's headed off to Taiwan tomorrow, so I suppose it'll be a while before we see him again. 

During these times, Donnie wouldn't say things you’d expect like "Bye! See you soon!" at all, he would just leave quietly. As though we'd be meeting as usual tomorrow. Something about it feels very Donnie-like.

March 15, 2010

[...]

After our meeting, Donnie and I left for Beijing. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Ritz-Carlton. 

I ordered a lasagna, while Donnie ordered a lobster pasta. However, apparently there'd been some coriander that clashed with the flavour of the pasta, so he forcefully got them to replace his order (laughs). As always, he's like Giant (while everyone around him is Nobita)...

[t/n: i can't believe kenji used doraemon as analogy L MAO. anyway donnie has mentioned before that he hates coriander and just the smell of it makes him tear up o.0]

June 30, 2010

Going back to Japan. Received a call from Donnie at the airport. He said, "Thanks for your help this time.” Hearing such words straight out of Donnie's own mouth kinda throws me off balance (laughs), but it does make me feel "ah, I'm glad I came.” 

I do express my gratitude to the people around me in words too, but it's not always an easy thing to do, so i'm going to try making more of a conscious effort from now on.

I would probably just weird people out though (laughs).

August 23, 2010

First day of filming. Staff & cast gathered together for the prayer ceremony.※

I can’t write about what we filmed, but everything went smoothly. Donnie took lots of pictures on set with his brand new camera. It had nothing to do with filming at all but Donnie kept going, "Kenji, jump!" and I was made to jump many times (laughs).

Donnie asked Sakuma to bring him a peach from the cardboard box and when he handed over an unripe peach, Donnie asked, "Are you colour blind?"

That was his first conversation with Donnie (laughs).

[※: i think it’s a tradition before filming? for good luck, for things to go smoothly, etc. also this was the first day of wu xia filming! :D]

September 11, 2010

Today was also action filming. Unlike stunts, acting while performing action moves is truly difficult. Donnie gave me all sorts of detailed instructions but the more intently I listened to them, the worse my performance got. Halfway through I almost blew my lid and complained, "I don’t get it anymore! The more I follow your directions, the more robotic my acting becomes!"

Donnie replied, "...Kenji, that's because you're only understanding my words on the surface, instead of acting with your heart."

At that moment, those words sank into me and I felt like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"That's right..." I realised, "I should just act with my feelings!"

That said, what came next...

"Kenji, step forward with your left leg and make sure to jump on one leg only! Look directly at the camera in that position and react while hitting your right arm on the corner, as though by accident! Make sure to do it naturally!"

...was another absurd direction from Donnie (laughs).

How in the world can I act with my heart that way~!!

And so, that made me realise that I should start being nicer to actors.

September 17, 2010

[...]

By the way, I was stopped by a woman who looked like a tourist on my way to the washroom today. She asked, "Um, by any chance is this Director Peter Chan's movie?"

When I said yes, she yelled “Kyaa~~~~!!!” excitedly. (laughs)

Speaking of which, something similar happened before at the airport. They'd ignored Donnie (lol) and went straight to asking, "Um, you're Director Peter Chan, right? Can I have a photo with you?"

I’d get it if he were an actor, but isn't it unusual that a director's name would bring out such a reaction? What a big name...

September 24-27, 2010

Today is the continuation of a scene that I’ll be acting in. It’s alllllllllll action. Feeling so exhausted. My spinal cord gets bad when I’m tired, so the left side of my body is now numb...

Donnie’s demands are grueling as usual, and as the person being subjected to it I’ve been thinking “really wanna kick his ass...” twice or thrice a day (laughs). I fully understand that Donnie is always aiming for top quality so all I can do is put in my best effort.

The material that we’ve edited so far is quite interesting! That’s the only thing keeping me sane right now.

Hang in there, me~

Got some flaky egg rolls + doing an impression of Donnie (lol).

October 19, 2010

[...]

Went location hunting after filming ended. After that, went straight to Donnie’s hotel for a meeting. There was a car accident on the way there which brought traffic to a complete standstill. I ended up being very late.

When I arrived it was already time for dinner, so I ate together with Donnie's family who had come to visit since yesterday. 

Ah, Jasmine and James have grown so much. When Donnie’s with his children, he's a good father and looks like he's having so much fun. 

I wish he'd smile more on set too, even if it's just 1/10th of this (laughs).

[t/n: !!?!???? *lies down*]

December 22-23, 2010

[...]

Arrived in Beijing a little past 12am and had a meeting right there with Donnie. Received an iPad... I'm getting a real bad feeling from this (lol).

Meanwhile, I handed over the Japanese press release for ��Ip Man” and “Bodyguards and Assassins” to Donnie, as well as a kewpie doll. He was really delighted, but I think he probably has no clue who that kewpie doll is (laughs).

[t/n: kenji getting a Weird Feeling every time donnie is unusually nice to him is a recurring joke bc he suspects some favour is about to be asked of him 😂 

also i think “kewpie doll” is referring to these dolls they gave out during the japanese ip man release? 

dunno why he’d be so happy if he doesn’t know who it is. my hypothesis: donnie has a soft spot for cute things. that, or he just likes getting gifts. i mean, who doesn’t?]

January 6, 2011

There's no filming today, but I've been asked by Donnie to do some editing for The Lost Bladesman's promotional video in Beijing. Why? 

...I'm sure people who are reading this blog for the first time have started mistaking me as the "Editor Guy" (laughs)?

September 1, 2011

Got a text from Donnie while I was in the middle of action training that said, "Tell me the name of that tonkatsu place in Shibuya (he's thinking about Maisen Aoyama)" 

Hm? Feels like a similar situation has happened before...? 

Flashback to 10 years ago, around the same time. 

It was during filming for "The Princess Blade" when Donnie called me, saying "I'm in a tonkatsu shop right now, order something for me!" 

I remember now that I had to order a roast cutlet set or something like that for him over the phone, even though I had been in the middle of filming!

...In other words, there's still no improvement when it comes to this even after 10 years (laughs).

[t/n: i guess this is one answer to the question of “where does donnie yen eat (when he goes to japan)”]

March 20-25, 2012

[...]

Filming ended when the sun had set but immediately after, I went back to Donnie's hotel to discuss tomorrow's action scenes. And as expected everything gets changed entirely the very next day. 

Oh well. Every day is pretty much a repeat of that.

At any rate, Donnie is in top form this time. Goes without saying that he aced his own parts but even for Andy's parts, he would do demonstrations and stuff.

"He's so tough~" I thought in awe.

March 30, 2012

The ending has reached its climax. Donnie's wife and children had traveled all the way here so after filming, all of us including the action team had dinner together. Everyone's exhausted from filming, but I feel like moments when we are able to gather like this are something very precious.

May 22, 2012

Received a call from Donnie praising the "making of" video that I'd put together (it was only a 2 minute teaser though). “Oh, a rare praise!" I thought. And then he went, "So, could you make another version that features me as the main subject?" (laughs). Well, I already saw that coming~

[t/n: is he perhaps, talking about this video?]

some other photos from special id filming:

Donnie and Andy On doing a read-through ↓

Sakuma, overwhelmed by being with Donnie (lol) ↓

Chris (from the action team)’s birthday ↓

Kenji: Isn't this amazing!? It's called a driving pod, you can drive the car from above! It's possible to do small turnings compared to a car that's just being towed along!! ↓