The One (2001)

A sci-fi film starring Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham

Summary

-Set in a world of Multiverses, where everyone has a version of themselves, two Multiverse agents track down a rogue criminal killing alternate versions of himself, to become stronger. The only thing stopping him from becoming "The One" is a humble LASD office

Cast

-Jet Li: Gabe / Yulaw / Lawless

-Carla Gugino: T.K. / Massie Walsh

-Delroy: Roedecker / Attendant

-Jason Statham: Funsch

-James Morrison: Aldrich / A World Inmate #1

-Dylan Bruno: Yates

-Richard Steinmetz: D'Antoni

-Harriet Sansom Harris: Nurse Besson

Did You Know?

-In the scenes where Jet Li appeared to be fighting himself, this was done with a stuntman with a similar physical build to him. The stuntman's face was painted green with CGI dots so Jet Li's face could digitally replace it later

-Jet Li uses two particular styles of kung fu here. For Yulaw, the "evil" one, he uses what is called Xingyi Quan, or "Mind-Form-Fist". It's seen as a very linear style meant for offense. Gabe is seen using what is called Bagua Zhang, or "Eight Trigrams Palm". This is known for open palm fighting, with circular footwork. Both styles are considered two of the three main styles of Chinese kung fu, with the third being Taiji Quan (Tai Chi)

-The 2001 TV program Scrubs is filmed at the North Hollywood Medical Center - the same "University Medical Center" featured in this movie, where Gabe is going to get his MRI 

-In the film's initial shootout, the guns used by the LAPD in the Anubis Universe were M4A1 carbine assault rifles equipped with an M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System. At the time, the M26 was a relatively new experimental shotgun being developed by the United States Army by C-More Systems. It was not available to the public. These were prototype weapons being used and were loaned to the film set by the C-More Systems company. It was done under a promotional agreement that required them to be returned to the company after production was completed

-Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was initially supposed to have the main role, but he had made plans to star as The Scorpion King in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns. At the time, this film was listed as Untitled Sci-Fi Project. When Jet Li came in, it was retitled The One

-When Yulaw is driving around in a car he had stolen, he is fiddling with the radio, trying to find music. The 4th song he comes to is "Sinner" by Drowning Pool. When the film was released in Asia, it was changed to Linkin Park's "Forgotten"

-Jason Statham and Jet Li would appear together once again in films such as 2007's War, 2010's The Expendables, 2012's The Expendables 2 and 2014's The Expendables 3. Jet Li would play a character called Yin Yang

-Both Jet Li and Carlo Gugino had movies come out the same year before signing on to do this one. Carla Gugino starred in Spy Kids while Jet Li starred in Kiss of the Dragon

-When Delroy Lindo's gas station attendant character calls the police, after reporting violence, he describes the appearance of one of them as "a Chinese man". All he would know is that the person in question was of eastern Asian appearance. The attendant was trying to guess whether the man was Chinese or Japanese and assuming that he was Chinese, as the larger population instead of a general description

Unleashed (2005)

This 2005 film stars Jet Li as Danny, a man with the mindset of a little boy, who was taken from his mother and raised to be a vicious attack dog for a London loan shark

This is one of my favorite movies. Jet Li is one of my favorite actors

Summary

-A boy is stolen from his mother by a loan shark and raised to be a vicious attack dog. He escapes his master and attempts to start a new life with a blind piano tuner and his daughter

Cast

-Jet Li: Danny

-Morgan Freeman: Sam

-Bob Hoskins: Bart

-Kerry Condon: Victoria

-Vincent Reagan: Raffles

-Dylan Brown: Lefty

-Tamer Hassan: Georgie

-Michael Jenn: Wyeth

-Phyllida Law: Distinguished Lady

-Carole Ann Wilson: Maddy

-Jaclyn Tze Wey: Danny's Mother

Did You Know?

-Initially, Morgan Freeman's character Sam was not meant to be blind at all. He had heard about a piano school where the students were blind. The school had a high reputation and the scholars had developed their hearing. Freeman was inspired to make his character blind because he felt it would be easier for Sam to "see" the child in Jet Li's character Danny, not the brutal killer he was forced to become

-At the start of the movie, Bob Hoskins actually cut Jet Li's hair, as his character would have done

-During a break in filming, Bob Hoskins, still wearing his white suit covered in fake blood, went to a local Starbucks for coffee. Customers recognized him and he spent 10 minutes signing autographs before going back to the set

-In addition to being a highly skilled martial artist, Jet Li is also a highly proficient piano player. He has showed his proficiency of playing the piano on numerous occasions. There are videos online of him playing the piano beautifully

-In the supermarket fight scene, one of the shoppers in the background is executive producer Luc Besson, who was on set that day visiting

-The role of Bart, played by Bob Hoskins, was originally intended for Albert Finney. But he dropped out to do the 2003 film Big Fish. Other actors considered for the role of Bart included Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Michael Caine and Brian Cox, all of whom turned down this film

-The dog collar Danny wears is an actual prototype of a dog collar designed just for this movie. It includes a retractable chain that Bart keeps under his control to keep Danny under control

Cradle 2 The Grave (2003)

This movie stars hip hop legend DMX and Jet Li as a street thief working with a Taiwanese secret agent to recover not only the thief's daughter but stolen black diamonds that someone is determined to weaponize

Summary

-After a jewel thief steals what seems like innocent black diamonds, his daughter is kidnapped by a weapons dealer. In order to get her back, he must work with a Taiwanese secret agent who is pursuing the black diamonds

Cast

-Jet Li: Su

-DMX: Anthony Fait

-Anthony Anderson: Tommy

-Kelly Hu: Sona

-Tom Arnold: Archie

-Mark Dacascos: Ling

-Gabrielle Union: Daria

-Michael Jace: Odion

-Drag-On: Miles

-Paige Hurd: Vanessa

-Paolo Seganti: Christophe

-Richard Trapp: Douglas

-Sean Cory: Willy Chickens

-Martin Klebba: Fight Announcer

Did You Know?

-During the cage fight sequence, real UFC fighters Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell were brought in by producer Joel Silver to fight with Jet Li

-Mark Dacascos was cast because on the website for Jet Li, there was a poll asking who fans would like to see Jet Li fight next

-For a good majority of the film, Jet Li does combat and fighting with only one hand

-Aaliyah was cast in this film, but passed away in 2001

-DMX, the co-star Jet Li starred with, was late on a frequent basis for filming

-Gabrielle Union was caught off guard when producers sprang on her a scene involving a half-clothed lap dance. It was not in the original script, but she did it anyway. Being a devout Catholic, she went to confession after doing the scene, just to ease her peace of mind

-6 of the actors in this movie starred in the new version of Hawaii Five-O. Mark Dacascos played a character named Wo Fat. Chi McBride played Capt. Lou Grover. Kelly Hu played Laura Hills, the Governor's assistant in season one. Paige Hurd played Samantha Grover. Tom Arnold played an injured criminal lost in the jungle. Randy Couture played an arsonist named Jason Duclaire

-The car Anthony drives is a 2003 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio

-The car Su drives is a 2002 Ford Thunderbird

-Paige Hurd is the goddaughter to DMX. Both he and her had a close relationship while on set, almost like a real father and daughter relationship

War (2007)

This movie stars Jason Statham as an FBI agent investigating a brewing gang war between the Chinese Triads and the Japanese Yakuza

Summary

-Jason Statham plays an FBI agent who is pursuing a mysterious figure known only as "Rogue", who murdered his partner and set his house on fire

Cast

-Jet Li: Rogue

-Jason Statham: Crawford

-John Lone: Chang

-Devon Aoki: Kira

-Luiz Guzman: Benny

-Saul Rubinek: Dr. Sherman

-Ryo Ishibashi: Shiro

-Sung Kang: Goi

-Mathew St. Patrick: Wick

-Nadine Velazquez: Maria

-Andrea Roth: Jenny Crawford

-Kenneth Choi: Takada

-Hiro Kanagawa: Yoshido

-Mark Ho-nam Cheng: Wu Ti

Did You Know?

-In multiple interviews, Jet Li stated he was not happy with this film or its production. He had no confidence in director Philip G. Atwell and even halfway through production, Jet Li knew this film would get bad ratings and not make much

-The silver car Jet Li drives is a Spyker C8 Spyder. This car costs around $287,000

-In the scene where Rogue meets the Ti brothers, Rogue speaks in Mandarin while the Ti brothers speak in Cantonese. The dialects might sound similar, but they are not. For those fluent in either dialect, they will easily recognize the sounds of Cantonese and Mandarin. Not only that, but if someone is only fluent in Cantonese, they will not understand Mandarin and it's the same in reverse-someone fluent in Cantonese will not understand Mandarin

-The motorcycle Jet Li rides in the scene where he baits the Triads is a Hellcat motorcycle made by the Confederate Motor Company

-In the Sayu Teahouse, when Takada is injured and Crawford comes in, Takada (Kenneth Choi) says "In Japan, you'd be dead!" This closely mirrors the line Jet Li says as Wah Sing Ku in Lethal Weapon 4. In that scene, where Mel Gibson and Danny Glover go to meet Uncle Benny at the Chinese restaurant, Jet Li says "In Hong Kong, you'd be dead."

April Birthdays

Since it's April, it's time to say Happy Birthday

Jet Li

-Birth name: Li Lian Jie

-DOB: 4/26/1963

-Where: Beijing, China

-He not only did the voice overs for the character Kit  Yun in the video game Rise to Honor, he also did the motion capture work for the fight scenes, working closely with Corey Yuen.

Ritchie Blackmore

-Birth name: Richard Hugh Blackmore

-DOB: 4/14/1945

-Where: Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England

-He quit Deep Purple for good in 1994 because he felt Ian Gillan, the vocalist for Deep Purple, wasn't taking the tour very seriously and the old tensions between him and Gillan were starting to fire back up

Jeremy Clarkson

-Birth name: Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson

-DOB: 4/11/1960

-Where: Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England

-He provided notes for the sleeve of the re-issued Genesis album Selling England by the Pound

Eddie Murphy

-Birth name: Edward Regan Murphy

-DOB: 4/3/1961

-Where: Brooklyn, New York

-Prior to entering the world of acting, he performed stand up comedy at the same comedy club, the Bay Area Comedy Club, as Robin Williams and Caryn Johnson, who would later go on to fame as Whoopi Goldberg

Roddy Piper

-Birth name: Roderick George Toombs

-DOB: 4/17/1954

-Where: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

-DOD: 7/30/2015

-Where: Hollywood, California

-He holds a black belt in judo

Sebastian Bach

-Birth name: Sebastian Phillip Bierk

-DOB: 4/3/1968

-Where: Freeport, The Bahamas

-He himself said that when he was a child and attending school in The Bahamas, he was the only white child in a class of close to forty black children

April Birthdays

Since it's April, time to say Happy Birthday

Jet Li

-Birth name: Li Lian Jie

-DOB: 4/26/1963

-Where: Beijing, China

-He provided not only his voice but his motion capture martial arts for the character in the video game Rise to Honor

Ritchie Blackmore

-Birth name: Richard Hugh Blackmore

-DOB: 4/14/1945

-Where: Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England

-He started playing guitar professionally at age 15, backing musicians such as Glenda Collins, The Outlaws and more

Peter Davison

-Birth name: Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett

-DOB: 4/13/1951

-Where: Streatham, London, England

-He is the father-in-law to Doctor Who #10 David Tennant

Paul Nicholls

-Birth name: Gerald Paul Greenhalgh

-DOB: 4/12/1979

-Where: Bolton, Manchester, England

-His parents were a roofer and a psychiatric nurse

Jeremy Clarkson

-Birth name: Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson

-DOB: 4/11/1960

-Where: Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England

-He is known for being incredibly outspoken, as seen on Top Gear

Jamie Bamber

-Birth name: Jamie St. John Bamber Griffith

-DOB: 4/3/1973

-Where: Hammersmith, London, England

-He has American and British citizenship because of his parents being from both nations

Eddie Murphy

-Birth name: Edward Regan Murphy

-DOB: 4/3/1961

-Where: Brooklyn, New York

-His mother was a telephone operator and his father was a transit police officer who also moonlighted as an amateur actor and stand up comic

Sebastian Bach

-Birth name: Sebastian Philip Bierk

-DOB: 4/3/1968

-Where: Freeport, The Bahamas

-He once stated that while in The Bahamas, he was the only white child in a class of 40 black children

Roddy Piper

-Birth name: Roderick George Toombs

-DOB: 4/17/1954

-Where: Saskatchewan, Canada

-DOD: 7/31/2015

-Where: Los Angeles, California

-His memoir, titled Rowdy, was finished by his son Colt Toombs, a professional MMA fighter and his daughter, Ariel, an actress