Leaked action footage from 20th Century Fox’s upcoming DRAGONBALL movie has appeared on Youtube. Someone in a crowd of extras portraying spectators managed to get what looks like a cell phone camera recording of Chi Chi (Jamie Chung) and Mai (Eriko Tamura) fighting in an arena.
Keep in mind that what we’re seeing is raw footage and certainly not the perspective director James Wong had in mind. That said, the venue, costumes and fight moves look a little mundane.
Let’s face it, this franchise - originally a manga series and then animated - was never meant for live-action entertainment. In my mind, the only filmmaker capable of possibly handling the extreme action, plotting and hair is Lam Ngai-kai, director of mondo martial arts actioners STORY OF RICKY and PEACOCK KING. Instead we have James Wong who’s biggest directing gig to date is THE ONE, arguably the worst Jet Li movie since Tsui Hark’s flop THE MASTER.
Finally, someone caught up with Jamie Chung at this year’s Comic Con and got her to talk about DRAGONBALL and her role in ABC Family’s upcoming action miniseries SAMURAI GIRL.