The latest installment, which will open across Chinese mainland theaters on Dec 20, follows Ip Man's first overseas journey to San Francisco in 1964. While seeking a school to broaden his son's horizons, the martial arts grandmaster is pulled into a conflict between US military forces and local Chinese martial artists, forcing Yen to step out to fight in favor of his ethnic dignity.
Again under the helm of Wilson Yip, the Hong Kong director who directed the previous three Ip Man films, the latest flick sees Yen reprise his role as Ip Man and join hands with action stars Wu Yue, Danny Chan Kwok-kwan and Chris Collins.
In the popular 2008 TV series, The Legend of Bruce Lee, Chan plays the kung fu legend and most renowned apprentice of Ip Man, who used his impact to change Western bias against Asians in the 1960s and '70s.
Yip says Yen has a natural temperament to make all crew members at the filming set believe that he is the very incarnation of Ip Man when he puts on the robe.
Yen says he feels uncomfortable about the controversial depiction of Lee-Yen's idol for years-in Quentin Tarantino's latest film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In the movie, Lee is depicted as an arrogant person, who is defeated by a stuntman, played by Brad Pitt, in one round of a three-round challenge. The stuntman knocks Lee onto a car at the filming set of a TV series in the late 1960s. The scenes have caused a controversy, angering those who adore the kung fu icon, including Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, and former basketball star Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
"I don't want to judge Tarantino, but I disagree with such a depiction," says Yen, adding that the film is "disrespectful" to the late martial arts icon.
Yen says the fourth Ip Man movie will "correctly show the global audience the authentic aspect of Lee", and Yen has also explored an in-depth way to display the aging Ip Man.
"Sometimes, it's not bad to grow old. As time passes, you better understand life and get more wisdom, too," says Yen before lowering his voice to murmur, "Goodbye".
