Donnie Yen Ridiculed For "Not Being Able To Carry 36kg Actress" During Shoot

Donnie Yen, 59, is not only known as one of the greatest martial arts stars of all time, he’s also been dubbed the “strongest in the universe”.

However, his, um, strength has come under question after behind-the-scenes footage from his upcoming wuxia film, Sakra, an adaptation of Louis Cha’s novel, Tian Long Ba Bu, made the rounds online recently.

In a close-up scene, Donnie, who stars as Qiao Feng, the leader of the beggar sect, can be seen looking sombre and dishevelled as he carried Chinese actress Chen Yuqi, who plays Ah Chu, while they said their lines.

According to reports, he had to repeat the scene several times so that different angles could be shot.

Expectation vs Reality

However, when the camera pulled away to reveal a wide shot, instead of being carried by Donnie, Yuqi can be seen lying on a stretcher propped up by two crew members.

The scene sparked a discussion among netizens. Some were in disbelief that Donnie could not lift Yuqi, who revealed in the past that she weighs around 36kg, and needed the help of a stretcher.

One netizen wrote: “Donnie Yen can’t even carry a 36kg woman, needs two people to hold up stretcher while he pretends,” while another wrote that “time has not been forgiving”.

Even heroes need a break

But there were netizens who reasoned that Donnie had indeed carried Yuqi, as seen in the wide shots, so there is nothing wrong with using a stretcher when filming the close-up scenes.

Furthermore, in addition to acting, Donnie is also executive producer of the movie, so he needs to see to a lot of things on set, so using props for such scenes is less taxing on the actor.

“You try letting a man in his 60s carry two gas cans, standing and talking for long periods and see if he is tired,” wrote one netizen.

Filming for Sakra began in July and it’s slated for release during Chinese New Year next year.

Photos: Top Cinema/Weibo, Donnie Yen/Instagram