The Master – Chinese Poster

Reel East launches The Jet Li Collection with this memorabilia from ‘The Master’, the first film with which director Tsui Hark tried to make a star out of actor Jet Li. The film transposed all the elements of a classic Hong Kong kung fu movie to modern Los Angeles, revisiting elements of Bruce Lee’s ‘The Way of the Dragon’, with Jet Li playing an ex-patriate Chinese coming to the rescue of his teacher, played by former Bruce Lee stuntman Yuen Wah.

The film also features former kickboxing champ Jerry Trimble, later one of the ensemble cast of Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’.

Though not a major hit on first release, ‘The Master’ paved the way for ‘Once Upon a Time in China’, the film that brought back period kung fu cinema and did indeed make a star out of Jet Li. This film was shot before ‘Once Upon a Time in China’, but released after that film’s success.  It also looked ahead when Li would later move to Hollywood to make urban action films like  ‘Romeo Must Die’ and ‘Cradle 2 Grave’.

This is the original Chinese theatrical poster for ‘The Master’. Its an unusual combination of photo and artwork, matching an image of star Jet Li with traditional Chinese water colour style painting.