（1）
In November 2003, Beijing Entertainment News reported that Kung Fu superstar Jet Li's new work "Danny the WolfHound" had been filmed and was in post-production. Jet Li said that "WolfHound Danny" is the beginning of his acting career transformation, although the title of "Kung Fu Emperor" on his head, jet Li does not want to always play a strong positive character in martial arts or learn the old role of revenge, in the new film, Jet Li played for the first time a force value explosion and the mind has never been able to break through the ten-year-old alien killer, he believes that this is an important challenge to his acting skills, but whether this transformation is successful or not, it is up to the audience to make the final judgment.
Jet li
On September 30, 2004, Shanghai Youth Daily reported that "Danny the Dog" (English name "Danny The Dog") was officially renamed "Tiger Out of the Cage" ("The Beast Out of the Cage") (English name "Unleashed"), and later when it was released in Hong Kong, the film was named "Undead Dog".
On January 31, 2005, Shanghai Youth Daily again reported that in the promotional poster for the American version of the film "The Beast Out of the Cage" (i.e., "Danny the Wolfhound"), Jet Li not only wore a collar around his neck, but was also stepped on. As soon as this poster came out, it immediately caused a lot of fans to resent, and some people said, "(Although it looks) very cool, but it is very uncomfortable to watch, it feels strange, I really don't know if Jet Li is willing to do this!" Some people said, "It doesn't look like Jet Li at all, maybe it was done on purpose, and the real Jet Li certainly can't do this!" Even many fans angrily asked "How can an American distribution company use such a poster!" Curiously, neither the French version of The Beast Out of the Cage nor the later Japanese version of the poster had similar problems.
Danny the Wolfhound poster
Regarding the "poster storm", Jet Li gave a positive response.
Jet Li first admitted that "in the movie, the character I played at the beginning really resembled a dog. This is because he simply does not understand what friendship, life, family, and love are. He only knew how to hurt people. But you can see the role I play as constantly standing in the face of adversity, trying not to be knocked down. He wanted to get better, to be a more complete person. Chinese society has been open to the outside world for more than two decades, and the companies responsible for importing overseas films are professionals who have a considerable understanding of films and are competent in their work. I'm sure they don't negate a movie because of a poster. ”
Danny the Wolfhound
Jet Li also thanked the fans for their support, saying, "I want to thank my fans and all the friends who care about me for their support." My job is acting, sometimes I play heroic roles, but I'm not a hero, sometimes I play a villain, and I'm not a villain, or that sentence, I'm just an actor. ”
Jet Li believes that the function of the American version of the poster is only to bring out the story and character background, and does not involve racial discrimination, he explained to the point that Americans spent ten million dollars to buy the copyright, and will not go with their own pockets. "I can understand why some people who haven't seen the film yet think so, and after hearing these reactions, I've informed the U.S. distribution company about this phenomenon," he said. But as the film's chief planner and producer, I knew that the movie poster was just one of the ways to promote the film in the United States. Most movies are distributed in different countries with different posters, so that they can accurately promote each different culture, and the only purpose is to successfully introduce the film to audiences around the world with posters. The poster is just an overview of the art design approach to the entire film. Finally, Jet Li also took himself and Jackie Chan as an example and said, "Jackie Chan and I have beaten a lot of foreigners and blacks in the film, and we have never been accused of 'insulting the ocean'!" ”
（2）
After the "poster storm", there was a "forbidden wind wave". In April 2005, a month before the original domestic release of "WolfHound Danny", the publicity director of the distributor Huaxia Film Company said in an interview with reporters, "At present, the domestic distribution of "Wolfhound Danny" is suspended. Subsequently, the reporter learned from informed sources that because the film involved excessive violent and bloody scenes, and there were many plots of participating in underground illegal fighting activities, it was difficult to pass the trial, and the Import and Export Department of the Film Bureau did not intend to introduce the film at that time. Later, a spokesperson for the Film Bureau also pointed out that the introduction of "Danny the Wolfhound" in the mainland is quite hanging, because "we have not even seen this film yet."
"Danny the Wolfhound" is violent
For the issue of bloodiness and violence in movies, Jet Li once used "war theme" films as an example to illustrate his views. He argues that violent films are not about promoting violence, but about making viewers realize that "violence is not the only way to solve problems." Jet Li further explained, "I believe many people know that I am a Buddhist. Over the past few years, I've been sending a message in my films that violence won't solve the problem. From the war films, we learn that war is very cruel and terrible, and the message we get is that peace is the most important thing. We cannot avoid war and its destruction just because we want to see peace. We need contrast to understand and cherish what really matters. For this reason, I use violence to express violence as the only way to solve the many problems facing humanity. That's why I created some special, even crazy martial arts moves for this film, and I hope you can understand it. ”
"WolfHound Danny" action guidance is "Eight Master" Yuan Heping, at the beginning, Jet Li wanted to choose one from Yuan Heping, Yuan Kui and Cheng Xiaodong, because the role of action guidance in the film is very important, is one of the factors affecting the "lifeblood" of the movie, and finally Jet Li chose Yuan Heping, under the control of Yuan Heping, Jet Li played by Danny in the fighting style to achieve the transformation from the early "animal nature" to the later "human nature", the most obvious is under the influence of the musician played by Morgan Freeman, Danny eventually learned how to control himself, restrain himself, and improve himself, and showed weariness and dissatisfaction with violence when he used it.
（3）
Danny the Wolfhound is an action film starring jet li and produced by jet li, written and produced by Luc Besson, and directed by Louis Letryl. At present, douban score is 6.4 points.
At that time, the media reported that "Danny the Wolfhound" was Jet Li's first "non-heroic" role (it should be a "non-heroic" positive role, and Jet Li had already played a villain role in "Deadly Weapon 4") as a gimmick. Although Jet Li began his own conquest of Hollywood as early as 1998, he still said with regret that "once an action actor is stereotyped, he can't shoot other types of films, plus my English is not good enough, and Hollywood has no interest in my head!" Of course, Jet Li also understands that change is difficult, he said humorously, "You see Pizza Hut is selling pizza, there is no reason to sell dumplings; you see Stephen Chow only watch comedy; I have always sold dumplings, and I can only get more than a hundred different kinds of dumplings to meet different people."
In 2001, Jet Li and Luc Besson collaborated on the film "Dragon's Kiss", the two have since become friends, often chatting together, Jet Li expressed to Luc Besson that he hopes to find another way in the new film, let the action serve the story in the film, and convey the tenet that "violence is not the way to solve the problem". Luc Besson agreed, and a few days later showed Jet Li the script for Danny the Wolfhound.
Music saved Danny
Later, Jet Li said, "I am an actor, and in my opinion, as an actor, my biggest enemy is myself." I had to keep challenging myself because I didn't want to go the same way. I've played the hero who saved the world in 31 movies, and I've always been looking for something new. I've never tried this type of role (Danny). I love the character of a child who suffers a brain injury, is trained to grow up like a dog, and the message is anti-violent and positive, which is why we spend so much money on Morgan Freeman. The black film emperor Morgan Freeman plays a blind pianist, and Jet Li has a lot of opponents, is the Jet Li played by Danny's "initiation man" and spiritual mentor, Jet Li said: "Morgan Freeman plays a pianist in the film, and under the inspiration of music, I have become kind." That sounds funny, doesn't it? ”
（4）
In order to play the role of Danny well, two months before the film began, the production company specially invited a British teacher for Jet Li to study acting skills with him, analyze the personality of the characters, in order to find the best facial expressions and body movements, and the two even went to the zoo to see the beasts at one point, carefully observing the difference between the eyes of the angry dog and the tame puppy. This is the first time jet Li has hired a drama teacher to guide acting skills after he arrived in Hollywood, in addition to observing the subtle movements of dogs, Jet Li often sits alone on an empty stage in the middle of the night to eat bread and drink water to experience the lonely state of mind of the character. In addition, Jet Li also receives several special lessons every day: standing posture, walking style, eye contact and expression expression. Jet Li said: "Sometimes I can't help but shed tears and think why should I suffer here? I should be in a five-star hotel with my relatives and friends. But for the sake of this role, I can only try his life. It took me 7 months to figure out the character very carefully, and in the end I was fully integrated into his state of mind. After the film was shot, I took a year off to be able to get rid of the experience completely. I really did my best. ”
In the movie, Jet Li walks heavily and tortuously, with his shoulders shrugged, his head hanging slightly, his expression confused, appearing innocent and sad. This is very consistent with Luc Besson's setting of the character: Danny is a very unique character, his mind and age have never exceeded ten years old, and although his body continues to grow, his personality growth is not healthy. In the first half of the film, he only knows how to beat people, and he knows nothing about the world except fighting.
Jet Li played the differences between the roles
Jet Li doesn't think there's anything wrong with the role, he bluntly said that "the films I produce will not insult myself", Jet Li said, "So far, most of the films I have shot have played either tough guys, martial arts masters or policemen." That said, I usually play a strong, masculine character who solves problems in the play and then becomes a hero. Many fans 'believe' that the best thing I do with my character is to beat people up, and I worry that fans will only learn this from my films. I think there's more to my fans than I can convey. Jet Li further explained that all along, he wanted to make some films that "have Jet Li's personal style". "I don't want society to think that Chinese only know how to play kung fu and hit people." Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and I all learned martial arts, so many people think that Chinese know how to fight. I feel the pressure myself. So I wanted to make some films that looked at things from a different perspective. I want to use action movies to get a message out to the audience and let the audience know that we don't just know how to fight. ”
Jet Li eventually concluded, "Luc Besson and I are both producers of Danny the Wolfhound. The two of us brainstormed together to create this film and irrigate it wholeheartedly. We wanted to use an action movie to convey the message that violence would not solve the problem. Believe me, this movie is absolutely not the slightest insult to me. ”