Chinese-American
martial arts film directed by and starring Keanu Reeves.[2][3][4] The film is
Reeves' first in a directing role. Man of Tai Chi is a multilingual narrative,
partly inspired by the life of Reeves' friend, stuntman Tiger
Chen.Pre-production began in 2008 with years-long script refinements. During
Man of Tai Chi's five years of scripting and production, Reeves acted in
several B movies with lead roles as Henry in 2010's Henry's Crime and John in
2012's Generation Um.... When the project eventually moved into the production
phase, filming occurred on mainland China and Hong Kong. The film premiered in
2013 with showings at the Beijing Film Festival[5] and Cannes Film Festival.[6]
The work was awarded in Beijing and praised by recognized director of action
genre films, John Woo.