Now that Stephen Chow has wrapped A Hope - the sci-fi comedy film previously known as Yangtze River 7 - he seems to be making advances on the Kung Fu Hustle sequel we were promised almost as soon as the first film was released.
I'm told that fans of the first Kung Fu Hustle who are well read in Chinese literature will have spotted sly references to Return of the Condor Heroes, a much beloved martial arts novel by Louis Cha. I, of course, didn't have a clue, but I was very interested when the tie-ins were brought to my attention.
Off the back of this first revelation, it has been pointed out to me that Chow and Cha have similar tastes and rather compatible approaches to storytelling - and it seems this might be about to come in very useful. Slowly, reports are appearing, combining and crystalising to suggest that Chow is to recruit Cha as a collaborator on his script for Kung Fu Hustle 2.
A Hustle 2 script has existed since before A Hope was filmed, but as Chow is apparently now looking to entwine his world even more closely with Cha's he has sought the author's help in creating a new draft. Seemingly, the new film will reveal that Kung Fu Hustle existed in the same world as many of Cha's characters already did, and that now, many of them will be popping up for a bit of action in the sequel.
This prospect isn't entirely dissimilar to Tarantino recruiting Elmore Leonard to work on The Vega Brothers (not that there will ever be a Vega Brothers) and for Ray Nicolet, say, or Harry Mitchell from 52 Pickup to be woven into the plot.
All very intriguing.
