Actor and action director, Donnie Yen is a global action star, who made his way into playing some brilliant roles in Hollywood. Yen, known for his own martial art stunts performed in movies, has come across some wild rides in his career, like when he broke Mike Tyson’s finger.
Former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson has a few titles to his name as well. But it was special when Yen collaborated with Tyson in the action-packed drama, Ip Man 3, the last movie of the widely popular Ip Man franchise. Also, an event on the set will always remain in the memories of the actors.
When Donnie Yen Fractured Mike Tyson’s Finger
The John Wick 4 star realized that he has committed a grave mistake when he accidentally broke Mike Tyson’s finger. Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Donnie Yen said,
“I was doing this movie with him uh Ip man part three. I didn’t know what to expect, right? So, I thought, oh you know, Mike, I love him but then he doesn’t really have a lot of film experience.”
Explaining the choreography of the film, Yen said that his character, Ip Man is supposed to be poised and calm even when the hardcore punches from Tyson were coming on his way. The actor said he had to block those punches maintaining the essence of the character, which, as Yen said, was not easy. “I felt his punch was coming at me 90 miles per hour I kid you not and I couldn’t really move uh sooner because remember I had to be poised,” the John Wick 4 actor said adding that he felt Tyson’s arm “I mean his swamp just kind of I felt the wind it was like a tornado.”
In another scene, the former boxer was coming at Yen with “flurry punches” while the actor was applying a martial art technique called theWing Chun style. “There’s a lot of short elbow blocks so I was blocking his techniques and okay the scene went really well,” Yen said. However, the next day, at a press conference, some journalists speculated that Yen might get hurt and asked the actor about his experience working with the boxing legend. But showing his fractured finger, Tyson said,
“All of you were worried that Donnie will get injured. Nobody cared about me. Now I am injured, still, nobody came to console me.”
Yen soon realized his mistake and said:
“I knew that I bumped into him, but I didn’t know it was that serious. He was very professional about it and we even continued filming. It was only later at the hospital that he was told that his finger had fractured. I am truly sorry!”
The movie was as successful as the previous installment but it is very unlikely that the actors would ever forget the incident.