There was fierce competition among many companies over the rights to the production of a television series about Ip Man since Wilson Yip's movies Ip Man and Ip Man 2 (starring Donnie Yen) came into the limelight. Around June 2012, Suzhou Funa Films and Television acquired the rights to produce the television series. Fan Xiaotian, who previously directed many Chinese television series, was selected as the director, while Hong Kong screenwriter Charcoal Tan was chosen to write the script. Wilson Yip and Taiwanese producer Young Pei-pei served as artistic consultants while the real-life Ip Man's sons, Ip Chun and Ip Ching, were invited to be martial arts consultants for the series.[1]
Shooting for Ip Man began in July 2012[1] and finalized in around November.[2]
After the release of Ip Man, BBC UKChina conducted a telephone interview with Fan Xiaotian about the television series. Fan mentioned that the earlier Ip Man films were too short, and that his purpose in creating the television series was to present a more developed and lively story about Ip Man which allows audiences to explore the character in greater depth. He also felt it was a very opportune time to produce a television series about Ip Man because Wilson Yip's Ip Man movies were very successful and influential, and also because Wong Kar-wai was making The Grandmaster when Ip Man (TV series) was in production.[3]
Fan Xiaotian and Young Pei-pei were keen on recruiting actor Vincent Zhao, who has a background in martial arts, to play the lead character. Taking some netizens' opinions and suggestions into account, the production team also considered casting Han Geng, Wu Chun, Wallace Chung and Wallace Huo in the series.[1] However, the role of Ip Man eventually went to Hong Kong TVB artiste Kevin Cheng. Han Xue was chosen to portray Ip Man's wife Cheung Wing-sing (Mandarin: Zhang Yongcheng). Other cast members include Liu Xiaofeng, Chrissie Chau, Yu Rongguang, Yuen Wah, Bruce Leung, Song Yang and Kou Zhenhai.[4]
In September 2012, the cast and crew of Ip Man appeared at a publicity event in Suzhou to promote the television series.[4]
The full Ip Man series is available in Mandarin, with Mandarin subtitles, on popular free video streaming sites in the US.
The first ten episodes of this 50 episode series was released by Cinedigm in North American, on DVD and Blu-ray on October 10, 2017. The 45 minute episodes feature Mandarin audio with English subtitles.[5]
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