Donnie Yen has signed on to the cast of the action film xXx: The Return of Xander Cage with Vin Diesel. The martial arts star will apparently be going up against Diesel, playing an “alpha-warrior” named Xiang. The cast also includes The Vampire Diaries‘ Nina Dobrev, Tony Jaa, Deepika Padukone, Ruby Rose, Conor McGregor, Kris Wu, Hermione Corfield, Toni Collette, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Filming is taking place on the Revolution Studios, Roth Kirschenbaum Films, One Race Films and Paramount Pictures action thriller in Toronto and the Dominican Republic this month. F. Scott Frazier did the current script revisions and D.J. Caruso is directing.
“There are only a handful of martial-arts stars who have crossed over to worldwide fame and Donnie Yen is the top of that elite cohort,” said Revolution CEO/executive producer Vince Totino.
“Donnie’s fighting skill and on-screen charisma make him a perfect foil for Vin,” said producer Joe Roth. “We are all excited to see these two great action stars go toe to toe.”
Yen’s been keeping busy with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He’s also working with his Bullet Group Ltd and Bullet Films Productions to develop a series of films.
