Once upon a time in China, Xie Miao was a young Wushu champion with great promise. A just nine years old, his tremendous abilities as a martial artist led to him portraying the on-screen son of Jet Li not once but twice in the Hong Kong martial arts action films, “New Legend of Shaolin” and “My Father is a Hero”. Xie Miao later returned to the Chinese film industry as an adult, bringing his martial arts skills and screen presence to such action hits as the “Eye for an Eye” movies and “Hunt the Wicked”. Fast-forward to 2026, and Xie Miao has catapulted to global stardom in his role in the English-language Hong Kong martial arts action movie “The Furious”, directed by Kenji Tanigaki and co-starring Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian, Brian Le, Joey Iwanaga, and Jeeja Yanin, with Kensuke Sonomura orchestrating the movie’s unbelievable martial arts action sequences!
Wang Wei revs up to ger his daughter Rainy to safety.
Wang Wei and Rainy know they must aid in the rescue mission in The Furious.
In “The Furious”, Xie Miao portrays Wang Wei, a mute handyman who becomes a one-man army of kung fu vengeance when his daughter Rainy (Yang Enyu) is kidnapped by a child trafficking ring. Amid his desperate attempt to locate his daughter, Wang Wei crosses paths with Navin (Joe Taslim), a journalist working undercover to bring down the same human trafficking ring after his fellow journalist and wife Matia (Jeeja Yanin) vanished during her own investigation. This leads Wang Wei and Navin to join forces to rescue their loved ones and put at stop to the trafficking operation, and delivering an instant Hong Kong martial arts action classic in “The Furious”!
Today, KFK sits down with Xie Miao to discuss the making of “The Furious”, working with the movie’s ensemble cast of incredible martial artists, and helping shape what has ben heralded as a Hong Kong action game changer, along with designing the incredible five-way showdown of “The Furious”!
Wang Wei is living proof that the most formidable of warriors hide in plain sight!
Wang Wei makes a rather unconventional MMA debut!
Hello Xie, thank you so much for your time today, and welcome to Kung Fu Kingdom! Well, let’s go ahead and dive right into the making of “The Furious”! What can you share about how you came aboard “The Furious”?
It started with Hong Kong producer Bill Kong who approached me about “The Furious”. I asked him who was the director, and at the time, that wasn’t decided, but I thought that among action directors, the most perfect candidate would be Kenji. When I finally knew that Kenji was the director, wow, I was so excited, it was a dream come true!
What would you say were some of the biggest challenges in the making of “The Furious”?
Well, I have been making action movies for years, but this kind of action movie was completely new for me. But it was the distance of the characters in the fights and the style of the action that I was not used to. In this movie, the action director [Kensuke Sonomura] defined our fighting styles as putting us very close to the opponent, so this kind of very close fighting style took me a long time to adjust to.
Were there any big injuries or mishaps in the making of “The Furious”?
We were very lucky for the incredible action team who were able to anticipate any dangers ahead of us, so there were only some minor injuries like a scrape or a cut, but these are inevitable.
Wang Wei finds a challenging adversary in the determined Ho.
Wang Wei and Navin holds their enemies at bay!
You’re also well known for portraying Jet Li’s son twice in “New Legend of Shaolin” and “My Father is a Hero”. That also makes it a bit interesting that at one point in “The Furious”, you have a fight scene with numerous opponents inside of an MMA cage. Was this maybe a bit of a father-son kind of tribute to Jet Li’s fight sequence in an MMA cage in 2003’s “Cradle 2 the Grave”?
I think there was definitely an idea of that, but in this movie, there are many small scenes that are tributes to a lot of action movies. For example, when I’m saving my daughter in “The Furious” and we’re trying to save some of her friends too, that scene really resembles what I filmed with Jet Li in “New Legend of Shaolin” when I was nine. I told Jet Li that, too!
Your character Wang Wei also incorporates hammers a lot into his fighting style in “The Furious”. What was the process like of designing that and was that a big challenge to adjust to?
Well, when I was filming the fight scene in the MMA cage where I’m hitting everyone with the hammer, the action was actually really hard. During training for the movie, dozens of the rehearsals failed, and in the movie, you may notice that after I finish hitting the first guy, then I hit the second guy, and I use my left hand to give my right hand a little support, because by that point of filming the scene, my hands were covered in sweat. By the end, I felt like the hammer was going to slip right out of my hand, and I thought “It absolutely must not fly out!”, so that’s why I needed my other hand for it.
So, what can you share about making the incredible five-way final showdown of “The Furious”?
Well, I actually just saw movie again in a theater, and I was still pretty excited to see the final fight scene. There are five of us fighting in that scene and there are a lot of details in it, and the most challenging part was for everyone to remember their own action, but you also had to know four other people’s action and movements, too. Sometimes, we also even had to pay attention a sixth person, the camera man, so we couldn’t lose our focus at all. So you’d often have all of us in the shot at the same time, and that took us a lot of time.
Wang Wei is determined to rescue his daughter in The Furious!
Wang Wei launches an attack under his opponent’s radar!
There was also the long shot of when I pick up the knife from Yayan and was about to use it, then Joey pushed me away. In that shot, you see all five of us fighting at once, and we spent about seven hours on that one shot, because everyone knew that shot in this film is the most precious thing, and everyone was determined to accomplish it, and we were able to bring it out.
Absolutely! Thank you so much for our interview today, Xie, and good luck with the release of “The Furious” around the world! Xie xie!
Thank you Brad! Xie xie!
Wang Wei isn’t even slowed down by his opponent’s opposition!
Wang Wei and Rainy are revving up to go Evil Knievel on thier enemies in The Furious!
“The Furious” is now playing in theaters in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and the U.S. on June 12th, and will hit theaters in the U.K. on June 26th! Have you seen “The Furious”? What are your thoughts on the movie’s the out-of-this-world martial arts action and incredible ensemble of “The Furious” at last? Are you excited for the possibility of “The Furious 2”? Let us know in the comments below; Like, share and join in the conversation on Facebook and follow us on Twitter & Instagram. (Don’t forget to also check out KFK’s FURIOUS FU-niversity of movie reviews and exclusive, in-depth interviews, including our interviews with director Kenji Tanigaki, as well as Joe Taslim, Jeeja Yanin, Yayan Ruhian, and Brian Le, grab your exclusive KFK gear and subscribe for more amazing martial arts action on YouTube, as well!)
The Furious is bringing the thunder to the summer movie season!
