Casting
The role of Chu Zhaonan was in fact offered to Korean actor Song Seung-heon with a reported pay of US$400,000 (It is unknown whether Donnie Yen was paid this amount for the role). Both Song Seung-heon and Leon Lai (who was given the role of Yang Yuncong due to his performance in The Sword of Many Lovers and Tsui Hark said that he was "hoping to see another side of him (Leon Lai)") trained in horseback riding and swordplay for their respective roles but Song dropped out near the start of the filming period in order to work on other projects. Yen was offered the role of Chu Chaonan after Song dropped out, and Yen, after "understanding the gravity" of the situation, took up the role without hesitation.
Lu Yi has said once that he will never do a wuxia / martial arts project ever again but when he was offered the role of Han Zhibang he immediately took it up due to the all-star cast tied to the project and that he will probably never get another chance to work with such a strong cast ever again.
The role of Prince Dokado was at first offered to Hu Jun but was turned down for some unknown reason, and was later offered to Wang Xueqi but he apparently also turned it down as well and it eventually went to Michael Wong.
Li Yuan auditioned for a role as one of the Seven Swords and was even picked by Tsui Hark himself but owing to some commercial reasons, the role was given to a more prominent actor instead.
Read more about this topic: Seven Swords
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