EXO K-Pop News: Lay and Jackie Chan Co-Star in ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ Chinese-Indian Action Film - Zhang Yixing of EXO-M Will Travel to India in Fall 2015

Lay Performs with EXO in Singapore
Lay performing with EXO in The Lost Planet concert at Singapore on August 2014. |

Lay from EXO is making a big screen debut with international movie star Jackie Chan in an all-new film, "Kung Fu Yoga.' The action comedy movie will explore the closely knit relationship between kung fu and yoga practices. Directed by Stanley Tong, the film will hit theaters in 2016.

Lay, whose real name is Zhang Yixing's will travel from China to India for the movie shoots throughout 2015. He is currently pursuing a dual career in acting and music, like many artists signed with management group SM Entertainment. Lay recently starred in 'To Be A Better Man,' a Chinese drama series.

"Kung Fu Yoga' stars Jackie Chan, Zhang Yixing, Tiger Shroff, Aarif Rahman, and Ming Hu. It is produced by Maxine De Vere. The production companies behind the film are Viacom18, Taihe Entertainment Corp., and Shinework Media.

It is not the first time that SM Entertainment has worked with Chan. Siwon Choi from Super Junior also acted alongside Chan in "Dragon Blade.' Adrien Brody, John Cusack, and Lin Peng also starred in the film.

Lay's schedule is becoming more busy, as he will begin filming for 'Kung Fu Yoga' and as he prepares to make a debut in Japan. EXO announced that they will debut in Japan on Nov. 4, 2015. The nine-member boy band will release two new singles entitled, "Love Me Right" and "Drop That."

EXO's members are Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Sehun, Xiumin, Lay, and Chen. The band is made of two subgroups, EXO-K and EXO-M. EXO derives its name from the word, "exoplanet."

The Hollywood Reporter stated that "Kung Fu Yoga' is the first film to be produced as a part of an audiovisual co-production treaty between India and China. The treaty was signed by Cai Fuchai, the Chinese Minister of State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and Prakash Javadekar, the New Delhi Minister of Information and Broadcasting in 2014.

The treaty will "pool their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources to co-produce films. It would help Indian audio-visual products to gain greater market access," stated an official statement.