The Master was a film in production through the latter half of 2016.

Unlike the critically acclaimed Paul Thomas Anderson film of the same name, this was a

Chinese film, set to star Donnie Yen, the famed actor and martial arts expert from Hong

Kong.

Yen was also in line to produce the film through his superhero films, a production company

he had established alongside his wife a few years prior.

According to Alex Ritman of the Hollywood Reporter, who first broke the story, the Master had

a budget somewhere between $60 and $70 million, and was going to start filming throughout

Asia in November of 2016, before wrapping up in December of that year, when star Donnie

Yen would have to begin a promotion circuit for the Star Wars film he was starring in.

In the summer leading up to this shoot, multiple makeup artists from Europe, primarily the

UK.

He wanted to receive inquiries from a woman working on the film.

A woman named Lee Duan Zhao, who referred to herself as Leslie.

She represented herself as a production manager for the film and was looking for skilled experts

to work on the Master in her inquiries, which began as emails but soon stretched out into

lengthy phone calls.

Leslie would claim that she was looking to avoid larger names and was instead looking for

what the Hollywood Reporter described as, emerging talent.

These were young artists looking for a big break, who Leslie claimed had come highly

recommended by people they had worked with in the past.

Dozens of makeup artists were directly contacted by this woman and people representing her,

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