Big Brawl#2 : Biehn VS Yam, Phoe VS Emma

It feels like a bash-'em-up videogame today: the epic Lompoc VS Tremayne fistfight comes to an end, while Deva and Guang Di prepare to start their duel. This is tough stuff to shoot anyway, and especially so as we're filming at night.

As I mentioned previously, we're really lucky that Michael Biehn and Simon Yam are in such great shape. These two veterans have been going at it full bore for two nights now. Its like a day trip to Michael Vick's backyard...

Once we get into the final moments of the fight, a knife comes in to play. Unfortunately, the prop knives we're using keep breaking and these two are so gung ho I'm worried they'll start using a real one!

With this showdown wrapped, our fighting females take centre stage. We all knew Phoenix could throw down with the best of them, but how about that Emma Pei? With her focus and energy, she's liable to give fashion models a good name...

I promised to give her the lead in a later film, providing she keeps training and gets a little bigger. (Hopefully, she won't turn into a female Sammo Hung...)

Though they come from very different backgrounds, a real rapport has developed between Phoenix and Emma, something that's very important given the hours they need to spend going toe-to-toe (without actually hitting each other!).

I really feel for Phoenix. All Emma has to do is come in and kill someone once in a while (which she does very well). Phoe has to carry the female lead (dramatically), while at the same time staying in shape for her kick ass action scenes. I'm so thankful that she has our wonderful co-producer Seth around to keep her spirits up.

The process of Deva in the film is towards her becoming a fully realised 'Protector' of her master, and similarly Phoe's journey has been towards her coming into her own as both an actress and action star.

We wrap just before the girls fall over sideways from fatigue. Little do we know that this is going to be one of this week's easier nights...

Next: Into the corridor of death...

Big Brawl#1 : Yam VS Biehn

Were it not for some inconsistencies in their DNA, I would suspect that Michael Biehn and Simon Yam were long-lost half-brothers. These two are absolutely cut from the same cloth: both consummate professionals, both with decades of industry experience, both highly energetic and remarkably physical...

I remember when I first worked with both of them on 'Dragon Squad' (AKA 'Dragon Heat'). The 'stars' of the film were a bunch of overly-pampered newcomers, who had to be handled like royalty, even though (as it turned out) the five of them rolled into one couldn't open a film. The kids themselves were fine; it was the irritatingly excessive 'management' teams around them that grated.

Then there were the old hands: Simon, Michael, Sammo Hung, Maggie Q... They just showed up and got the job done with the minimum of fuss. In the end, they were the ones you remembered from the film.

Michael and Simon never really got to know each other on 'Dragon Squad', so its great that they have become comrades in arms on 'The Blood Bond'.

Tonight's scene sees Lompoc (Simon) and his right hand woman Guang Di (Emma Pei) storm a hospital ICU. This scene is set after a fierce firefight which we have yet to shoot. Michael takes great pleasure in trashing the set to ensure that it matches its post-gunplay 'look'.

Simon has, of course, long years of experience with on screen gunplay. He inhabits the role of a veteran rebel leader effortlessly.

We're all impressed at how good Emma looks with her weapon. Its a long way from the catwalk to battlefield, but 'Pei Bei' delivers. Off camera, she's her usual pixie-ish self.

We're drawing to the end of her time on the movie, and, boy, we're all going to miss her. I promised her a lead in another film, if she can gain 30 pounds (or more!). Its either that, or we make Chinese Popeye, with her as Olive Oyl!

There's the usual fun and games between her and Simon, who seems to have adopted Emma as his naughty little sister.

Once inside the ICU, Lompoc and Guang Di get ambushed by our heroes, which leads into a no-holds-barred battle between Simon and Michael.

The idea is that we juxtapose a brutal, anything goes fight for Lompoc and Tremayne with a more stylised martial arts duel between Deva and her opposite number, Guang Di.

Action director Ken Yip's job is made much easier by the fact that (though they're both in their early 50s), both Michael and Simon have great coordination, and keep themselves in top condition.

What really 'sells' the fight is that the guys never neglect the acting aspect of the scene, in favour of the action. Everything comes from the situation and the characters. The duel has a genuinely visceral feel to it, despite the fact that the guys are best friends between takes.

We take the fight as far as we can, and then wrap for the night, with our two combatants limping off to prepare for round two. (And after that the girls start!)

Next: Big Brawl#2 : Yam VS Biehn continued, plus Phoenix VS Emma

Jesse's office and Tremayne's hut

As we move into the final leg of production, the schedule is folding in on itself, and we're shooting and re-shooting various scenes over the course of some very long nights.

Making a film is like pushing a very large boulder up a hill, and then chasing it down the other side!

Jennifer Blanc will be a familiar face to s-f fans for her recurring role in the James Cameron produced series 'Dark Angel'. It was a blast to have her in 'Blood Bond', and we certainly got our money's worth. She makes an entrance blasting a shotgun, next we see her in her opulently appointed office, with a (specially commissioned) portrait of her on one wall and her weapon of choice mounted on another.

Its freezing cold on the stage, and the actors have to dig deep to deliver the dramatic dialogue exchange.

Note to would-be movie performers: you all too often get called on to do your very best work when its too hot or too cold or when you're too tired...

Meanwhile, four of our stunt team are freezing their butts off out back as we shoot a scene where a Durmese SWAT squad storm a residential building to try to locate one of the blood donors (before the bad guys do).

Having looked at the footage we shot on location, we've decided to reshoot the scene at Tremayne's hut where he and Deva first meet. The reason is that, during the course of the shoot, the actors have grown to inhabit their roles better, and it just felt like we could do a better version of their first encounter.

The original plan was to shoot on the grass field on the backlot. The weather turned on us, so now we're on the green screen stage. When you watch the sequence in the film, you won't (hopefully) see the join where Deva (Phoenix Chou) walks into the shack (in sunny rural Nanhai) and ends up inside (in a freezing studio at 4am).

Despite the cold and fatigue, everyone's spirits remain up. I don't think anything can keep this gang down, not the hours nor the weather.

Phoe does a great job of recreating the scene, and also redefining her earlier performance.

I'm lucky to be bundled up by the monitor. Phoenix is just in a tanktop and light jacket, and MB in even less!

We finally wrap and stagger off to our respective abodes.

Note to all the prospective film-makers: its sometimes glamorous, often fun and always work (at least, it should be!).

Next : Superslam#1 - Biehn VS Yam!

Bar brawl concluded and meet Jesse

This morning we were scheduled to shoot the final shots of the market sequence, which I filmed second unit on earlier in the shoot. We woke to torrential rain, and it was evident that we couldn't work outdoors. However, we only had our evil nurse (Lily Xue) and Guang Di (Emma Pei) for one day, so....

In a sudden stroke of genius, I decided to recreate the market stalls in the (waterproofed) hospital set, and shoot there. Michael was still resting after the night shoot when I staggered in to direct our two lovely lasses.

They and the crew did a great job, and we got the shot within the hour. Lily and Emma were up, up and away to Shanghai, and I retreated to the couch in my office to rest up for the coming night's shoot.

We're back in Jesse's bar to shoot the end of the brawl instigated by Deva (Phoenix Chou) the night before. Given that she's seriously out-numbered, our hero, John Tremayne (Michael Biehn) has to come to her rescue.

Fortunately for us, years of experience, and the fact that he keeps himself fabulously fit, mean that Michael can handle these scenes with something close to the skill level of a stuntman, which makes shooting his shots happen much faster than anticipated.

The set was graced by the return of Kong Sifu. He didn't have any further scenes, just wanted to see us all again. This really is a 'family' movie! He brought some caricature portraits of hmself, and MB put one up on the barroom wall.

The concluding section of the Deva action scene is shot in a smoke filled backroom, as our scintillating star lays a smackdown on her foes before spinning off a table and out of the door. Poor Phoenix has been laid up with a stomach virus, but gamely takes to the floor to resume the combat.

One of the thugs Michael fights in the bar is played by my old friend Robert Vicencio, who is a terrific musical theatre performer and also an Alivenotdead veteran.

He is based in Shanghai, where he works as a director and producer. It was great to find a nice 'moment' for him in 'Blood Bond'.

The climax of the sequence sees Tremayne's old flame, Jesse (Jennifer Blanc) break up the proceedings when she blasts her shotgun into the roof. Its quite an entrance for our blonde diva!

Jennifer is terrific. Its tough to 'sell' an opening line like she has, but she delivers beautifully.

As we lit the scene, Hong Kong supermodel Cara G offered to stand in for Jennifer.

Cara was a real trouper throughout her time on then set, and we all adored her. She can definitely have a future in the business if she wants it. for her.

All in all, yet another 'righteous day'...

Next : Jesse's office and Tremayne's hut

Butt kicking babe hits bar

Tonight filmdom saw the arrival of a new female furie as our lethal lead Phoenix Chou showed her style in a fast, fierce barroom brawl.

The sequence concerned has our lead character, Deva (Phoe) enter the bar owned by Jesse (Jennifer Blanc) to deliver a message from John Tremayne (Michael Biehn). She gets set upon by a band of salty dogs, and it's on...

The scene began with a dialogue exchange between Deva and barman Ken (Thomas Ho).

I conferred with the team before we shot this.

MB soon stripped to the waist in the humidity of the bar set. That bastard certainly keeps himself in shape, that's for sure...

We're lucky to have the services of DP Ross Clarkson, who probably has more experience of shooting stylised martial arts action than anyone else on the scene, having survived a series of Nu Image shoots in Bulgaria (most recently on Undisputed 3 and The Ninja.)

Phoenix is one of the few actresses on the scene who can perform all her movements in the 'master' : a single take in which the full action of a sequence is played out start to finish. Most of this generation of Hong Kong performers will have a double perform the master, and then be shot for close-ups on various techniques.

Anyone can perform the moves at half-speed and behind the cameras. It takes a different breed of performer to pull off a sequence of techniques beneath the lights and in front of the cast, crew and assembled extras. Phoe acquits herself with grace and power. 'Boy,' mutters Michael, 'did her training ever pay off!'

This is the first time we've really seen Phoe kick in the film, and her dance training pays off. Action director Ken Yip has designed a shot where she downs three attackers, one after the other, with multiple leg techniques, and that doesn't even sound easy...

We have a fresh team of stuntmen in from Guangzhou, having used up our regular ones in various supporting roles. This is even more of a test for Phoe, given that they don't know her timing as well as the other players. Despite this, the scene plays like a dynamic dream, and no-one gets hit when they should have been missed.

I can't claim to have discovered Phoenix. I was just lucky that her first producer couldn't (as yet) get his film made. I am delighted that the stars alligned so that she could make her starring debut in 'The Blood Bond'.

Michael and I have come up with a bunch of catchphrases meaningful only to us: 'You can rationalise anything', 'Reach for the remote', 'It was at that point that I started drinking...'. Another one is 'That was another righteous day'. This comes from a comment made by Dennis Hopper, who shot one day on the Albert Pyun film 'Ticker', and then found he was in most of the finished film! After they screened the film, Hopper turned to Pyun and said "That was one righteous day you got out of me..."

This was one righteous day we got out of Phoe.

Next : Bar brawl concluded, and meet Jesse