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12-6-08 Rebel Without A Pause 3 : Showdown In Saigon
Friday, Jun 27, 2008 10:37AM / Members only
June 12, 2008‘REBEL’ WITHOUT A PAUSE (part three): Showdown in Saigon.
Most commentary sessions for our DVD releases see me sitting in a recording booth all by my lonesome. Fans often ask why we don’t get more input from the on-screen and behind-the-screen talent, and the main reason is that most of the people involved either don’t speak English or are dead (or both). It was a great experience, therefore, to find myself recording the commentary for ‘The Rebel’ alongside its three stars.
After meeting Johnny Nguyen and Veronica Ngo in both Hong Kong and Vietnam, and Dustin in what feels like every other country in Asia, I know the team pretty well, and the commentary recording features lots of laughs as well as some great stories and insights into the whole production process. The track reveals exactly why Dustin’s character has highlights in his hair, exactly which supporting player used to be the Vietnamese James Bond and the peculiar nature of one of Veronica’s tattoos. My only regret was that we couldn’t have the film’s director, Charlie Nguyen, join us, but he was tied up on a shoot in LA.
The video interviews for the DVD are shot at the same studios where some interior shots for the movie were filmed. In fact, the Cinema Pictures soundstages were still under construction when The Rebel was in production. When I arrive, I’m greeted by a ferocious guard dog that turns out to be the pet of producer Jimmy Pham. The studio is spacious, but rather bare. Besides movie shoots, it’s used for MTVs and TV commercials. There’s a Vietnamese poster for The Rebel on one wall, and a black and white image of Bruce Lee on another.
Veronica arrives with her hair gelled back, looking for all the world like an Asian Audrey Hepburn. She fusses around Dustin, fixing his hair and lapel mike, as he prepares to be interviewed. Its fascinating to trace Dustin’s career from the teen idol success of 21 Jump Street, to his current status as Vietnam’s leading actor-turned-director. In her interview, Veronica proves herself a cunning linguist, even managing a shout-out in her second language, Norwegian.
Johnny has agreed to do a martial arts demonstration for us, and has brought in a couple of stuntmen who worked on the movie. One of them was actually Dustin’s double in The Rebel. I’ve seen some action guys in my time, and usually there’s a disparity between what they can do on screen, assisted, on occasion, by wires and editing, and what they can do in reality. Like his former nemesis Tony Jaa, Johnny actually looks better in reality. For this featurette, he walks the audience through some of the techniques used in The Rebel, and shows how they could be used in a real-life sparring or self-defense situation.
As it’s my last night, Team Rebel offer to take me out on the town. Dustin picks me up at the hotel and we take a cab to a Saigon club. As we approach, I see the words ‘Ngo Thanh Van’ on a sign by the door, in the kind of temporary lettering you’d see outside a church hall. ‘Hey, isn’t that Veronica’s name?’ I ask. Dustin nods. She’s performing here tonight. Sure enough, as we enter Veronica is on-stage, powering her way through her Vip-hop set. Dustin being the low-key guy he is, we take seats to one side of the hall. NTV, as she’s known, is shaking up a storm. I’m surprised that, before the set is over, the audience start leaving. They want to beat the traffic, Dustin tells me. Vietnamese audiences always do this…
By the end of the show, Johnny and Jimmy have joined us. Veronica bounces down from the stage. Where were you sitting?, she accosts me. At the side, I tell her. If I’d seen you, she says, I was going to do this (she does a couple of hip hop movements) and get the crowd to go ‘Bey Lo-gan! Bey Lo-gan!’. That’s why I was sitting at the side, I mutter.
We head to another nightclub, and find ourselves in a bar area populated entirely by… guys. Veronica seems to be the only girl in the place. A Vietnamese-American friend spots us, and invites everyone to join him at a corner booth inside, next to the dance floor. That sounds more like it, until Dustin and I find ourselves wedged behind a wall of dancing, sweating frat boys (not one of whom seems to have date). They’re all wearing black t-shirts with their names on the back. There’s an unopened plastic bag next to us, containing another shirt. Hey, maybe it’s got ‘Dustin’ written on it, I suggest. God, I hope not, sighs Nguyen.
Vodka shots have arrived, and the sound of Veronica’s unique whooping laugh fills the air. Okay, you either have to match her drink for drink, observes Dustin, or just run for your life. I take the second option. Good night, Vietnam! -
June 11, 2008 Rebel Without A Pause (part two) : Showdown In Saigon
Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 7:43AM / Members only
June 11, 2008‘REBEL’ WITHOUT A PAUSE (part two) : Showdown in Saigon.
On the second day of my Saigon sojourn, producer Jimmy Pham picks me up at the Sheraton. We drive to the studio where I’m to supervise Rebel leading lady Veronica Ngo’s recording session. As I mentioned in my previous blog, as the film’s three leads speak English, we’ve asked them to record their own voices for the dub track.
The film’s star, Johnny Nguyen, is also on hand to lend an eye, and more importantly an ear. English is Veronica’s third language, after Vietnamese and (get this!) Norwegian, but she’s determined to rise to the challenge of performing in it.
Besides being an accomplished actress, Ngo Than Van or NTV (as she’s known) is a major hip-hop idol in Vietnam. (She seems keen to keep the two careers separate, though, and steadfastly refused to discuss her music when we interviewed her about The Rebel.)
We were talking about her English name, and I quipped that, if she was Veronica, Johnny could be Archie and I’d be Jughead (and, realized to my great sadness, that I was the only one in the room old enough to remember Archie Comics…).
When Johnny first wrote the story for The Rebel, he had no way of knowing if he could fine a Vietnamese actress capable of pulling off the kind of martial arts and stunt sequences he had devised for her character. As a former Miss Vietnam, Veronica was already an established celebrity nationwide, but proved herself more than willing to submit to a martial arts boot camp to prepare for the role of ‘Thuy’.
I remember the first time I watched the film, I figured that Johnny and Dustin would be handling the action, and that the girl in the purple ao dai dress at the start of the movie would just be the damsel in distress. Not so…
The Rebel gives Veronica a real star-making scene in the sequence where her character escapes from a French colonial jail. Her proposed stunt double for the film had actually quit because she found the work too physically demanding, so Ngo was on her own. Despite her relative inexperience as an actress, Veronica manages to balance the ferocity and femininity of the character throughout.
As if the part wasn’t already demanding enough, Veronica broke her foot in a freak on-set accident. After surviving fights, flips and high falls, the camera fell on her while she was resting! Rather than delay production, she insisted on working with the crew to devise a number of methods of disguising her injury while she continued shooting. (You can see some of these in an entertaining segment of the film’s ‘making of’ docu.) By the time they came to shoot the film’s final fight sequence, Ngo was sufficiently recovered to perform the necessary techniques, but often in great pain. (It’s to her credit that, rather than reveling in her own tenacity, Veronica was really reluctant for us to reveal her injury to the world!
As we start our studio session with Veronica, I’m very impressed with her work ethic as we dub her role for the film. She has a very definite point of view about every line in every scene. Beyond the simple task of pronouncing the dialogue, she was determined to nail the performance. When we change some lines to clarify the translation, Veronica engages in some feisty exchanges with Johnny and me over the implication of specific words in the revised scrīpt. I soon realize that you have to bring your best game when you work with this girl. To her credit, she never ‘pulls a diva’, and will do more and different takes when I insist on them.
For one scene, Veronica has to deliver a long monologue describing the tragic history of her family. When you hear that section of the track, I hope you’ll find it as touching as I did when I listened to her record it.
In between recording chunks of dialogue, Veronica shows me images from her latest MTV. It had a gothic cyberpunk feel, and her own look is so hot, there’s steam coming out of her iPhone.
After we wrap Veronica’s dialogue, I suggest that we re-record some of Johnny’s lines (recorded before I arrived in Vietnam). It’s always a challenge to make performances ‘match’ when you’re recording a dub track, as the performers tend to record their lines in isolation. As Johnny had been first to record, he didn’t have an English version of Veronica’s lines to react to.
Afterwards, Johnny drives us to dinner, and I badger Veronica into playing me some of her music on the car’s sound system. The beat-backed Viet hip hop (vip hop?) is as in my face as I would expect, knowing Van as I now do. -
June 10, 2008 Rebel With A Pause : Showdown In Saigon
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008 7:47PM / Members only
June 10, 2008REBEL’ WITHOUT A PAUSE : Showdown in Saigon.
I’m in a Vietnamese city, the name of which remains in a state of confusion. Formerly known as Saigon, now called either Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon Ho Chi Minh… Anyway, it provides my first exposure to Vietnam as Saigon (as I shall call it) is home to the new force in the nation’s cinema industry. I’m here to catch up with the team behind ‘The Rebel’, a period actioner that looks set to put commercial Vietnamese film-making on the world cinema map.
My journey here began at the American Film Market, when a friend suggested that I meet actor Dustin Nguyen, who had just finished shooting ‘The Rebel’. “You mean that guy from 21 Jump Street?” Dustin proved to be totally charming, and, having been given a DVD of the film, I figured the least I could do was watch it. When I did, I was amazed at the production value the film had on its limited budget, the clarity of the vision of director Charlie Nguyen, the quality of the action delivered by star and choreographer Johnny Nguyen… It also featured a star making turn from Vietnamese actress Veronica Ngo.
Vietnam, as both a nation and a location, has long been an elusive concept in Hong Kong cinema. The magnum opera of Sammo Hung and John Woo, Eastern Condors and Bullet In The Head, were both set there, but filmed in the Philippines and Thailand respectively. In Alfred Cheung’s underrated Hong Kong noir, On The Run, Pat Ha, who is Chinese, plays a Vietnamese hit woman, and in my film Dragon Heat (available on Dragon Dynasty), Maggie Q, who is half-Vietnamese, plays a Hanoi-born sniper. Maverick director Tsui Hark was born in Vietnam (or, rather, Indochine). His film Once Upon A Time In China begins with a Chinese fleet sailing for an (unseen) Vietnam, and the underrated third film in the A Better Tomorrow series, Love And Death In Saigon, was the last action film shot in that country, until The Rebel…
I’m met at the airport by the redoubtable Jimmy Pham, who, along with his wife Tawny, produced the film. Their Chanh Phuong Films company now seems set to revive the industry at both ends of the scale, with commercial fare like Dustin’s directorial debut, Monk On Fire, and art-house releases. Though ‘Nguyen’ (the title of a former king) is an ubiquitous Vietnamese surname, Tawny is the sister of ‘Rebel’ director Charlie Nguyen and of Johnny.
Given that all three leads of ‘The Rebel’ speak English, we’ve decided to have them record their own roles for the dubbed version, and one of my missions in Saigon is to supervise the process. After I drop my bags at the Sheraton, Jimmy and I meet Dustin before heading to the studio. The latter is in training for another Vietnamese film, and has injured his knee while performing a 180 degree jumping kick. We head to Saigon’s ground zero for the caffeinated, Café Centro, where the coffee is so good it curls your eyebrows. There we meet the literary dynamo that is Vincent Ngo, whose film Hancock is just hitting theatres as I write this. Vincent is yet another talented Vietnamese-American returnee intent on reviving the local industry.
It was great to catch up with Dustin, and to get to know Vincent better. Two cappuccini later, I headed to the dubbing studio with Jimmy and Dustin. Though situated in a non-descrīpt backstreet, the place was well-equipped, and, in the motorbike-packed Saigon, mercifully sound-proofed.
Since his ‘Jump Street’ days, Dustin has worked consistently on both the big and small screen. I remember going to a Hong Kong studio with Maggie (Q) when she recorded pick up lines for a scene in MI3. I was amazed how she managed to get back into the moment, many months and miles later, to recreate the emotion her character was feeling. Dustin has the same level of ability and work ethic. The only challenge, as ever with this kind of dubbing, was finding a decent English equivalent to the original dialogue, and something that ‘fit’ the actor’s lip movements when dubbed. Here’s a tip : you can get away with murder so long as the mouth and dialogue end at the exact same moment.
Our biggest challenge, in terms of rewriting, was Dustin’s last shot in the film, after he gets kicked from a stationary train by Johnny. His line, in Vietnamese, got a big reaction when the film premiered in Saigon, and we wanted to find something that worked for western audiences. Check out the dub version of the end scene when you buy the Dragon Dynasty DVD of the The Rebel (as I know you will!) and let us know if we succeeded. -
June 04, 2008 ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF A SHAW THING : Run Run’s illustrious legacy.
Tuesday, Jun 10, 2008 12:43AM / Members only
June 04, 2008ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF A SHAW THING : Run Run’s illustrious legacy.
By the time I relocated to Hong Kong from England, the Shaw Brothers movie empire seemed like mythical kingdom from yesteryear. Its Clearwater Bay office remained, but the once prolific production rate had slowed to almost nothing. The studio back lot still stood, but was used entirely for filming TVB series, or else rented to Shaw’s former rivals. The massive library of Shaw Bros movies (over 700 titles) existed, but the vast majority of these had never been released (officially) in any home entertainment format. Though this insubstantial pageant may have faded, the master of this domain, Sir Run Run Shaw, seemed to be enjoying his twilight years, and, as he reached his century this year, proved capable of hitting the headlines again, with stories of the impending sale of his iconic Hong Kong entertainment company.
100 years ago, Sir Run Run was born Shao Yi-fu in the seaside city of Ningpo, to the south of Shanghai. There were five other ‘Shaw’ brothers, and two of them, Runji and Runme, began distributing silent movies in Shanghai cinemas. At 19, Run Run was sent to Singapore to expand the family entertainment business there. The impact of World War 2 devastated the industry, and Shaw sets his sights on Hong Kong, where he bought what would become his studio space from the colonial government for 45 (Hong Kong) cents a foot. That land is now worth billions, and, tragically, the back lot is to be demolished to make way for yet another soulless, up market housing block. (The same fate has already befallen the old Golden Harvest studios.)
Once established at Clearwater Bay, the Shaw Bros studio redefined Asian action cinema. Realizing that the local industry lagged behind the Japanese, Run Run didn’t hesitate to hire Tokyo-trained directors, actors and cinematographers to work on his films. He missed out on both Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, but succeeded in creating several generations of action icons, including Jimmy Wang Yu, Cheng Pei Pei, Ti Lung, David Chiang and Alexander Fu Sheng. The company name and logo owed more than a little to those other cinematic brothers, the Warner’s, and, like that studio in its heyday, Shaw’s set the bar in terms of production and entertainment values.
When I first became aware of Shaw Bros films, my exposure was limited to the dozen titles released on video in the UK (by the aforementioned WB) and to countless bootleg videos (of varying quality). In London, the Shaw Brothers fan fraternity took on a cult like quality. I remember asking a purveyor of these pirated kung fu classics if I could buy a copy of Lau Kar-leung’s ‘Martial Club’. He thought for a moment, then shook his head. ‘You’re not ready…,” he observed, sagely.
Today, Celestial Pictures, who now control the rights to the library, are distributing the films on DVD in Hong Kong, and operate a 24-hour TV channel that shows only Shaw Bros classics. Celestial have licensed the films throughout Asia and are now making significant inroads into the international market. It’s been our privilege at Dragon Dynasty to bring you a string of classic Shaw Bros titles. Among the films we’ve chosen from the huge library are many that revolutionized the genre, movies that we’re proud to bring to the North American audience.
So far, Dragon Dynasty has released the following Shaw Bros films:
King Boxer: The film which, when released in 1973 as ‘Five Fingers Of Death’, introduced the kung fu genre to America. (This very Chinese-themed film was actually directed by a Korean, and, despite its success, the star, Lo Lieh, played mainly bad guys for most of his long career.)
The One-Armed Swordsman: the film that single-handedly defined a new sub-genre of bladed combat flick, and took its star Jimmy Wang Yu to new heights to stardom. (Wang later jumped ship to create the One-Armed Boxer for Golden Harvest.)
36th Chamber Of Shaolin : the demystification of Shaolin kung fu training directed by one bona fide kung fu master, Lau Kar-leung, and starring another, Gordon Liu. (The film borrows a couple of elements from the US TV series ‘Kung Fu’, and omits the challenge of the ‘dummy’ hall, which had been done to death in Jackie Chan’s ‘Shaolin Wooden Men’.)
My Young Auntie: the launch of a new female fighting star, Hui Yin-hung, in a masterful blend of kung fu and comedy. (Hui’s later artistic efforts included an erotic photo book, shot in Paris, and a starring role in the Jackie Chan produced Inspector Wears Skirts, alongside Cynthia Rothrock.)
Heroes Of The East : the apotheosis of cinematic clashes between Chinese and Japanese fighting styles. (The film’s towering judo player, Hitochi Omae, turns in an even more impressive performance in the final reel of an entertaining Shaws potboiler, ‘Five Tough Guys’.)
Come Drink With Me : King Hu’s finest hour (and 31 minutes), the sine qua non of the subsequent swordplay genre, it both inspired ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, and provided the film with its villainess, in the formidable presence of Cheng Pei Pei.
A few years after moving to HK, I found myself providing security services at a friend’s wedding. To my delight, Sir Run Run Shaw was among the guests. “I just wanted to say,” I told him, “how much I’ve enjoyed your films over the years,” and he beamed. Now we’re bringing some of those films to the west. I guess we’re ‘ready’ at last… -
June 2nd 2008 The Force Behind The 'Fist Of Legend' : Gordon Chan speaks
Monday, Jun 9, 2008 11:28PM / Members only
June 02, 2008THE FORCE BEHIND THE ‘FIST OF LEGEND’ : Gordon Chan speaks.
I think the most eagerly awaited upcoming Dragon Dynasty release is probably the long-awaited re-issue of Jet Li’s kung fu classic ‘Fist Of Legend’. An earlier DVD edition of the film featured only the English dubbed American edit. Now we get the chance to give the DD treatment to the last truly great kung fu film of the 90s wu shu wave. It was a great pleasure to sit down with an old friend, director Gordon Chan, to shoot an exclusive video interview in which he discusses the genesis, development and filming of ‘Fist Of Legend’.
For those new to the genre, ‘Fist Of Legend’ is a palimpset of Bruce Lee’s ‘Fist Of Fury’, a rich embellishment of an established text. It brought together a unique synthesis of Gordon Chan’s story-telling, Yuen Woo-ping’s choreography and the charisma of action icon Jet Li.
I first met Gordon during my time at Media Asia. He had a multi-film deal with the company, and I was the token white employee, wanting- to learn more about the industry. Gordon was (and is) constantly amenable and friendly, speaks perfect English and it was a great pleasure to work with him on his films ‘Beast Cops’ and ‘2000AD’. On the latter, I remember him calling me on a Saturday evening to come in and record the voice of a fighter pilot for the opening scene. What impressed me about Gordon was that he maintained such a low key persona for someone who could write, direct and produce hit films in every genre. The industry is full of people boasting much more and delivering much less…
Chan had a relatively unique start to his film-making career. He worked in the special effects department at the Shaw Brothers studio, where producer Mona Fong’s nickname for him was ‘ET’! He made his directing debut with the romantic comedy ‘Yuppie Fantasia’, which I remember seeing at late night screening in a cinema in Birrrmingham (England, not Alabama). In a truly eclectic career, Chan delivered career best films for stars Stephen Chiau (‘King Of Beggars’), Anthony Wong (‘Beast Cops’) and, with ‘Fist Of Legend’, Jet Li…
When Gordon made the move to become head of production at Emperor Motion Pictures, I followed him, and started work almost immediately writing the (justifiably) much maligned ‘Medallion’. The reasons why that film turned out as it did would fill a book. I remember that, long after dust had settled, I did an interview about the film for a French website where I told it like it was (from my perspective), and Gordon wrote to commend me on my honesty. Whatever its merits (or lack of them!), ‘Medallion’ was an amazing experience, three years working with Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Gordon Chan. Unfortunately, I kept the enemies I made on that film, but, more importantly, kept the friends as well. Throughout the process, I only saw Gordon lose his temper once (and that was at Cannes Film Festival, when I put his chocolate in the fridge…).
My best memories of the Medallion shoot are of the pre-production and filming in Dublin. It was my first time in that wonderful city, and, in fact, in Ireland itself. The scale of the production was sometimes intimidating, but Gordon always kept a level head, even when dealing with the often madcap antics of co-star Lee Evans. (“Of come on, Lee, give me a break…”, he would mutter, as Evans cracked up the crew for the 15th time. Lee is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met, but somehow we didn’t manage to capture that on film!)
While we were in Dublin, Gordon took the time to record a DVD commentary with me for ‘2000AD’. We were in the studios next to those where U2 record. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to decline to participate, citing his workload, but Chan knew how important his contribution would be to bringing the film to a wider audience. (‘2000AD’ ended up selling unexpectedly well in the UK.)
‘Fist Of Legend’ is an important film in the canon of kung fu idol Jet Li. It brought to a close the cycle of period Chinese actioners that he began with ‘Once Upon A Time In China’, and paved the way for what would be his next (and last?) great kung fu movie, ‘Fearless’. In our interview, Gordon offers a unique perspective on working with Li as a collaborator. He also answers the age-old question of whether Chen Jun, the character played by Li in ‘Fist Of Legend’ (and by Bruce Lee in the original ‘Fist Of Fury’) really existed. It was great to have this excuse to catch up with an old friend, and I know our fans will enjoy his insights into this kung fu classic.
Stats
- British-born Bey Logan began his professional career as a magazine writer and editor, editing the martial arts magazine Combat for five years before launching the action film publication Impact. A lon...
- Occupation: Film/TV Producer , Screenwriter , Wushu
- Gender: Male
- Total visits: 3,417
