My blog
-
Some Little thoughts on Lee
Tuesday, Sep 8, 2009 11:51AM / Standard Entry
ndyn
Whatever Happened To The Dragon?
It was my great pleasure to have my old friend John Little (or, as his wife calls him, little John) over to my Saturday night open house dinner chez Logan.
For those not in the know, John was, for several years, chief archivist for the Bruce Lee Estate, and both authored and edited a series of books about The Little Dragon (still available at a book store near you!). John was in town to produce a new documentary focussing on the surviving local locations from Lee's films, and I was happy to offer whatever help and advice I could. I even hooked him up with a capable local line producer, the ever charming Cynthia Ho.
John shared with me the reasons why he and the Estate parted company. Though I won't go into them here, I will go on record saying that dispensing with Little's services was a major disservice to the Lee fans. I appreciate that you have to have a changing of the guard sometimes, but, if you're not going to have John writing books, collating data, producing documentaries, then don't you need to replace him with someone who does do that work? Well, you should do if you've been left the legacy of one of the 20th century's most potent icons...
The torch was picked up by another good friend of mine, Steve Kerridge, who is based in the UK, and put out two wonderful, long overdue books focussing on Lee's Hong Kong movie work, Legends of the Dragon. I provided a cover blurb for the 3rd, long delayed book. It looks like he might focus on the US market now, which will be good news for Lee's many fans there. In case Volume 3 doesn't get a UK release, here, for posterity, is the back cover text, including my comments on Steve:
"Since Bruce Lee’s passing in 1973, there have been many publications covering the
life and times of ‘The Little Dragon’. Some books have covered his films, when oth
ers have covered his martial arts and philosophy. For the first time ever in print, this
three volume series examines the creative genius of Bruce Lee in true timeline form. From the conception of Concord productions
to the movie locations of Rome and Hong Kong, Legends of the Dragon follows Bruce Lee from being the number one Mandarin
box office sensation, to the verge of international superstardom with Hollywood at his door. For the first time ever, you will see in
how Bruce Lee created his masterpiece The Way of the Dragon through the notes, drawings, and stills that lay within this book se
ries, and you will hear from the co-stars and the ones who knew him best. Legends of the Dragon covers the period April through to
August 1972 when Bruce Lee for the first time could express himself through his writing, producing, acting and directorial debut on
the big screen. Soon he would become a household name, a name that would echo worldwide and start a new genre of action movie.“ These are the books that I and every other die hard Bruce Lee fan have waited thirty years for.
The contents are invaluable, but the real treasure here is Steve Kerridge,
whose talent and energies have offered fresh illumination of
the Little Dragon’s legend and legacy ”
BEY LOGAN - writer, producer and Hong Kong action cinema expert "
I was one of the interviewees for a History Channel documentary : 'How Bruce Lee Changed The World', for which I devoted four hours of my time, my protege, Nick Eriksson (as their assistant director) and about a fifth of my lung capacity, choking on the fumes in Man Mo Temple. Still, it was cool to throw in my ten cents alongside LL Cool J, Sugar Ray Leonard, my old friends Brett Ratner and Donnie Yen, plus Stan Lee (yes, Stan Lee!!!). (The documentary is available on DVD at HMV if you want to check it out.)
Working on the project was a great experience, but I was sad that I didn't get to meet Shannon Lee while I was here. This is probably going to sound like sour grapes, but it seems that the Lee Estate has tended to turn its back on the genuine Lee enthusiasts and historians.
When Shannon visited her old home in Cumberland Road (on which, more later), she was accompanied by a third rate would-be producer and an arrogant British lawyer. I don't think Bruce would have stood in the same room as these people if he were alive. I guess these guys tell the Lee Estate what they want to hear, but, in the meantime, the legacy of Lee is diminished.
Case in point: that ghastly, Estate-approved CCTV Bruce Lee series. The high point of the Changed The World documentary is Shannon watching scenes from the show at a gathering of Hong Kong's Bruce Lee Club. The producers had to adjust the sound when they edited the film so you couldn't hear the fans jeering at this travesty to their idol's memory. Those 1970s Bruce Lee exploitation films were more entertaining (especially Clones of Bruce Lee, don't miss that one...)
One bright spot on the horizon is the plan to restore Lee's home to its former glory, and turn it into a Little Dragon museum. Its kind of amazing that there isn't one already! I had the nearest thing, back when Jon Benn and I ran the Bruce Lee Cafe on Robinson Road. (The sign is still visible around the back if you want to take a look.) There is a Lee museum in his family's ancestral home town of Shunde, a place with which Bruce had a tenuous connection at best.
Given that its cinema industry is the most internationally acclaimed aspect of Hong Kong, I think local action movies should be better celebrated locally. There should be a Bruce Lee museum, and a Jackie Chan one, and one focussing on Chinese martial arts... I'd be happier to see my taxes spent on celebrating our proud heritage rather than the usual government practice of buggering the city up to make it as featureless and unliveable as possible. (End of political rant...)
After his passing, Lee's former home was used as a location for several Golden Harvest and Shaw Bros films of these era, and, in a later blog, I'll talk about some of them. The scenes shot in Bruce's abode, as it had been during his lifetime, might be of use to those charged with restoring it now.
Its about time!
-
13-8-09: Now and Yen
Tuesday, Aug 18, 2009 9:51AM / Standard Entry
Happy birthday (belatedly) to Donnie, and a look back at SPL (aka Kill Zone)
It’s been a few weeks since Donnie Yen’s birthday, and I only now (for shame!) got around to posting this photo and blog. The disturbing thing (for me) about these anniversaries is that Donnie seems to be getting younger every year, while I’m quite evidently getting older (but, I hope, a little wiser, which is a nice trade!).
This year, Donnie’s lovely wife Cici held a surprise birthday party for him at Racks pool hall in Central. I turned up at the appointed hour along with the lovely
Donnie was duly surprised to find the place packed with friends and fans, including his Seven Swords and Bodyguards and Assassins co-star, Leon Lai, and Ip Man producer Raymond Wong. Cici had laid on a cake in the shape of a boiling
Normally a man of few words, Donnie’s speech gave shouts out to various guests, including myself, which was very nice of him. Looking around the room, I realized I probably had known Donnie longer than almost everyone except Raymond and Nansun Shi. He and I first met at the movie premiere for Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon (which Raymond and Nansun’s
For too many years, his amazing martial arts prowess was used as the spice to someone else’s stew, be it Jet Li (in Once Upon A Time In China 2 and Hero) or Jackie Chan (in Shanghai Knights). His starring roles in such epics as Iron Monkey and the Tiger Cage/In The Line Of Duty series had won him legions of fans overseas, but Donnie often seemed a prophet without honour in his own country.
The turning point in Donnie’s career came with the film SPL. I first heard about the movie when I was working as a producer on the actioner Dragon Squad. That film, also know as Dragon Heat, shared two of our stars: Sammo Hung and Simon Yam. We were worried that SPL would jong with our film, that people would mistake one film for another…Worse, the word was that ‘their’ film was so bad, it couldn’t be released, and so might adversely effect our own.
I was dispatched on a secret mission to the offices of SPL producer Abba Chan. Ostensibly; I was there to view the film towards potentially acquiring the overseas sales rights. In reality, I wanted to see just how bad the damage was… I was stunned by the film, but not in the manner that I had anticipated. I don’t remember if it had the final music and sound mix, but it was evident that the SPL was just terrific. I hurried back to the Dragon Squad offices, and suggested that we just buy the rights to SPL ourselves as an investment. The suggestion was roundly rejected.
(This last decision turned out to be in my favour. After Dragon Squad wrapped, I did acquire the sales rights to SPL (on behalf of Arclight Films) and made some good money on international sales, and then sold the North American (to myself!) when I joined TWC. SPL, renamed Kill Zone, was the first Dragon Dynasty release.)
I remember meeting Peter Chan as he left an early screening of the movie. It’s a pretty good movie, isn’t it? I asked him. “It’s not a good movie,” he replied. “It’s a great one.” What made it so special? For one thing, it saw Donnie, who I had brought back from
SPL (named from Sha Po Long, an inauspicious alignment in Chinese astrology) saw Donnie teamed, for the first time, with director Wilson Ip, who took the time to draw a fine acting performance from Yen, rather than treating him, as some previous directors had, as nothing more than a spectacular fighting machine. Donnie more than holds his own in an ensemble cast including award-winning actors Simon Yam and Liu Kai-chi. The film also provides a comeback acting and action role for the great Sammo Hung, and breathed new life into the flagging career of kung fu wunderkind Wu Jing.
Since SPL, Donnie has never looked back, and never looked better. ‘Ip Man’ gave him his biggest hit in his best film and expectations are high for ‘Ip Man 2’, which is shooting now, and for the other films Yen has booked back-to-back. Happy birthday, indeed!
-
Internship with Hong Kong-based film company
Tuesday, Aug 4, 2009 6:01PM / Standard Entry
I need help... (and not just psychiatric). We're looking for interns to help with the varied activities of the Hong Kong office of a major film company.
This is a part-time position, and duties include :
Reading and analysing scripts
Screening and assessing films
Attending and note-taking acquisition and production meetings
General clerical duties as needed
If you want to get a foot in (or through!) the door of the movie industry, we'd like to meet you.
Its more of learning than an earning experience, but if you have time and interest, please email me at bey.logan@gmail.com .
Thanks!
- Bey
-
27-7-09: THE MAN WITH THE DEADLY PEN
Wednesday, Jul 29, 2009 2:00PM / Standard Entry
Meeting the great and prolific screenwriter Ngai Hong
He may never have studied martial arts, but writer Ngai Hong (AKA Ni Kuang) has sent most of
Ngai wrote the scripts for the Bruce Lee classics The Big Boss and Fist Of Fury, for Wang Yu’s One-Armed Swordsman, Gordon Liu in 36th Chamber of Shaolin… The list seems endless. Thanks to the kind introduction of lethal lady lawyer Elizabeth Yang, I was invited to join a private dinner for Ngai Sifu, and to chat with him about the glory days of
Ngai Hong is now best known as an author, primarily for his creation ‘Wisely’, the hero of a series of science fiction novels. The character is the equivalent of a Chinese Dr Who, an adventurer investigating supernatural phenomenon. Though there’s never been a really good film adaptation of the character, Wisely has been played by Sam Hui, Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau. Jet Li played the character (by any other name) in Dr Wai : Scripture With No Words. In fact, the other local literati attending the dinner had no idea that Ngai Hong had written two of Bruce Lee’s films, or, indeed, so many of director Chang Cheh’s Shaw Bros classics.
I asked him about Lee’s Fist Of Fury character, Chen Jun. Was Chen an historical person, or had Ngai made it up? I created him, replied the author. I just liked the sound of the name. (I had heard that the character’s name was chosen at random from a list of students of Fok Yun-kap.) Ngai remembered the tension between Lee and Lo Wei. “(Bruce) always used to call Lo Wei by name, never ‘director’,” laughs Ngai. “Lo Wei told him that, on the set, he should address him as ‘director’ (do yeen), but Lee said ‘but isn’t your name Lo Wei?’ and that’s what he called him.” He recalls Lee being hyperactive, constantly asking people to feel the power of his punch and, if they declined, insisting that they hit him instead. Ngai holds up his fist, wincing at the remembered pain of striking Lee’s rock hard abdomen.
Who came up with the stories for these classic films? “I did!” replied the author. “If the director came up with the story, that would leave me nothing to do. The director came up with the idea for the movie, and that was all.” Did he work at the studio? “No, I worked from home, writing long hand.” Ngai says it only took him a couple of weeks (at most) to finish a screenplay. Someone from the studio would pick it up, and he’d be on to the next one.
Two weeks at most… Wow. You might say these are ‘just’ kung fu movies, but go back and look at the brilliant plot construction of Fist Of Fury, Blood Brothers, Executioners from Shaolin… These films provided the structures that defined the rest of the genre. Ngai’s contribution to the golden era of kung fu cinema began it (1967’s One Armed Swordsman) and ended it (1983’s 8 Diagram Pole Fighter). He wrote only one more film, the rarely seen Chang Cheh benefit flick Just Heroes.
Ngai was raised in
Given that Ngai is now best known for creating Wai See-lei AKA Wisely, its ironic that a decent screen adaptation of these books has so far proved elusive. Wisely first came to the screen in 1986’s Golden Harvest thriller The Seventh Curse, played, in a framing sequence, by Chow Yun-fat. The main protagonist is Ngai’s other great literary creation, Dr Yuen. The following year, Sam Hui played the role in
At one time, producer Raymond Wong was considering a new Wisely film, starring Donnie Yen, but this has yet to get past concept stage.
I was very privileged to meet this unsung hero of
-
18-6-09: CHOW ON FIRE (almost...)
Tuesday, Jul 28, 2009 12:38AM / Standard Entry
In the studio, and on the road, with
The thing about working with Chow Yun-fat or Gong Li or Jackie Chan is that they spoil you for other actors. Besides their luminous talents, they’re industry veterans, true professionals who provide the maximum performance with the minimum maintenance.
I remember noting this fact when I was a producer on the film Dragon Squad (AKA Dragon Heat). The cast’s older players, Sammo Hung, Simon Yam, Michael Biehn, all came in to get the job done. Our posse of younger performers was surrounded by a bevy of managers, minders and assorted hangers on, and had to be mollycoddled at every turn. I wouldn’t have minded, but you could have rolled all of them into one and not had a movie star who could open the film (as we discovered to our cost!). Where was Chow Yun-fat when we needed him?
On ‘
Chow arrived at the appointed hour, wearing a baseball cap and still sporting a silver goatee cultivated for his role in the just completed period epic ‘Confucius’. (He looks disconcertingly like Fish Fong, a guy who works with Yuen Woo-ping…) As with Gong Li, we had a connection to a studio in
The session wrapped, I hitched a ride in the Chow’s limo and we headed back to the city. As we hit the expressway, we passed a jeep that was in the middle of the road, on fire. I mean, this thing was burning like Ghost Rider’s head, and fragments were flying off it in all directions. Our driver just stepped on the gas and we raced past. About three miles further on, our rear back tyre starts going chunk-chunk-a-chunk, and we realize that it caught some shrapnel. The driver pulls over to the side of the road.
By this time, the police have arrived to check our the automobile equivalent of the Wicker Man and stopped the traffic behind us, meaning that we’re parked on the side of the road in the middle of exactly nowhere. Mr. Chow keeps his usual calm head, and starts to change the tyre, which is fine, except for the fact that the wrench in the trunk of the limo doesn’t seem to match the nuts on the tyre. Initially, it seems there’s nothing to do but wait for rescue, so we sit at the side of the road and chat. I have to tell you that, for a
He really has had the most amazing career, a simple fellow from
We first met on the set of Hard-Boiled, and a few years later I interviewed him on the roof of
Finally, the driver uses his cell phone to get hold of the right guy at his Mission Control and, Apollo 13 style; they talk him through the tire changing programme. With the spare in place, we’re on our way. Chow has maintained his calm throughout: younger stars take note…
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...
- Occupation: Film/TV Producer , Screenwriter , Martial arts
- Gender: Male
- Total visits: 110,465
