My blog
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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…
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17-6-09: HANGING WITH GONG
Monday, Jul 20, 2009 1:30PM / Standard Entry
Recording ‘
About ten years ago, I was riding upwards on the escalator in
As a die-hard
I may have been more of a martial arts than an art house guy, but you didn’t need a degree in Film Studies to appreciate that the star of Red Sorghum, Judou and Raise The Red Lantern was a major new talent. To my surprise, Gong Li also started turning up in such Hong Kong productions as God of Gamblers 2 and Flirting Scholar (both opposite Stephen Chiau) and the delirious fantastique actioner ‘Semi-Dogs And Demi-Devils’. If nothing else, these films indicated that Gong, so strait-laced in her mainland movies, actually had a sense of humour (something borne out when I finally met her.)
The Chinese film that Gong Li is still best known for internationally is Farewell My Concubine, which should have won Best Foreign Film at that year’s Oscars. (The award went to a Spanish film, Belle Epoque, and who remembers that movie now?) Incidentally, Jackie Chan was offered the role played by Zhang Feng-yi, and it’s a shame these two great legends didn’t work together then, and have not since.
Gong dominated Chinese cinema to such an extent that, when she proved unavailable for the project, Chen Kaige begrudgingly began his film Temptress Moon with another actress, Iron Monkey’s Jean Wang, before summarily dismissing her when Gong Li did become available (and then, rather unkindly, criticizing Wang in the press.)
I was already in
Like everyone, I was blown away by Gong Li’s performance in Memoirs of a Geisha, in which she made an incredibly auspicious
I just flew to
Through the wonders of technology, we were connected to my colleagues at a studio in
We took a break, and she headed for the canteen area, coffee powder in hand. How good is that stuff?, I ask her. “It’s good…” Very good? “It’s okay…” Is it, like, gourmet or regular? She looked up at me, raising an elegant eyebrow. “It tastes like coffee. Shall I make you some…?” Well, if you insist… Caffeine from the fair hand of Gong Li: it gets no better.
After the ADR session, I catch a ride back to the city in Li’s limo. We chat about the movie, other films and actors, life… She has fond memories of making Miami Vice for Michael Mann, and can’t wait to see Public Enemy. (“I’m jealous!” she says, of the actors working with Mann on that film.) When I drop her off, she kisses me on each cheek then, as she walks away from the car, ducks down to give me a goofy smile and wave. As her character in Miami Vice says to Colin Farrell, “Time is luck”, and I know I’m very lucky to spend time with a real life legend…
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15-6-09 : OCEAN DEEP
Monday, Jul 6, 2009 10:58PM / Standard Entry
Thoughts inspired by Chen Tai Chi training with Hou Sifu
I've been passionate about martial arts and martial arts movies for as long as I can remember. The two aren't, as you might imagine, necessarily inclusive. I've met dozens of kung fu movie fans who have never trained in martial arts in their lives. Similarly, there are many die hard kung fu practitioners who turn their noses up at 'chop socky' movies. And so it goes...
Kung fu is unique in that its only world famous practitioners are those who perform their art on camera. No-one thinks of Sylvester Stallone as a famous boxer; he's an actor who plays a boxer in a string of films. With martial arts, the lines of blurred. Ask a layman to name a kung fu man, and they will undoubtedly say Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan or Jet Li. There's an assumption that, because they make martial arts movies, there guys must be martial arts masters. No-one expects Tom Cruise to really fly a 'plane, but they do believe that anyone who stars in a kung fu movie is a real kung fu master.
I get asked about this a lot, particularly as I'm one of the relatively few people with equal experience of kung fu and kung fu movies: does (insert name of Asian action star) really know kung fu? To be precise, there are actually three kinds of martial arts move star:
a) those who learned real kung fu, and then applied their skills to a film career (Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Wu Jing, Tony Jaa...)
b) those who developed their skills as an actor, then learned what martial arts they needed to know specifically for film work (Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Keanu Reeves...)
c) those who, though cast in martials movies, never bothered to train their skills to meet the challenge (who shall remain nameless...)
I once got into huge trouble with my former wife's boss over this issue. Apparently, 'Matrix' producer Joel Silver had told the press that Keanu Reeves could defeat Jet Li in a kung fu showdown. The South China Morning Post called and said 'Mr.Logan, as you are a martial artist and a martial arts filmmaker, how do you feel about this?'. I observed that Jet Li was a bona fide wu shu champion, and Keanu was a fine actor who had been trained to play a martial arts expert in a movie, and there was a world of difference between the two...
The Rosa Klebb of Warner Bros was not amused. Had I no respect for my wife's position as a WB publicist? I responded that I did, but asked the woman if, seriously, she thought Reeves could beat Li in a real fight? That's beside the point, she sputtered. If people don't believe it, maybe they won't come and see 'Matrix Reloaded'! (As it turned out, they did, in great numbers, and probably left the theatres thinking it exactly the kind of film one would expect from a producer who believed Keanu could beat Jet...)
But I digress... I've trained in many different martial arts styles over the years; my main style now is Hung Kuen or Hung Gar. I've also enjoyed a growing appreciation for Chen Tai Chi, especially as its taught by Sifu Ocean Hou, whom I actually met through Alive Not Dead.
Ocean, who lives in Shenzhen, has been kind enough to come across the border to train clan Logan, and with each visit he deepens my appreciation of this extraordinary art.
As you may know, their are several different branches of Tai Chi, each with its own special attributes, and with the usal internecine strife between the different sects. I don't know enough about Tai Chi to have a vote, but I do know that Ocean is the real deal. His forms is fluid and powerful, and he can apply the techniques with minimum effort and maximum result. If you're interested to contact Ocean directly, his email is youshengclub@hotmail.com, or, if you'd like to join us next time he comes to Hong Kong, feel free to contact me care of this site.
And, finally, let me list the five finest demonstrations of Tai Chi in a cinematic context:
1) Tai Chi Master AKA Twin Warriors : Jet Li plays the legendary founder of Yang Style Tai Chi in this action packed bio pic (nb the Chen style claims another antecedent). Donnie Yen was offered the main villain role and turned it down! Its terrific anyway, and out now (harrumph) on Dragon Dynasty DVD.
2) Drunken Tai Chi : In his debut, a young Donnie Yen shows the art instilled in him since childhood (his mother is master Bow Sim-Mark). Some of the comedy is goofy as Mickey's pal, but martial maestro Yuen Woo-ping puts his protege through his paces. Check out the duel between Donnie and Don Wong Tao (formerly the star of, yes!, Slaughter in San Francisco) which, for me, is better than the finale.
3) Tai Chi Boxer AKA Tai Chi 2 : Wu Jing makes his starring debut as a young Tai Chi master (and subsequently reprised the role in an excellent TV series). I remember meeting him in Hong Kong on his press tour for this film! Doesn't have the production values of Tai Chi Master, but director Yuen Woo-ping still delivers the goods, actionwise.
4) Kung Fu Cult Master: Sammo Hung plays an ancient Tai Chi master who teaches Jet what he needs to win the final battle. The film as a whole is a cheesecake mix, but this scene is gold. (Its also known as 'Kung Fu Colt Master' on some DVD sleeves.
5) Champions : My former teacher Li Fai shows her stuff in this recent martial arts actioner from Tsui Siu-ming. The drama is jingoistic, but the kung fu fighting is some of the most solid of recent vintage.
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10-6-09: JADE SCREEN LEGACY
Thursday, Jun 11, 2009 1:09AM / Standard Entry
Some thoughts on the passing of Shek Kin.
Han: We are all ready to win, just as we are born knowing only life. It is defeat that you must learn to prepare for.
Williams: Don't waste my time with it. When it comes, I won't even notice.
Han: Oh? How so?
Williams: I'll be too busy looking gooood.dialogue scene between Shek Kin and Jim Kelly in Enter The Dragon
When I was first a young and passionate kung fu fan, the face of good was Kwai Chang Caine of the TV series 'Kung Fu', as embodied by David Carradine, and that of evil was Mr Han, the villain of Bruce Lee's 'Enter The Dragon', as incarnated by Shek Kin. There's a sweet, sad irony in the fact that both these great men passed away within hours of each other.
Though I barely knew Shek Kin, I am in awe of the contribution he made to my favourite artforms; Chinese kung fu and Asian action cinema.
Shek was born in Hong Kong in 1913, and, as a youngster, studied Northern style kung fu. In 1939, he entered the film industry as a make up man. However, his distinctive, angular features, and the fact that he could fight, drew the attention of directors Wu Chun-bing and Sam Mak, who cast him in a supporting role in 'Flower in a Sea of Blood'. It was the start of a career with a longevity extraordinary even by the standards of Hong Kong cinema.
When I first relocated to Hong Kong, I stayed up late at night to record the black-and-white Wong Fei-hung films that played on TV. (I mean, who could work the timer on a video recorder? Not me...) In virtually every film, Shek played the villain opposite Kwan Tak-hing's heroic Wong, so the finale of each film was virtually identical: a duel between these two kung fu icons. It seemed Hong Kong audiences never tired of this ongoing battle between the same hero and the same villain!
Usually, these films played as a 'double bill' of black-and-white classics, and I soon noticed that, whereas Kwan Tak-hing was only in the Wong Fei-hung film, Shek was usually in the other movie as well! It didn't matter whether it was a fantasy actioner, a family melodrama, a 'Jane Bond' actioner with a female star; there was Shek Kin. His range seemed limitless. (I always thought that, if 'Star Trek' had been made in Hong Kong, Shek would have been a great Vulcan...)
After an impassioned last stand in 'Wong Fei-hung: Bravely Crushing The Fire Formation', Shek made an easier transition to colour cinema than Kwan Tak-hing did. Kwan was forever typecast as Wong Fei-hung; Shek Kin had always played a myriad of roles.
Though he would act in dozens of films opposite the greatest names in the industry, Shek will always be best known around the world as 'Mr Han Man' from 'Enter The Dragon'. Despite his advancing years, Shek created a formidable nemesis for Bruce Lee, with his disarmingly avuncular brand of villainy and his multi-purpose fake hand (lampooned so brilliantly in 'Kentucky Fried Movie'). What's truly remarkable is that, though the film is in English, Shek did not speak the language, and yet has more lines that anyone else in the picture! He learned all his speeches phonetically and, on set, often had production manager Madalena Chan reading him his dialogue off-camera, which he would then repeat back to her. (His lines were later looped by the great Keye Luke, Master Po from 'Kung Fu'.)
After Bruce Lee's passing, the clown dragon Jackie Chan rose to replace him as king of kung fu cinema, and, in his trial by fire, duelled a still game Shek Kin in Chan's first film at Golden Harvest, 'The Young Master'. Shek impresses in that film, but his greatest late life martial arts performance is opposite Jackie's friend Mars in the wonderfully titled, and sadly little seen, 'Lackey and the Lady Tiger'.
In his silver age, the veteran developed a hitherto unseen flare for comedy (check him out in 'The Private Eyes', 'Millionaire's Express' and 'Magic Crystal'), and continued to impress in a series of dramatic roles. His last great film role was opposite Chow Yun-fat in Tsui Hark's 'A Better Tomorrow 3'. Shek also worked on Hong Kong television, even playing his former nemesis, Wong Fei-hung, in one series.
After a chronic leg condition impeded his mobility, Shek Kin bid a graceful farewell to the screen. His wife having pre-deceased him by many years, Shek moved into an apartment in Prince Edward, from which he emerged only rarely into the public eye.
I had always wanted to meet Shek to talk to him about both Bruce and the Wong Fei-hung films, but the word was that he was a virtual recluse. At one point, I was developing a Bruce Lee documentary for Media Asia. I asked long-time Lee fan Donnie Yen to direct, and we got as far as location scouting (down at docks of Han's island) and discussing people we wanted to interview. I mentioned the problems associated with seeing Shek. "Well, my mom (Master Bow Sim-mark') knows him...," observed Yen. As I recollect, the aforementioned Madalena Chan helped make the connection, and Shek Kin agreed to see Donnie (with me in tow!).
When we visited, it was very apparent that there was nothing wrong with 'Uncle' Shek's mind. Despite the advancing years, he was lucid, loquacious and happy to see us. However, he refused point blank to consent to be interviewed on camera, saying that he preferred his fans to remember him in his younger, more agile days. (He did later film an interview for the Film Archive, but that was a special case!). After a pleasant afternoon, we bid a warm farewell, and there were the usual unkept promises about doing it again some time... I wish we had, as this sweet, deeply Christian man had a lot to share.
(Just for the record, our proposed Bruce Lee documentary fell foul of a regime change at Media Asia, and was never made.)
I did run in to Shek Kin again at the Hong Kong Film Awards, which was (I think) his last major public appearance.
He passed away last week at Queen Elizabeth hospital, the same one a dying Bruce Lee was admitted to all those years ago.
With Shek gone, an age closes, as none of the early principals of the Wong Fei-hung films are still with us.
On screen, though, he remains immortal, captured in jade and silver for an endless shining midnight show...
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8-6-09 : THE MAN WHO WOULD BE CAINE
Tuesday, Jun 9, 2009 1:00AM / Standard Entry
Memories of David Carradine
"(Death is) an end, perhaps, as waking is an end to sleep" Carradine, as Caine, in the Kung Fu episode 'Superstition' .
The Korean comedian Margaret Cho once observed, in Rolling Stone magazine, that the TV series 'Kung Fu' should have been called "That Guy's Not Chinese..."
To me, that was the whole point. As a kid growing up in rural England, I became fascinated with kung fu and Chinese culture and Shaolin Temple and just about all the things that remain my passions today, just because that guy wasn't, in fact, Chinese. We all worshipped Bruce Lee, and some of us even worshipped Angela Mao and Wang Yu, but I knew I could never become them, because I was, irrefutably, 'Not Chinese'. Just like Kwai Chang Caine, the (supposedly) half-Chinese Shaolin monk played by the late, great David Carradine...
There's an old saying that you should never meet your heroes. Certainly, in the case of David Carradine, there seemed to be, judging from press reports, a serious discrepancy between the beatific Buddhist beatnik who walked the Old West, and the shambling, oft-inebriated Hollywoodite that protrayed him. His was a 'crazy dharma' indeed, but, God, I loved the man...
I first met David through the kind offices of British talk show host Jonathon Ross, with whom I'd cooperated on some previous venture. Ross had featured Carradine as a guest on his show, and his assistant obligingly gave me the name of David's hotel. I called up the room, told David I wanted to interview him for my magazine (true, as it happened!) and he just asked me to come over. (And I didn't even have to take the pebble out of his hand...)
At the time, Carradine was married to Gail Jensen, and we three ended up in a restaurant in London's Chinatown until closing time. David liked to drink and he liked to talk, two attributes that would remain relatively constant for most of his life. He complained, in jest, that all I wanted to talk about was kung fu and 'Kung Fu', but that didn't stop him talking Shaolin all night long.
The waiters were putting the chairs on the tables when 'Grasshopper Boy' (as he was known in Chinese) got up to leave. Outside, I hailed a cab for them. Gail got in first, David turned and, in a gesture of farewell, punched me in the chest. I remember he was wearing, appropriately enough, a ying and yang ring. The taxi pulled away and I stood there, breathing the night air of Chinatown, thinking 'Christ, I just took a punch from Kwai Chang Caine...'.
Years passed, I had relocated to Hong Kong, and, after suitable misadventures, had the great pleasure of working with Jackie Chan on a documentary, 'Jackie Chan: My Stunts'. Word came from on high that our set was to be graced by none other than David Carradine, who was to interview Chan for a documentary about Shaolin. (Jackie confessed that he had never actually been there...!)
David manifested himself on the stage in a suede coat, with a flute across his shoulders. He and Chan sat and rapped for the cameras. When the appointed hour was done, David, who, quite rightly, did not recognise me in the slightest, started pitching Jackie on a project for them to do together. "Talk to Bey," suggested JC, pointing to me. "He reads all my English scripts..." (which, at the time, was true.)
So it came to pass that I found myself in a hotel coffee shop with DC and his fourth wife, Marina Anderson, imbibing lethal amounts of capuccino (David was going through a rare dry spell...) as he drank (coffee) and talked. I also got him to sign my collection of 'Kung Fu' memorabila, including my copy of his splended autobiography, Endless Highway. Once again, Chinese waiters put chairs on tables, once again, it was time to go.
This time, we stayed in touch. He sent me tapes of his music, and ideas for films. I did actually get him a gig on what was meant to be a Jackie Chan film, Sword Searchers. (He got paid, but the film was never made!) My sister Kate ran into David at the Celebrity Centre in LA.
I met Carradine at Cannes the next year, and we had a wonderful lunch. Afterwards, much to the outraged chagrin of my Media Asia colleagues, I lent him the patio of our office so that he could smoke while the BBC interviewed him. (Hey, this is Kwai Chang Caine we're talking about, who, even if he was 'Not Chinese', could take the pebble out of your hand, and probably crush your nuts at the same time...)
We met again in LA and Hong Kong and in between, called on occasion, email became the thing and we wrote back and forth, I conveyed my delight that he had been cast as the villain in 'Kill Bill', and he retorted that there were no villains in Tarantino movies... I thought David's fantastic performance in the title role would have led to more of a late life renaissance, but it was not to be. Carradine returned, cheerfully enough, to the B movie and tele-feature treadmill.
So it came to pass that I ran into him, for the final time, at Hengdian Studios, an event that I record in detail in an earlier blog. It was my pleasure to introduce him, for a second time, to Jackie Chan, and from there we repaired to the bar. Guess what? He dranked and talked, and I drank and listened, and I talked a bit, too.
Like a star in the east you could set your ship by, he seemed eternal, not old but ageless, as someone once said of Paul Newman, the years had purified, not eroded, his features.
In a sense, to reference the final episode of 'Kung Fu', the circle was complete. As a child, David, unknowingly, had started me down the path my life took. As a man, I got to share tales from the road with him in that Chinese bar. That's how I'll remember my idol and friend; wreathed in smoke and memories.
Too many stories to set down here, buy me a drink and I'll tell you the rest; from what I know of the man who would be Caine, he'd like it that way...
Bill : How do I look?
Bride : You look ready.
Finale, Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill'
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: 110,764
