My blog
-
6-5-09: SHANGHAI EXPRESS (part two)
Monday, May 18, 2009 2:46AM / Standard Entry
On location for Teddy Chen's Bodyguards and Assassins, and my turn to play the Queen's Road Ripper.
Still recovering from the M1NT party of the night before, I checked out of the hotel and headed over to the studios where my old friend Teddy Chen is shooting his film Bodyguards and Assassins (formerly known as Dark October). Its being shot at the same studios where they shot Ip Man and Fearless, and where I'd previously visited the set of Warlords.
I first worked with Teddy Chen when we produced his thriller Purple Storm at Media Asia. That was an early film starring Daniel Wu, and may still be his best!
Dark October has had a long, hard journey to the screen. About six years ago, I helped Teddy with the English translation of the script, which tells the tale of a group of brave Hong Kongers keeping Sun Yat-sen (father of modern China) alive for 24 hours in the Hong Kong of 1906. It was a great screenplay. It reminded me, in structure, of '3:10 to Yuma' (but with kung fu, which is always a good thing...) Teddy had the project mounted and ready to shoot when, the day before production was supposed to commence, his producer and main investor committed suicide, and the film was sent back to development hell.
During the intervening years, I would run in to Teddy at various events, and always ask when he was going to make this film. I always felt it was too good of a concept and script to waste. I was delighted to hear that producer Peter Chan's new Cinema Popular company was making Dark October, now called Bodyguards and Assassins, its first production. To accomodate the film, Teddy and his team have built a massive replica of early 1900s Hong Kong that stretches as far as the eye can see.
I actually live just above the area recreated for the film, and walking the backlot was like stepping into an old black and white photograph of Hong Kong. (I'm also just along from the Sun Yat-sen museum, which is on Caine Road.)
Down at the far end of the Queen's Road set, action director Tung Wai was shooting a sequence involving rickshaw pullers.
Soon after I arrived, I met Peter Chan, who expressed his delight at seeing me. "Do you mind playing Jack The Ripper?", he asked me. Wow, I thought, The Ripper and kung fu? This movie has everything. He patiently explained that they would be using the same sets to shoot several more films, and one of them, tentatively entitled Queen's Road Ripper, would see the Victorian era serial killer unleashed on the streets of Hong Kong. Or rather, in the Cannes poster, at least, myself dressed as the Ripper...
Who can say 'no' to Peter Chan? I donned the costume, which consisted of Victorian gentleman's wear, and a hat two sizes to small for my (admittedly) big head. Anything for art! Though the actual poster image shows the Ripper on a Hong Kong street at night, we shot on the studio's amazingly faithful Pottinger Street in broad daylight. The legendary and irascible Hong Kong stills guy Jupiter set the shot up, and I burned holes in my retina staring up into the sun, while trying to think evil thoughts.
Donnie Yen, who stars in Bodyguards and Assassins, came by to chat, and didn't seem the least bit surprised to see me dressed like Jack The Ripper...
We strolled down the main street, where I encountered Nicholas Tse. Even with a shaved head and scars, that bastard still looks handsome. He, at least, registers surprise at my attire. Nic and I go back to the days of Gen-X Cops, which was his big break in front of the camera, and mine behind (where I belong!). After I explain that I'm not, in fact, playing Dracula, he's off to shoot his next shot, and I'm heading back to wardrobe to get my head unwedged from the hat so I can go catch my flight back to Hong Kong.
From what I could see, Bodyguards and Assassins looks like its going to be great, and, given the years of effort Teddy put into it, I'm so happy and proud to see this incredible story brought to life.
And I'm also available for Queen's Road Ripper if Kevin Spacey proves unavailable...
-
5-5-09 : Shanghai Express
Thursday, May 14, 2009 11:51AM / Standard Entry
Visiting China's second city (part one)
Given that our company made a film called 'Shanghai', you'd think I'd have spent more time in that city than I have. In fact, our 'Shanghai' was shot in London and Bangkok, and I've only been there for the film festival and to visit other people's sets. I caught a midday flight out of Hong Kong, and arrived at the Ritz-Carlon mid-afternoon. To my shame, I don't speak Mandarin, so I called on the services of fellow A-n-Der Shell Zhu to help me as translator and guide to the Bund.
We get dinner in a restaurant that features a converted railway carriage once occupied by one of the Soong sisters. Its located next to a fast food place called 'Kung Fu Burger'. Now there's a brand to conjure with!
The following day, I meet my friend Robert Vincencio. Robert is a musical theatre star who was in the London cast of Miss Saigon, and still tours as a singer. He's a genuine multi-talent, having acted (most memorably in the giant alien spider movie Arachnid) and directed (the forthcoming Distance Runners). He has a concept for a musical theatre project that we may be interested to develop. Robert is a good mate of my friend Michael Wong, and they just flew off to Germany on some marketing mission. Oh, to be in the jet set...!
As we ride through the city, I'm impressed, as always, by how much of the beautiful European architecture has been retained. Its a shame Hong Kong hasn't been as mindful of its own heritage. Conservation has only recently become an issue, and so much has already been lost.
Shanghai has two major film studios, the eponymous one where they shot Kung Fu Hustle, White Countess, Mummy 3 etc and Image Maker, where they shot Warlords and Ip Man, which I'm visiting tomorrow.
Years ago, Golden Harvest made a film called 'Shanghai, Shanghai', starring Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung. This was before China opened up sufficiently to allow Hong Kong producers to shoot there, and so the whole film was shot on locations in the (then) Crown Colony, and at the Harvest studios. (I actually went back to look at the film when we were considering shooting 'Shanghai' in Hong Kong and, of course, many of the colonial buildings they used were long gone...
I visited the Bright Shadow studios, which is a state of the art post-production facility owned and operated by westerners (all French!) resident in Shanghai. I was very impressed with their technical resources, and by the sheer size of the studio. Space is so limited in Hong Kong! They really have room to breath.
Bright Shadow are distributing the French wartime thriller Female Agents, starring Sophie Marceau, in China. They actually have it on my screens here than it played in France! Shell and I are invited to the premiere, which will be attended by Marceau herself. They've spared no expense, flying in the director and star, building an elaborate set outside the theatre and hiring a line-up of locally based European models to play 'female agents' for the evening.
Afterwards, there's a party at the Shanghai M1NT, which is (as ever) larger than its Hong Kong counterpart, and features an identical tank of mini-sharks. What happens to them when they get too big? I guess the poor buggers get turned into soup...
-
4-4-09 : Chips off the old block learn to rock
Monday, May 4, 2009 9:25PM / Standard Entry
Hitting The Fifties with the terrible trio...
Its a sad fact that I'm reaching the same age as my favourite Hong Kong hangout, The Fifties.
This off the beaten track hole in the wall is situated on the 3rd floor of the California Entertainment Building on D'Aguilar Street in Lan Kwai-fong. It has a rocking house band, The Magic Touch, and they actively encourage patrons to sing.
(Some so-called friends of mine go "Oh, its just karaoke...", but, no, its a live band. LIVE! That's a whole different experience, like the difference between mud wrestling and Fight Club...)
I first started going there back in my Media Asia days. My then boss Thomas Chung held a party there to launch the next wave of MA productions, and the likes of Michelle Yeoh and Jackie Chan turned up to rock the joint. (The exterior of the same establishment is visible, in its original location, in John Woo's film The Killer, and John himself, along with many other stars, has signed the interior wall.) After that, it became a favourite paparazzi-safe hangout for myself, Maggie Q, Edison Chen, Stephen Fung and Paul Rudd. (The only time I ever really impressed Paul occurred there, when I recited with him all the words to Elvis Costello's song Accidents Will Happen...)
Over the years, I've been back to The Fifties to celebrate births, birthdays, premieres, hits, flops, first dates, break-ups and everything in-between. Its the one place where, on any night and with the right crowd, its impossible not to have a good time.
Various traditions have been established. For example, when the guitarist plays that inevitable solo from Hotel California, our whole party bows at his feet, going "We're not worthy, we're not worthy..." (And we aren't!)
So when the management decided to hold a 70s disco night, they gave me a call. I guess they figured they needed at least a few people present who actually lived through that decade! I told them that I was taking care of my three sons that night, and so could not attend. "Why not bring them with you?" Bring my kids? To a club? To party...?!? Well, why not...
Elizabeth helped gel their hair, and we put them in their funkiest wear. (For some reason, the twins looked like they were part of a Parisian punk rock group...)
We descended on the unsuspecting venue. Not the least bit intimidated, team Logan took the corner table, and the my two 7s and an 11 checked out the crowd.
Its hard to believe I celebrated the twins' birth in this place, and now they're almost big enough to party unattended.
The trio tore up the dance floor, grabbed the mike to belt out a song and, to my sterling rendition of Kung Fu Fighting, showed that they really are fast as lightning...
My eldest boy, Ryan danced with a towering Taiwanese girl, and kissed her afterwards, which was more than I ever got to do when I was 11! (Or now, if the sad truth be told...)
Somewhere in Memphis, The King spins in his grave, as I got my Elvis on for the assembly. I know this wasn't in keeping with the 70s mood, but Stayin' Ali-i-ive is beyond my pitch. (I even wore my 'Nobody Knows I'm Elvis' t-shirt, bought for me by Maggie Q in, I believe, Las Vegas....)
The boys were all for my showing them the way to the next whiskey bar, but we decided to head home. (I pretended it was because they were tired, rather than me...!)
So, for a good time, go check out The Fifties, tell 'em I sent you. If you're lucky, I'll be there, and, if you're really lucky, les trois freres Logan will also be in the house...
-
20-4-09: IP MAN PACKS A PUNCH AT HONG KONG FILM AWARDS
Tuesday, Apr 21, 2009 11:25AM / Standard Entry
Ann Hui knocks down a Red Cliff!
This year the Hong Kong Film Awards returned to their familiar venue at the Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. Even though
The event kicked off with a display of Chinese drumming by Ip Man star Donnie Yen, who braved the rain to ‘da ku’ and then perform a few lion dance moves. He had also been nominated for Best Actor, and, rumour had it, if he didn’t win, he was going to unleash his Wing Chun ‘chain punches’ on whoever did… It was the best year yet for Yen, with three of his films nominated in different categories: Ip Man, Painted Skin and Empress and Her Warriors.
As the evening wore on, the biggest surprise was that the period epic Red Cliff was evidently going to win only technical awards. This was such an epic, sweeping accomplishment by director John Woo, who was in attendance, that I felt it deserved better. Though, like everyone in the industry, I love and respect Ann Hui, there is no way that, as pure cinema, her drama The Way We Are is a match for Red Cliff, and the latter should have won Best Director for Woo. As it turned out, Red Cliff took home Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Design, Best Costume Design and Make-Up and Best Original Film Score.
Regarding this last, budding local composers take note, three nominees were Japanese and one was French! There’s definitely a gap in the local market there.
Ann Hui’s The Way We Are also won Best Actress for ATV veteran Bau Hei-jing, Best Screenplay for Lui Yau-Wah and Best Supporting Actress for Chan Lai-wun. In this last category, Chan beat my prospective daughter-in-law, Race Wong, who was nominated for her work in True Women For Sale. (Personally, I’d have put money on Zhou Xun for that great ‘Mulan’ style character she played in Red Cliff.)
The fantasy actioner Painted Skin won Best Song, and, again!, Best Cinematography, for my old friend Arthur Wong. Arthur has already won this award eight times, and I kidded with him later that they should just keeping changing the plaque on the prize rather than give him a new one every time! I would argue that Arthur’s luminous photography is what made Painted Skin memorable, so this latest win was well-deserved.
Best Editing went to Yau Chi-wai for director Benny Chan’s superior remake of Cellular, Connected. I keep asking Benny when we’re going to do Gen-Z Cops, but to no avail. This is the franchise that gave the world Nicholas Tse, Stephen Fung, Daniel Wu, Maggie Q, Paul Rudd and Edison Chen. (
Best New Artiste went to Xu Jiao, the little girl who played a little boy in Stephen Chiau’s CJ7. I think Tse Man should have won the same prize when she played a he (Wong Fei-hung) in Iron Monkey. Best New Director went to Derek Kwok for The Moss, and I refuse to believe that The Moss was the best film any of our new creative talents could come up with last year!
Best Asian Film went to The Assembly, Feng Xiao-gang’s masterful war epic. This brilliant work should have been even more celebrated than it has been.
The Professional Achievement Award went to Ding Yue, a veteran dubbing supervisor. I was hoping that he acceptance speech would be dubbed into bad kung fu movie English, but it was not to be… (Joking aside, his comments were very touching.)
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to the great Josephine Siao, AKA Siu Fong-Fong. Though she’s best known to international audiences for her work as Jet Li’s mom in Fong Sai-yuk (coming soon from Dragon Dynasty!), Siao has had a long and brilliant career in
Best Supporting Actor went to Liu Chi-kai for his work on Dante Lam’s Beast Stalker. I thought Dante did a great job with this film, it’s a shame there’s not a bigger market for these Asian thrillers in the west. Liu, known as ‘Chi Suk’, also did great work in Derek Yee’s Protégé. He’s famous for being a bona fide method actor on set (but thankfully didn’t actually cut his hand off in that film…)
It was a foregone conclusion that Sammo Hung (and partner Leung Siu-hung) would win Best Action Design for
The race for Best Actor was between Donnie Yen and Nick Cheung Kar-fai. I remember when I first came to
The big surprise of the evening was Ip Man’s win for Best Picture. I think most people felt that, having given Best Director to Ann Hui, Best Picture would go to John Woo. Maybe, like Peter Jackson with Lord of the Rings, John has to wait until next year, when the concluding chapter of the epic is eligible. I thought Ip Man was a great film, an example that
After the post-show buffet (free food, life blood of the entertainment community!), I met Andre Morgan and Sammo Hung in the lobby of the Intercontinental. Sammo seemed very downbeat for someone who just won an award. Maybe he's used to it by now! At the Ip Man party, Donnie seemed even more so. And these were the guys who won! Heaven knows what the losers were doing…
-
17-4-09: ‘NANJING’ COMES TO BEIJING
Saturday, Apr 18, 2009 9:25AM / Standard Entry
In the Chinese capital for the launch of a masterwork.
I flew to
I arrive at the Chaoyang Ritz Carlton. This is meant to be a 5 star hotel, but it seems that, every time I ask the front desk to help with something, they tell me to do it myself! If I wanted to do things for myself, I’d have stayed at home (or in the YMCA).
The evening before the ‘
I repair with some friends to the legendary Suzie Wong’s. I’m just thinking that I’m far enough from
The following day, I’ve been invited to participate in a TV show called ‘First Screen’ (or something similar). This is taking the place of a conventional premiere (there’s to be no actual showing of the film), with the film-makers gathered to discuss the project on national television just before it premieres. The studio is located only ten minutes from my hotel, but the
I meet director Lu and the film’s producer, Han San-ping, in a small ante-room to discuss various business matters. (My thanks to the invaluable Isabelle Glachant for her help at this meeting.) Mr Han is currently directing his own historical epic, ‘The Great Cause of Founding of the Nation’, in
Afterwards, I and my impromptu translator, producer Lily Ma, are led into the TV studio where the programme will be filmed. I chat with actor Liu Ye, who plays a Kuomintang guerilla fighter in the film. Some months ago, he shot his first American film, Dark Matter, with Meryl Streep. What’s amazing about his work in ‘
Three seats along from me, there’s a man with an inch and a half spike piercing his lower lip. I guess if you were dating him, love really would hurt…
The show opens with a small chamber orchestra playing the haunting orchestral theme from the film, while a selection of black-and-white clips plays on a broad screen. It’s really very moving. This is followed by on stage interviews and presentations about various aspects of the production, and its historical backdrop. Incongruously, two singers perform pop songs, also against footage from ‘
The cast and crew related their various experiences on and feelings about making the film, including two Japanese actors who have flown in for the launch. The latter pair look very young and dapper, totally removed from their on-screen personas.
When it’s my turn, I tell the audience what a magnificent achievement the film is, and how much I, and we (TWC), are hoping to work with the producers to bring it to the west. After I leave the stage, a videotaped and very touching message from director Lu’s father, a former screenwriter, is played, and he tells the audience how proud he is of his son’s work. This brings tears to the eyes of Lu, and the female cast members.
After the show, we leave the building and, with my usual profound desire to sample local culture, head down the streets to TGIs. A man stops me, holding a pile of pirate DVDs. He flicks through them, describing the relative merits of each film with one of two words: “Funny, funny, Oscar, funny, Oscar, Oscar, funny…” That’s The Weinstein Company story right there…
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: 111,318
