The Lo down on Lo Mang

Hanging out at the Casa del Venom...

One of the great pleasures of making 'Beach Spike!' (apart from the absolute hell of being stuck on the sand with all those bikini babes...) has been developing such a firm friendship with former Shaw Bros movie legend Lo Mang.

Lo plays Uncle Dao, kung fu fighting mentor to our lovely leading ladies Chrissie Chau and Teresa Fu. Originally, we had approached my old friend Bolo Yeung to play the role, and his son David actually came to meet me in Hong Kong to discuss the film. In the end, we couldn't reach an arrangement with Bolo, and my first second choice was Lo Mang.

I'm not even sure why I thought of him! We had never met, and I didn't really know if he was still active in films. I just knew that, when I read the character of Uncle Dao again, with Bolo now out of the picture, I saw the face of Toad from Five Deadly Venoms!

When I went to see 'Ip Man 2', I recognised Lo in his great cameo role as the Monkey Boxing kung fu expert who challenges Donnie Yen to a tabletop duel. Fortunately, 'Beach Spike!' director Tony Tang had seen the same film, and could see that Lo fit the bill for Uncle Dao.

 In the film, Lo's character runs a beachfront restaurant. Our location for this was the Ooh La La restaurant in Pui O, on Lantau Island. (Venoms fans take note: when you visit Hong Kong, come to the Casa del Toad...) This is a gorgeous, unspoiled part of Hong Kong: the sea on one side, the wetlands and mountains behind.

Myself and my assistant Pete Wong couldn't miss the opportunity to strike some poses with a kung fu legend! (Pete, who hails from Minnesota, is also an exponent of Southern Mantis kung fu.)

Between takes, Lo and I also discussed another project that would feature him prominently, a different kind of film from the kind of mayhem I'm known for...