Advertisement
INTERVIEW: STEPHEN CHOW
04.05.05
By Devin Faraci
chud.com/interviews/2337
Stephen Chow is just about as big as you can get in Hong Kong. The guy's films rake in the dough and win all the awards - his latest film, Kung Fu Hustle - just split a ton of Hong Kong film awards with Wong Kar Wei's more serious minded 2046. His last film, Shaolin Soccer, was his first to get a big release in the US. A wonderful comedy, Miramax buried it, so while the film was a huge hit in most parts of the world, it flopped in the US.
Now with Kung Fu Hustle Chow is away from Miramax, and he's got a bigger, more crowd pleasing film. Last week I had a chance to do a roundtable with the auteur - the guy's a writer, director and actor in his films. Chow answered most of the questions on his own with his very passable English, although he did sometimes turn to his interpreter for help. What was interesting was that the guy who is so silly on screen is sort of straight faced and soft-spoken in person, and getting an answer out of him was often tough.
By the way, I usually don't talk about who else is at these roundtables, but the last questions, about Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, were all Ed Douglas of Coming Soon. If Chow makes a Shang Chi film (and he got very interested in it- he asked Ed to write down the name of the comic for him), Ed should get a producer credit!
Q: Is it hard to do something with humor rather than making a regular kung fu film? Is it more fun? Or more difficult?
Chow: Directing a kung fu film?
Q: Well, y'know, like the standard action/adventure ...
Chow: So you don't think I directed a regular kung fu film?
Q: Well, no I don't.
Chow: It's a special kung fu film. Yes, I think so. And of course, it's more difficult.
Q: In what way?
Chow: How? Hmm. The difficulty in this film is just ... yeah - just like what you say: how to make it different from any other. Because there's already a lot of different kind of kung fu films in the past. So how you make it different?
Q: You brought up making it different from the past, but you brought a lot of the kung fu stars of the past into this film. What inspired you to do that?
Chow: I just try to find some actors who looked great. [Laughs] And were suitable to play the role in the movie. The first thing that I consider is is it the right person to shoot the role, instead of are they famous enough. I have all this kind of concerns for the casting.
Q: How were you able to convince them, though? Because obviously they haven't made a movie in over 20 years?
Chow: I know them quite well, because I am a fan of them. They are all very much stars a long time ago, like the Beast [Leung Siu Lung]. I think he is one of my favorite kung fu stars. The other thing is how to find them! because they are retired. It takes time to find out where they are.
Q: You were friends with them? How did you convince them to make your movie?
Chow: Just talk to them. With my sincerity, you know. Yes.
Q: Did anyone get hurt during the filming?
Chow: No. Not yet. I have a very good choreographer, Yuen Woo-Ping.
Q: Can you talk a little about working with him?
Chow: Of course, there is no need to say, he is one of the best action directors in Asia - in the world, I think. He looks so like the old style and looks so traditional Chinese style, but actually he is a person with an open mind, who can accept different kind of opinions. No matter how crazy it is, he will accept it.
Q: Does he get involved in camera decisions?
Chow: Yuen Woo-Ping? Yeah, sometimes.
Q: How has using computers changed the way you work?
Chow: I think in Shaolin Soccer, that was the first time for me to do a stunt with a lot of CGI. I'm lucky because that was my first time to do the action with a lot of CGI, so I really get used to a lot of CGI. So in Kung Fu Hustle, I'm quite familiar with all that kind of thing.
Q: When you're on the set, doing a stunt, do you kind of know you're going to have a computer to work later, so you don't worry so much about the stunts on the set?
Chow: Actually it is quite complicated. Everything is shot, like some of them involved CGI and sometimes it's not necessary. Overall, it is a very complicated work that takes a lot of time to do and there are a bunch of people involved, with the team from the choreographer and another team from the CGI company and my team, you know? Three teams of people get together and try to do it better!
Q: I loved the homage to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, with the blood coming from the doors. What made you do that?
Chow: Oh, in that sequence I like to have a horrify atmosphere in that scene, to try to build up something really scary. And of course, The Shining, for me is one of the most scary, horrifying movies. So that's the idea. And all this blood rushes out. I think it's just perfect for that scene. [Chuckles]
Q: You've conquered Hong Kong cinema, you're as big as they get. Are you interested in coming to America and making Hollywood films?
Chow: Yes.
Q: Has anyone contacted you? Do you have any potential things coming up?
Chow: No.
Q: Do you see yourself more of a director and less of a star if you were to do a Hollywood film? Or do you want to be as much the star of the film as the director.
Chow: Well, actually, what I would like to do is direct. I would like to focus on this more. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to be a star in any movie! I still would like to have change, but more of a director.
Q: Are you interested in doing more action films?
Chow: Well, I want to stay away from the action because it's really tough. And it's difficult.
Q: What's the hardest part?
Chow: What's the hardest part? You have to wear a wire shirt all the time and you're punching and kicking all day long, for 42 years old, old man like me ... [laughs]. Yeah, but on the other hand, I - actually, I love kung fu very much and I'm still practicing myself.
Q: You still practice?
Chow: Yeah, I'm a real kung fu practitioner.
Q: Could you explain how working with Wong Jing gave you an opportunity to direct? I heard that he would not be on the set, because he makes five movies at once ...
Chow: Oh yeah, yeah.
Q: And that gave you the opportunity to get behind the camera.
Chow: And there's a horse racing game on the radio. So he was listening! Actually, he is very clever, I think. And very smart. He has a lot of crazy ideas.
Q: But would you direct scenes when he'd run to another set to make a movie?
Chow: Yes. Sometimes. Not all the time. I would say thanks to him for giving me a lot of opportunity to direct - I mean, to assist him with the directing role.
Q: Jackie Chan says that he thinks martial arts cinema is dying out because the younger stars don’t do the kind of training did when he was with the Seven Little Fortunes. Do you think that's true?
Chow: Actually, the potential for the stars of the future are around everywhere. But you have to search for it. You have to have people interested in looking for them.
Q: Would you work with people coming from other disciplines, like Thai boxing?
Chow: Thai boxing. Tony Jaa! Great example. I think he - it saves money to have Tony Jaa, because you don't need any CGI. He just does it!
Q: You're one of the great kings of comedy: Are you interested in doing horror films, science fiction, crossing over into other genres.
Chow: Anything but horror films. I want to, but I'm unable to do it, because I'm scared of ghosts. [Laughter]
Q: You've never done a sequel. I'm sure a lot of people want you to do another Shaolin Soccer - do you always move onto another film?
Chow: So, I actually, I don't know at the moment what I'm going to do in the future, for the next project. It could be a sequel to Kung Fu Hustle, just because I never did a sequel before. So that's why I want to try and do one.
Q: So you're not against sequels.
Chow: I'm not against sequels.
Q: Can you talk about where you got the idea for both Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle? What started them?
Chow: In Shaolin Soccer it comes from a Japanese comic! Japanese cartoon. Yeah, like long, long time ago - over ten years ago. A Japanese soccer cartoon. It's very popular. At that time, the idea was like soccer in my mind. Like soccer ... if everyone - it's spread through the whole world. Is it possible to make a soccer movie? But for the track record… The last soccer movie was by Stallone, I think. The Victory, which is not quite a big hit everywhere. So, actually it's so difficult, but what if I make a combination of martial arts and soccer? Then I go and make up a script with my team and then I have my script in my hand and try to send the idea to certain financers. The reaction was not that positive, because there's no track record. They always talk about, "Gimme some examples. What does it look like? Like what? Which kind of movie are you talking about?" But I believe - what I mean is No, it's totally different from any other. It's nothing like anything you have seen before. Then I'm not interesting anymore, because I don't know. There's no guarantee. That's how they think.
Q: How did you convince them?
Chow: How? The only way to convince them was a low budget. [Laughter] I need so little! Okay, okay, okay - that sounds good.
Q: What made Kung Fu Hustle happen?
Chow: Oh, Kung Fu Hustle? After Shaolin Soccer, I think I had more confidence to handle action kind of things and then the real kung fu films, I loved kung fu films all the time, so I would like to make it.
Q: Can you talk about how you designed Pig Sty Alley?
Chow: The Pig Sty is exactly what I lived in the past. Not the same label! But the same shape, same kind of building, same similar situations. A lot of people living together.
Q: Can you walk around Hong Kong and be a normal person, or are you usually mobbed by fans?
Chow: No.
Q: You're not mobbed?
Chow: It doesn't matter at all.
Q: So you can just lead a normal life?
Chow: Yeah, because the Hong Kong people, they treat me more like a director, like a producer, like a filmmaker. If they recognize me, they treat me as a producer, more than a star. And also, I now make one movie in three years and somehow I think they already forget who I am, because I've been away too long!
Q: What was the first movie that you remember seeing as a child and what kind of impression did it leave on you?
Chow: Charlie Chaplin. The Lights of the City.
Q: City Lights? What was your favorite part of it as a child.
Chow: Is that the one that he tries to eat the shoes?
Q: That's The Gold Rush.
Chow: Oh, it is another film. Yes. So City Lights is the young girl and him.
Q:The blind girl.
Chow: The blind girl.
Q: Have you ever thought of doing a superhero movie?
Chow: Spider-Man. I want to do Spider-Man.
Q: Have you ever heard of the comic Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu? They’re making a movie out of that – it’s a good kung fu comic.
Chow: Shang Chi – that’s my name in Asia, did you know that? Shang Chi Chow.
source:
chud.com/interviews/2337
04.05.05
By Devin Faraci
chud.com/interviews/2337
Stephen Chow is just about as big as you can get in Hong Kong. The guy's films rake in the dough and win all the awards - his latest film, Kung Fu Hustle - just split a ton of Hong Kong film awards with Wong Kar Wei's more serious minded 2046. His last film, Shaolin Soccer, was his first to get a big release in the US. A wonderful comedy, Miramax buried it, so while the film was a huge hit in most parts of the world, it flopped in the US.
Now with Kung Fu Hustle Chow is away from Miramax, and he's got a bigger, more crowd pleasing film. Last week I had a chance to do a roundtable with the auteur - the guy's a writer, director and actor in his films. Chow answered most of the questions on his own with his very passable English, although he did sometimes turn to his interpreter for help. What was interesting was that the guy who is so silly on screen is sort of straight faced and soft-spoken in person, and getting an answer out of him was often tough.
By the way, I usually don't talk about who else is at these roundtables, but the last questions, about Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, were all Ed Douglas of Coming Soon. If Chow makes a Shang Chi film (and he got very interested in it- he asked Ed to write down the name of the comic for him), Ed should get a producer credit!
Q: Is it hard to do something with humor rather than making a regular kung fu film? Is it more fun? Or more difficult?
Chow: Directing a kung fu film?
Q: Well, y'know, like the standard action/adventure ...
Chow: So you don't think I directed a regular kung fu film?
Q: Well, no I don't.
Chow: It's a special kung fu film. Yes, I think so. And of course, it's more difficult.
Q: In what way?
Chow: How? Hmm. The difficulty in this film is just ... yeah - just like what you say: how to make it different from any other. Because there's already a lot of different kind of kung fu films in the past. So how you make it different?
Q: You brought up making it different from the past, but you brought a lot of the kung fu stars of the past into this film. What inspired you to do that?
Chow: I just try to find some actors who looked great. [Laughs] And were suitable to play the role in the movie. The first thing that I consider is is it the right person to shoot the role, instead of are they famous enough. I have all this kind of concerns for the casting.
Q: How were you able to convince them, though? Because obviously they haven't made a movie in over 20 years?
Chow: I know them quite well, because I am a fan of them. They are all very much stars a long time ago, like the Beast [Leung Siu Lung]. I think he is one of my favorite kung fu stars. The other thing is how to find them! because they are retired. It takes time to find out where they are.
Q: You were friends with them? How did you convince them to make your movie?
Chow: Just talk to them. With my sincerity, you know. Yes.
Q: Did anyone get hurt during the filming?
Chow: No. Not yet. I have a very good choreographer, Yuen Woo-Ping.
Q: Can you talk a little about working with him?
Chow: Of course, there is no need to say, he is one of the best action directors in Asia - in the world, I think. He looks so like the old style and looks so traditional Chinese style, but actually he is a person with an open mind, who can accept different kind of opinions. No matter how crazy it is, he will accept it.
Q: Does he get involved in camera decisions?
Chow: Yuen Woo-Ping? Yeah, sometimes.
Q: How has using computers changed the way you work?
Chow: I think in Shaolin Soccer, that was the first time for me to do a stunt with a lot of CGI. I'm lucky because that was my first time to do the action with a lot of CGI, so I really get used to a lot of CGI. So in Kung Fu Hustle, I'm quite familiar with all that kind of thing.
Q: When you're on the set, doing a stunt, do you kind of know you're going to have a computer to work later, so you don't worry so much about the stunts on the set?
Chow: Actually it is quite complicated. Everything is shot, like some of them involved CGI and sometimes it's not necessary. Overall, it is a very complicated work that takes a lot of time to do and there are a bunch of people involved, with the team from the choreographer and another team from the CGI company and my team, you know? Three teams of people get together and try to do it better!
Q: I loved the homage to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, with the blood coming from the doors. What made you do that?
Chow: Oh, in that sequence I like to have a horrify atmosphere in that scene, to try to build up something really scary. And of course, The Shining, for me is one of the most scary, horrifying movies. So that's the idea. And all this blood rushes out. I think it's just perfect for that scene. [Chuckles]
Q: You've conquered Hong Kong cinema, you're as big as they get. Are you interested in coming to America and making Hollywood films?
Chow: Yes.
Q: Has anyone contacted you? Do you have any potential things coming up?
Chow: No.
Q: Do you see yourself more of a director and less of a star if you were to do a Hollywood film? Or do you want to be as much the star of the film as the director.
Chow: Well, actually, what I would like to do is direct. I would like to focus on this more. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to be a star in any movie! I still would like to have change, but more of a director.
Q: Are you interested in doing more action films?
Chow: Well, I want to stay away from the action because it's really tough. And it's difficult.
Q: What's the hardest part?
Chow: What's the hardest part? You have to wear a wire shirt all the time and you're punching and kicking all day long, for 42 years old, old man like me ... [laughs]. Yeah, but on the other hand, I - actually, I love kung fu very much and I'm still practicing myself.
Q: You still practice?
Chow: Yeah, I'm a real kung fu practitioner.
Q: Could you explain how working with Wong Jing gave you an opportunity to direct? I heard that he would not be on the set, because he makes five movies at once ...
Chow: Oh yeah, yeah.
Q: And that gave you the opportunity to get behind the camera.
Chow: And there's a horse racing game on the radio. So he was listening! Actually, he is very clever, I think. And very smart. He has a lot of crazy ideas.
Q: But would you direct scenes when he'd run to another set to make a movie?
Chow: Yes. Sometimes. Not all the time. I would say thanks to him for giving me a lot of opportunity to direct - I mean, to assist him with the directing role.
Q: Jackie Chan says that he thinks martial arts cinema is dying out because the younger stars don’t do the kind of training did when he was with the Seven Little Fortunes. Do you think that's true?
Chow: Actually, the potential for the stars of the future are around everywhere. But you have to search for it. You have to have people interested in looking for them.
Q: Would you work with people coming from other disciplines, like Thai boxing?
Chow: Thai boxing. Tony Jaa! Great example. I think he - it saves money to have Tony Jaa, because you don't need any CGI. He just does it!
Q: You're one of the great kings of comedy: Are you interested in doing horror films, science fiction, crossing over into other genres.
Chow: Anything but horror films. I want to, but I'm unable to do it, because I'm scared of ghosts. [Laughter]
Q: You've never done a sequel. I'm sure a lot of people want you to do another Shaolin Soccer - do you always move onto another film?
Chow: So, I actually, I don't know at the moment what I'm going to do in the future, for the next project. It could be a sequel to Kung Fu Hustle, just because I never did a sequel before. So that's why I want to try and do one.
Q: So you're not against sequels.
Chow: I'm not against sequels.
Q: Can you talk about where you got the idea for both Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle? What started them?
Chow: In Shaolin Soccer it comes from a Japanese comic! Japanese cartoon. Yeah, like long, long time ago - over ten years ago. A Japanese soccer cartoon. It's very popular. At that time, the idea was like soccer in my mind. Like soccer ... if everyone - it's spread through the whole world. Is it possible to make a soccer movie? But for the track record… The last soccer movie was by Stallone, I think. The Victory, which is not quite a big hit everywhere. So, actually it's so difficult, but what if I make a combination of martial arts and soccer? Then I go and make up a script with my team and then I have my script in my hand and try to send the idea to certain financers. The reaction was not that positive, because there's no track record. They always talk about, "Gimme some examples. What does it look like? Like what? Which kind of movie are you talking about?" But I believe - what I mean is No, it's totally different from any other. It's nothing like anything you have seen before. Then I'm not interesting anymore, because I don't know. There's no guarantee. That's how they think.
Q: How did you convince them?
Chow: How? The only way to convince them was a low budget. [Laughter] I need so little! Okay, okay, okay - that sounds good.
Q: What made Kung Fu Hustle happen?
Chow: Oh, Kung Fu Hustle? After Shaolin Soccer, I think I had more confidence to handle action kind of things and then the real kung fu films, I loved kung fu films all the time, so I would like to make it.
Q: Can you talk about how you designed Pig Sty Alley?
Chow: The Pig Sty is exactly what I lived in the past. Not the same label! But the same shape, same kind of building, same similar situations. A lot of people living together.
Q: Can you walk around Hong Kong and be a normal person, or are you usually mobbed by fans?
Chow: No.
Q: You're not mobbed?
Chow: It doesn't matter at all.
Q: So you can just lead a normal life?
Chow: Yeah, because the Hong Kong people, they treat me more like a director, like a producer, like a filmmaker. If they recognize me, they treat me as a producer, more than a star. And also, I now make one movie in three years and somehow I think they already forget who I am, because I've been away too long!
Q: What was the first movie that you remember seeing as a child and what kind of impression did it leave on you?
Chow: Charlie Chaplin. The Lights of the City.
Q: City Lights? What was your favorite part of it as a child.
Chow: Is that the one that he tries to eat the shoes?
Q: That's The Gold Rush.
Chow: Oh, it is another film. Yes. So City Lights is the young girl and him.
Q:The blind girl.
Chow: The blind girl.
Q: Have you ever thought of doing a superhero movie?
Chow: Spider-Man. I want to do Spider-Man.
Q: Have you ever heard of the comic Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu? They’re making a movie out of that – it’s a good kung fu comic.
Chow: Shang Chi – that’s my name in Asia, did you know that? Shang Chi Chow.
source:
chud.com/interviews/2337
posted by:
|
Unsubscribed |
Advertisement
Advertisement
