Interesting Trivia

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

The creator of Dragon Ball Z had cited Drunken Master as one of its inspirations. The name of the species Saiyan is derived from the Chinese word meaning Western person (sai yan).

A pre-release test version of Lethal Weapon 4 had Jet's character not dying from a volley of bullets from Riggs' firearm but being only injured and thereafter fighting further with his enemy. However, preview audiences did not buy this anticlimax and the above-stated alternate version was spliced into the picture.

The reason why Jet's face was added to the poster of Lethal Weapon 4 was due to his fan base noticing the lack of Jet's presence in the film's initial marketing campaign hence how Li was placed prominently in the revised promotional materials for the film. This decision made by Warner Bros. film studio finalized quickly due to people in general reacting enthusiastically towards Li in test screenings.

Furthermore, test screenings of LW 4 had shown that female film goers, in particular, loved him in that picture. Immediately, that had prompted Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver to option Jet's services for a then-forthcoming release to be determined.

Even before LW 4 was in distribution, Li had won the strong interest of the Hollywood entertainment industry. Universal Pictures wanted Li to star in their then upcoming action vehicle, The Art of War, and were offering a reported seven-figure salary for Jet's services. This left Warner & Silver to exercise their option on Jet and they scurried to find a showcase for the Hong Kong star - then considered hot property.

As for Art of War, which Li now had to reject, it would eventually be made at Warner Bros. for a 2000 release with Wesley Snipes in the lead role. Coincidentally, as before with Jackie, Snipes was to team up with Jet for the Antonio Banderas/Lucy Liu vehicle 'Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever' before the two rebuffed the offer.

It was rumoured that Quentin Tarantino was originally going to play the role Jeff Wolfe played (Billy) in Once Upon a Time in China 6 (a.k.a. Once Upon a Time in China & America). As mentioned before, the plot ideas were supposedly ripped from Jackie's much-rumoured Eastern/Western concept at the time Who am I? was in planning stages (whilst Mr. Nice Guy was being made). Though the ideas could have been inadvertently discussed with one or more members of the OUATIC VI team when Who am I? was in the scripting stages.

It was because of Hark & co. beating Jackie to the punch that Jackie changed the story of Who am I? (i.e. setting it in modern times) until Solon So (co-producer of JC: My Stunts) and Willie Chan became Jackie's ambassadors for his filmic vengeance as they ended up helping to spearhead the production of Shanghai Noon (hence their producer credits).

Dragon Lord was originally an epic Kung Fu film with the sub-plot concerning the gang of treasure thieves treat as a more dominant part of the narrative (the essential plot device of the feature). There were lots of fight scenes involving Chan Wai Man's character that (when put into the context of the film as a whole) gave more credence to Jackie's wish fulfillment that Dragon Lord would "feature the most spectacular Kung Fu action sequences ever filmed" (with Yuen Kwai as the one of the martial orchestrators - things aren't as far off as you may think at first). But Jackie didn't want Wai Man to compete with him so the scenes were cut and the martial arts action lost prominence.

Bearing in mind that one of the stunt directors was Fung Hark On, someone who worked on Outlaw Brothers, Warriors Two, Burning Ambition, Last Hurrah of Chivalry, The Young Master, Descendant of Wing Chun, Enter the Fat Dragon, Magnificent Warriors and Read Lips (Jackie's 1980 film as producer whose story somewhat encouraged Brian De Palma to remake the 1966 movie Blow Out in 1981).

Fung was also one of the action directors (alongside Bruce Law) for Tsui Hark's Gunmen. Gunmen was a film which wasn't too successful since Tsui and Kirk Wong didn't agree as to how to direct this movie (for instance Kirk didn't want to focus on the female characters in the film but had to due to Hark's insistence). This explains why there is a good deal of character development, but not enough (for instance Elvis Tsui Kam Kong's character).

As a result, the continuity of the film would have been severely effected so a lot of dialogue scenes had to be cut as well as a few brawls with Jackie. Most scenes that were taken out of the film, in general, were cut due to length as the film was feared to be too long to gain enough commercial success, therefore it was more to do with gaining more theatrical showings as opposed to how it effected the pace of the overall feature.

In the midst of a real-life breakup with singer Teresa Teng , Chan went over budget and was woefully behind schedule on Dragon Lord. Reports indicate that he would hire tons of stuntmen and shoot miles of costly footage only to abandon these intricate sequences on the cutting room floor.

What Jackie said about his intentions with Dragon Lord:

"It would be a big picture, an epic martial arts film, with stunts that would put American films to shame. I'd film in Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. I'd shake up the entire genre of Kung Fu cinema and show people that Jackie Chan was back."

It's amusing to point out that when Jackie spent three months in Korea, spending HK $ 1 million (US $ 100,000) on the movie, that there was "almost nothing to show." With Jackie saying that, it's like saying "yeah, there was lots of footage but not enough to turn into a consistent feature-length movie."

It could be argued that maybe Jackie had filmed some of the Chan Wai Man footage in Korea before deciding to scrap that angle of the film's plot. Perhaps, this was because Jackie realized that the only way he could prove he was still the king of action was by being the main highlight.

He was being so intent to prove that he was still the king of action after going through personal humiliation - his failure to crack the American market.

This scenario can be compared to Jackie's experience on the Armour of God production. Jackie had suffered a terrible injury but his pride was such that he went so far to neglect the possibility of bringing back the original director (who quit as opposed to being fired). Although, a connotation could be made of the fact that Jackie took over from the original fight choreography team just to prove he still had what it took behind the camera.

According to Chan Wai Man:

"Jackie Chan was trying to imitate Bruce Lee in a couple of scenes, using that kind of fast, close range action, but he couldn't do it because he's never learned real fighting. He doesn't look powerful. That's why he does all this Kung Fu and acrobatics. He shot a lot of fights for Dragon Lord and then cut them."

He then says:

"In fact, Jackie shot lots of scenes for that film and then had to cut them later because the film was much too long. The choreographer on that film was my student and he made me look very good. When Chan saw that, he didn't want me in the film to compete with him, so he cut all my fights out!"

The narrative structure of the film was akin to John Carpenter's The Fog in the way we flicker back and forth between two characters who share the same enemy even if they don't meet. With Carpenter making The Thing at the same time Jackie was doing Dragon Lord, it could be argued that Jackie's sports sequences are ground-breaking in martial arts and action cinema in the same way Carpenter's creature sequences were ground-breaking in Sci-Fi and horror cinema.

Whilst Dragon Lord film did well (grossing US $ 1 million), audiences were not ready to accept street fighting and sports in lieu of conventional Kung Fu duels in 1982 as of yet. In that year's HK Film Awards, Dragon Lord was outdone in the Best Action Design Category by Sammo Hung's The Prodigal Son.

The film's overall box office was an impressive figure, although the film went so over budget that the profit was minimal, even after foreign box office. Likewise with his future films Miracles and Operation Condor.

Wong Jing was one of the financiers and story contributors for Eternal Evil of Asia (Elvis Tsui's greatest make-up moment).

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

High Risk was originally going to be a vehicle for Jackie Chan and Jet Li (not necessarily Chan sending himself up within the context of the same story). The concept was to make a huge commercial and artistic success by having them in the same movie but when Chan turned Jing down and criticized him publicly , Jing got retribution by sending him up. So much for Jing's idea of putting 2 and 2 together.

During the year of 1995 when Jackie was recuperating from his ankle injury, Golden Harvest desperately wanted to keep him in the public eye to maintain commercial success in Hong Kong despite his injury. Hence why they should have put him in Jing's movie rather than Thunderbolt since Thunderbolt was a film made to keep Chan in the eye of the public rather than doing anything artistic or even remotely ambitious on a commercial scale. We also would have got a film more satisfactory than The Forbidden Kingdom.

A very long time ago, there was talk of teaming Jet with Jackie, Michelle and Chow Yun Fat in a remake of the 1966 Hollywood western 'The Professionals' but this did not develop into a reality. Around that time, Columbia Pictures had made overtures to Li, suggesting they co-produce a picture with Win's Film Entertainment after he had completed Once Upon a Time in China & America (that did not happen at the time).

Sammo had choreographed the knife fight between Jackie Chan and Andy Lau in Island of Fire. Jackie had choreographed his other fight scenes.

In 1993, Jackie wanted to make a three brothers film with Jet Li but ended up working on City Hunter as a result of fan request and Japanese financiers of whom Golden Harvest could not resist. One such idea was a three brothers reunion whose premise was to be an ancient Chinese swordplay take of The Three Musketeers (with Jet playing the role of the D'artagnan archetype). Willie Chan said...

"The film with Jet Li and Sammo Hung is at best an idea in Jackie's head. As you probably know, the movie market in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia has been a downward trend - with the exception of Jackie's films. Jackie feels that if he can work together with other stars like Jet Li, Stephen Chow or Chow Yun Fat, it may create new chemistry and thus help boost sales for the entire industry."

Around the time Gen Y Cops was released, Paul Rudd appeared on the Today show in the U.S. when, coincidentally, they were featuring a world tour of cities that included Hong Kong. After they did the Hong Kong piece (which featured live interviews with Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen's sister), they cut to Paul discussing his role in the then-unaired episodes of Friends. Paul felt compelled to discuss his experiences filming Gen Y Cops in H.K.

He basically made fun of the movie in a sarcastic way, for instance by stating "Gen Y Cops, which of course, was a sequel to Gen X Cops." He also mentioned "I now know what Unions are for" since he had to do all of his own stunts and the crew began smearing flame retardant gel all over his legs before filming a certain scene (with no previous warning or explanation). Needless to say, it made him nervous. He also joked about the "joy" of eating raw jellyfish while in HK. In a nutshell, he implied that he wouldn't want to work in HK any time soon!

Wong Jing was one of the financiers of Jet Li's The Hitman. Wong had proposed to Charles Heung to make a film which is based around interplay between Jet and Eric Tsang. Jing felt those two had possible chemistry that was waiting to be explored. However, the story was not written by him though nor did he direct anything.

The Caucasian martial artist Hwang Jang Lee fights at the beginning of Tower of Death is Graham Ravey. He is a 6th Dan in Goju-Ryu Karate. At one time, he left a life in England to study Karate for many years. He has a book out too. He trained with the late and great Phil Milner!

As to how he got the job, himself and some others went for the job. A man came into the room and did a sequence of moves, nobody else could do the sequence apart from Graham - he got the job! He also said that HJL was very good but wanted Graham to do things just the way he wanted them.

Tragic Hero (Rich and Famous 2) was released before Rich and Famous. This was to capitalize on Chow's stardom and not just because it was the most action packed.

Much like Around the World in 80 Days, Police Story had its own computer game which was released about the same time as the movie.

Lam Ching Ying recalls that Bruce Lee was a very righteous person and very tough. He remembers one day, when filming The Big Boss, a Thai boxer broke the arm of a stuntman. Bruce became very angry and furious. He went up to the boxer and asked him to fight with him. He ran up to him and asked: "Are you really strong to fight with me? You should control yourself and stop before making trouble. Can't you see we are in a process of shooting? How could you break his arm, have you no mercy?" Lee really persuaded to fight with this Thai Boxer. The boxer was afraid of Bruce’s fame and power and he stepped back. But Lee was really furious, he even cursed.

Lam also notes that Bruce was always (and mainly) challenged in foreign countries. He never started a fight but when he was attacked, he had to defend himself. There was a person back in Hong Kong, called Li Dachuan, who always wanted to challenge him and criticized Lee in the newspapers. Once they met face to face but Lee hid himself in a corner, in a quiet place. And that person started to stare at his feet, just his feet, and then Bruce understood that this man had no idea about Kung Fu at all. So there was only one punch. Bruce was a very kind-hearted person. Lam remembers a time when he saw an old man pushing a cart, which was too heavy for him and Bruce went up to him and helped him push it.

The scene in High Risk where Jacky Cheung is at the hotel dressed in a tuxedo top with blue jeans (and in shorts later on) is a reference to when Jackie arrived at the Penisula hotel dressed in inadequate clothing as a way of getting revenge against the manager - the sort of patronizing jerk who would have thrown out Jackie (half a year prior to the success of Drunken Master) for not adapting to the rules of the hotel that you must be appropriately dressed in proper attire (hence the joke in High Risk where the manager has a bias towards Jackie - claiming that Sammo is greater than Chan is).

Bruce Lee wrote a script for a period Kung Fu movie entitled Southern Fist/Northern Leg, the hero had been fed a steady diet of external masters, teachers and authorities. In both the scripts of The Silent Flute and SF/NL, the hero sets out in pursuit of a book, an object external to himself that he had been told had the "magic answer" he was seeking. And in both stories, after the hero passed through his trials and finally had the object of his quest within his grasp, he understood that the true answer was never in the external object; it was within himself from the very beginning.

The John Irvin directorial feature Raw Deal (starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar) was a source of inspiration for Jing when he made High Risk. If you look carefully, both of them feature the same idea of a gang of uniformed crooks (or at least somewhat similar attire) expecting the arrival of the main protagonist to arrive through the doors of the elevator at the floor they're at. They get ready to fire before noticing no one's there until they realize that the main protagonist has found an alternative method of making an entry. Even similar shots are used (i.e. POV shots of both the elevator and the crooks).

Chan Wai Man heard that many influential HK directors in the '60s were watching ‘Hawaii Five-O' and being influenced by their 20-22 frame per second fight and action scenes.

Another Bruce Lee associated project (i.e. besides Fist of Legend and Green Hornet) that Jet has been attached to was being involved in a possible TV project entitled Number One Son (as many of you may know, this was the goal that Bruce tried to attain in his famous screen test as seen in many Bruce Lee documentaries).

Seeing as how there's often confusion surrounding on how Jet Li turned down the opportunity to play Chow Yun Fat's character in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, it's best to realize that it was actually a property which Ang Lee and Jet had been discussing off-and-on for years, exchanging ideas on how this elaborate production could best be shaped and executed.

He didn't turn it down to make Romeo Must Die as he was already making the film so therefore if that was the only problem then surely Ang would have stalled the project ala Quentin Tarantino stalling Kill Bill for Uma Thurman's pregnancy scenario. But Jet's wife, HK actress Nina Li Chi (who appeared alongside Sammo Hung in Pedicab Driver and Jackie Chan in Twin Dragons), was pregnant. Back in 1989, Jet had promised her that when ever she should become pregnant with their child, he would put his career on hold to be with her throughout the pregnancy. Thus, intent on keeping his word to her, he turned down the male lead role in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Sylvester Stallone talked with Jackie about a project in which Jackie would play a drug dealer who'd have a change of heart and turn into a good guy. Jackie didn't like it. He didn't want to play a pusher on screen...even one who gets reformed. Stallone knows that Jackie has always enjoyed his movies, and that he admires him very much and, over time, they've gotten to be friends. But Jackie couldn't compromise his own values, even to work with a friend.

In Enter the Dragon, when Shek Kin was saying his lines phonetically, it was production manager Madalena Chan who was feeding him the lines as she was hidden on set. She would read a line from the script and he would answer her back by repeating the line she quoted.

The fighting arenas on Han's Island were actually tennis courts owned by a certain Mr. Lo. The land in which the tennis courts were operated on were owned by the prominent legal family "Lo & Lo" (a highly prestigious law firm who represented Bruce). If you look very carefully, you can actually see the white demarcation points of the tennis fields.

When Bruce came to shoot the sequences at the tennis courts, he managed to sit down with Mr Lo and they found out, to their surprise, that they were actually distant relatives. Upon her husband's death, Linda fired Lo & Lo and rehired Adrian Marshall, whose legal services Bruce had abruptly ended in 1972 for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained. As a significant footnote, when asked in August 1988 how long her discreet romantic relationship had gone on with Marshall, Linda replied, "about ten years."

In between takes for the sequences shot there, Bruce would goof around with members of cast and crew; during one particular occasion there had been a number of extras sitting on a stone wall which was seated above one of the entrances. One extra jumped down and asked "Bruce Lee, are you really that good?" to which Bruce retorted "Are you ready?". Before anyone could react and quicker than the eye could follow, Bruce had already kicked the extra with his blood and teeth falling out of one side of his mouth - a good example of the speed and power of Bruce Lee!

In the original script for Game of Death (that involved Bruce's sister and little brother being kidnapped by a malicious boss in order to get Lee's character to take part in the raid on the pagoda), Nora Miao was scheduled to play the role of Bruce's sister.

Another touted possible venture for Jet was the suggested union between him and Chow Yun Fat in a picture devised by producer John Strong. Set in the eighteenth century, White Dragon, budgeted at U.S. $ 45 million, would deal with rival warriors from China, Japan and Korea. That potentiality soon faded from trade paper news.

It was during the post-production of Game of Death that the inevitability of a sequel was already kicked into the spotlight, as Raymond Chow planned a follow-up to Bruce Lee's original idea of the ascending pagoda and the use of his remaining footage that he shot before his death. Perhaps it is a symbolic indication of things not going to plan or turning out as hoped, that the idea of a descending pagoda came into fruition. Finding a title was also a task: the title "Tower of Death" would only be used if the film didn't succeed in it's expected levels.

Raymond hired Seasonal Film director/producer Ng See Yuen to be the visionary behind the project seeing as how his "Midas touch" or "sixth sense" in locating talent had turned Jackie into Hong Kong's hottest property. Chow had hoped that Ng would be willing to work in unison with Golden Harvest's script, envisioning that he would work his magic into this production - which was supposed to have begun as soon as the first installment was out of theaters but it didn't. It didn't for reasons that Ng couldn't use the useful Lee scenes which were in 8 & a 1/2 blocks of footage but the many outtakes, behind the scenes footage and different camera perspectives (for some reported outdoor scenes) made them impossible to coherently arrange.

This conflicted with the script and a rewrite was ordered delaying the project for a year. Ng gave his technical thoughts for his rewrite with GH concerning a descending tower with a science fiction twist. Bruce was to appear in the first half before then being replaced by a double which would be Kim Tai Chung and Chen Yao Pao. But neither of them could be found until Hwang Jang Lee brought Kim over from Korea, although Jackie Chan was considered as an early replacement for Kim once he finished production on Fearless Hyena (so that GH could quickly secure a place for him within the studio via contractual agreements).

However, Ng wasn't particularly too fond or so crazy about the concept of using him for what was essentially the type of exploitation piece that Chan yearned to escape from - to follow in the footsteps of Bruce Lee. Chow also wasn't very crazy about Ng's work on the film - to the point of canceling any involvement with GH production units though officially Chow was still involved (if briefly) as not only did he initialize the project but he owned the copyrights too. It was at that particular moment when Seasonal Films took over the film's production unit (Chow's connection not withstanding) and the rest is history.

Although Ng took full credit in direction, Ng hired Corey Yuen Kwai to direct the alley fight scene and the fight scene that preceded it. Sammo directed miscellaneous material - various things here and there - such as the opening duel between Hwang Jang Lee and Graham Ravey, the duel between Roy and the two brothers as well as the first duel between Tang Lung and the masked valet.

Billy Chan Wui Ngai, in particular, helped out Sammo in the co-ordination of these scenes with Biao dropping by to give a few pointers. The second and final duel between Tang and the valet was designed by Yuen Da and Tsiu Siu Ming.

Yuen Woo Ping directed the underground scenes (basically, he choreographed everything after the final fight between Tang and the valet). Yuen Cheung Yan assisted Ping for these scenes, whilst the former had helped Biao for the abbot/temple scenes in terms of martial arts direction. It could be argued that the fight scenes are the best example of combining Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do with HK style choreography.

In spite of not having that same level of box office clout Jackie possessed, Jet received offers from the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino who had approached him about particular projects of theirs (Oliver Stone, ironically, had contacted Yukari Oshima at one time before she declined his offer). This was during the year of 1997 when Jet was in New York city to participate in the promotion for the American debut of Black Mask (1996) which was to be then screened at the Twentieth Asian American International Festival at the Sony Lincoln Square Theater.

[ASaroch]

Interesting what you said about Karen Mok wanting to break America. Her english is flawless and she's utterly gorgeous in a non-traditional way - she'd be wasted in Hollywood. Look at Chow Yun-Fat - I'm not sure whether Asian stars in leading roles that aren't action films will happen anytime soon. Karen would be great in a dramatic role - maybe we should do a script for one!!!

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

Agreed. Her English is superb, probably due to her having a half-Welsh father. She had an impressive education, namely studying in the United World College in Italy and the University of London specializing in Italian Literature.

We should all definitely chip in to pen a screenplay for her. Going from what I've read in your film reviews, you seem to have a highly keen understanding of narrative structure and a firm grasp of what it means to have engrossing characterization. This should make for an absorbing piece of literature.

I think Karen Mok is a great example of what it means to be genuinely riveting in looks without having to rely on make-up, fancy hair and trendy dressing. She's undeniably beauteous and she's conveyed different facets of her acting that she simply can't be pigeon-holed...yet she's not been given the chance to shine in the West.

If her personality is anything to go by, she is considerably more meaningful than most HK singers when it comes to lyricism. She never wanted to be a flower vase and was very picky when it came to choosing film roles.

What Karen says about Canto-pop:

“It's just a vicious cycle. The record companies churn out the same thing because people are used to that. They're certainly not used to churning out innovative music because they’re not willing to take the risk. So it's probably going to remain the same way for the next 50 years.”

Leslie Cheung wanted to cast her as the lead in his directorial debut because not only did he think that the role was very suitable for her but he felt that, with the exception of Fallen Angels and Viva Erotica, her performances have not created enough waves.

What Karen thinks about herself:

“I've never considered myself run of the mill. Nobody ever considered me run of the mill. I think a lot of people here think I'm not really one of them. I took off very slowly, so to speak, which I consider a good thing. I think that's the reason I have lasted so long, well it seems pretty long. I've never really had a specific plan for my career but the path I took was the right one for me. I'd hate to have been hip for two years and then forgotten. That's not what I want from being in showbiz. I want to enjoy it possibly for a few more years and, as I said, my prime is yet to come.”

Like one HK film reporter said best, Karen seems to have more strings to her bow than Robin Hood.

As for Chow Yun Fat, his best performance in the West was probably in Anna and the King. The Dragon Ball movie is a sad sign of how his versatility in Hong Kong has been ignored. He's clearly carrying the torch left over by Mako.

Speaking of ignored HK film talent, Sammo was originally going to be the fight choreographer for Star Wars Episodes 1, 2 and 3 (supposedly this was because of Moon Warriors). For a very in-depth discussion on this very matter, read this topic that I started over at the KFC site.

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

One special dream project for JC which half materialized was the Chinese equivalent to Backdraft in its lifestyle portrayal of Chinese firemen. The film ended up being Johnnie To's Lifeline. He wrote a script (first draft instead of shooting script) and met with some of the experts who helped create the Kurt Russell film with the idea of possibly enlisting their aid. He already spent several million HK $ on the film's pre-production.

He first had the idea a long time ago and when he saw Ron Howard's movie, he knew that the Chinese crew could accomplish the special effects they needed (with the confidence that it would be bigger than Backdraft). Unfathomably, just when they were ready to begin production, ATV (Hong Kong's second TV channel) made a drama series (Flame) about the firemen. So JC put the film on the back burner until Johnnie offered to make the film. Only a certain percentage of Jackie's ideas remained but he still lent a hand in financing.

Michael Winslow (the black sound effects martial artist from Police Academy) was in the film Enter the Game of Death. Despite doing a spoof of Kung Fu movies in his stand-up comedy act, Mike is very modest about this credential since he didn't want to get typecast as a martial arts actor (ditto with Sylvia Chang and Melvin Wong).

Although the Sammo tear-jerker Heart of Dragon gets compared to Rain Man, the former was more of an inspiration for Robert M. Young's 'Dominick and Eugene' (featuring Ray Liotta and Jamie Lee Curtis). Minus the action, of course, Robert's film has more in common with Sammo's than Barry Levinson's. With that said, the true HK equivalent to Rain Man was Jing's God of Gamblers.

In the Mood for Love originally began as a comedy (it inherited some ideas about food and cooking that had been developed for Wong Kar Wai's pet project "Summer in Beijing") but the director soon sensed other tones and possibilities in the material. He also began to rethink his shooting methods and decided to re-shoot the film in Bangkok than Hong Kong as there weren't any locations in contemporary HK that could pass for '60s HK.

This lead to a rift between Christopher Doyle and Wong Kar Wai as the former had been responsible for all of the original HK shoot, yet was dismayed that very little of it was used in the finished film so he left. However, a generous sampling of the original HK footage was included in one of the supplements on the DVD of In the Mood for Love (published by the Criterion Collection based in New York), it's fairly extraordinary that the film as completed could have evolved from such humble and farcical beginnings.

Most of the new film as now known was shot by the Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Lee (Li Pim-bik), with occasional fill-ins by Yu Lik-wah, Kwan Pan-leung and others. But back to Christopher Doyle, he proved to be missing from the production of '2046' in Bangkok. Doyle patched things up with Wong well enough to begin shooting 2046, but more than half of that film was eventually shot by Kwan Pan-leung or Doyle's assistant Lai Yiu-fai. The Doyle-Wai split this time seems definitive.

Doyle has written (in connection with Happy Together) that Wong's constant refrain during end of takes was "Is that the best you can give me, Chris?" - a small, needling humiliation designed to provoke him into comping up with different and better ideas for individual shots. When the In the Mood for Love reshoot began in Bangkok though, Wong suddenly found he had very clear ideas of his own about framing, lighting, colour and camera movement: the space for Doyle to contribute ideas was abruptly curtailed as Wong became, in effort, his own DP or DoP (director of photography).

Hong Kong film critic Tony Rayns' speculation is that Doyle found this abridgment of his contribution to the films intolerable, and that this was an important factor behind the split. But the real story remains to be told by Wong Kar Wai.

Back to the aforementioned Summer in Beijing, the Chinese (Mainland) authorities had reluctantly accepted that Wong's unique and improvisational working methods meant there would be no script for them to pre-approve. To everyone's dismay, his insistence of exporting his rushes to HK for editing proved to be a sticking point. The plan to shoot the film in China had been abandoned after lengthy discussions with the China Film Bureau about the shooting of the project.

Besides low wages, the reason why Rockne Tarkington turned down the role of Williams in Enter the Dragon was that he felt he was being exploited. He rang up producer Fred Weintraub before production commenced about his absence from the picture, hence the casting of Jim Kelly. To find pictures of him, do a search over at Movie Goods. For Jim Kelly trivia coinciding with Enter the Dragon, go here. Ironically, both Rockne and Jim appeared in the film Melinda.

High Risk was slightly over two hours long but because the film's star power wasn't akin to the God of Gamblers films, Jing was forced to cut scenes. With the exception of scenes which lampooned Jackie Chan, there were scenes which highlights the extent of the relationship between Jet and Jacky. Jet is depicted as being, not only his bodyguard and stunt double, but also his confidante and friend.

One scene simultaneously lampooned Jackie's singing career and the closing outtake credit sequence of his films. It was in this scene that there were cross references to both the singing careers of Chan and Cheung. One scene parodied his failed attempt at cracking the American market.

A scene involving Jet and Chingmy Yau at the police station (not to be confused with the ending) was removed along with a bonding scene between Jet and Jacky where the latter is shocked to learn about Jet's past.

A scene where Jacky is in his bed with Jet looking over as he shows his concern was excised. Jacky looks down (presumably at his manhood) in a panicky state. The last two scenes have Jacky with a plaster on his nose, which highlights another deleted scene where Wong Jing points out the fact that Jackie Chan always injures his nose.

What John Saxon says about Enter the Dragon: "I just regarded it as a job, but I'm glad I did it. I got to know Bruce very well: He was a martial artist first, and an actor second, and I was the other way around, so we didn't get in each other's hair". He's bored of doing horror films as they don't interest him a great deal anymore. He feels he needs and wants that something new. Naturally, therefore, he penned a screenplay and hooked up with the website Screenwriters' Network to produce that something 'new'. "I can't wait", he chuckles - "I didn't spend all of my money."

Despite the connection that they're both friends and that they have worn similar garb in one of their earlier movies (as indicated in an old DDUK topic), Sly and JC share two other things in common i.e. both of them became stars via films where they played underdog characters whose slightly dim-witted personas make good and after the successes of those films, one of their own previous films had been released that had been re-edited. In Jackie's case, a dodgy Kung Fu flick named Little Tiger of Canton retitled Master with Cracked Fingers; whereas in Sly's case it was a dodgy porn flick named The Party at Kitty & Stud's (a.k.a. White Fire) which was retitled The Italian Stallion.

Another film Sly had offered Jackie was Demolition Man. He wanted Jackie to play Wesley's part - a supervillain running loose in the far future, chased by Supercop Sly but he didn't feel right about that role either. So the two people Jackie wanted to work with, and couldn't, ended up working with each other. Later he did Burn Hollywood Burn: An Alan Smithee Film which had Sly in the film. Chan's first inclination was to turn down the film, until Sly intervened and persuaded him to accept.

As Jet alluded to in the commentary for Kiss of the Dragon, there had been scenes that couldn't be shot due to time constraints (i.e. he was meant to fight a lot more guys when he enters the reception of the French police station before entering another room {target practice} where he encounters several shootists until eventually going to the dojo). There had also been footage taken out (as seen in the trailer for the film), surprisingly the majority of footage taken out was the first attempt at doing the finale.

While halfway through the six days allocated to shooting the complexly structured finale, Jet and his associates rethought the choreography of the interaction and reshot it.

Besides this, the filmmakers took out a bunch of interstitial scenes that didn't necessarily add a ton to the overall effect of the movie - like in the hotel where you see Richard shooting in the hotel room at Liu Jiuan but Liu disappears. Originally they had a bunch of footage of him hiding behind the couch and other furniture, but they took that out to reduce the running time. Plus, I kinda like the effect they ended up with. It seems like Jet's character is more "stealthy" this way. If you saw how he gets out of the room, then it wouldn't be quite as impressive.

Seeing as how he appeared in the same film alongside a Bond girl, coincidentally another Bond cast member can be found in another Bruce Le production - in the form of Harold 'Oddjob' Sakata in Eye of the Dragon (a.k.a. Ninja Strikes Back), which featured elements from the James Bond films.

Another JC film that's unlikely to be made is one where he was set to play a character who is an ex-member of the Chinese national gymnastic team who was forced to retire, due to an injury. Despite all hardship, he competes in a triathlon-like 'Iron Giant Challenge' to win the prize money, which is needed by his friend Minako, who was (rumoured) to be played by pop idol Gigi Leung (from Jet Li's Hitman). It was to be called The Giant and it was to be lensed in Japan and Shanghai.

Originally, Jackie was not set to star in Gorgeous. The script for Gorgeous was not written with him in mind, he was just going to act as producer. Originally, Taiwanese singer Sherry Cheng and another young male singer were to play the leads. However, newcomer Cheng said she would feel more confident if Chan took the lead. "My first reaction was 'Crazy! It's a drama.' So we left it." Jackie revealed.

Eventually, Jackie became more intrigued by the developing script. By the time he was ready to film, Cheng's tour schedule made it impossible to take the role and Shu Qi stepped in. Gorgeous had a long kissing scene that was filmed but it ended up being on the cutting room floor. It would have stayed there, had director Vincent Kok Tak Chiu not suggested it be used in the music video for the film's theme song (by William So and Kit Chan).

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

Originally Stuart Baird was set to direct Romeo Must Die but he dropped out and Andrzej Bartkowiak (who had served as cinematographer on Lethal Weapon 4) was signed to make his feature film directing debut.

Andrew Lau was the cameraman for Yuen Biao's famous cartwheel stunt in Millionaire's Express.

In Mr. Nice Guy, Jackie originally had a skirmish with the blond haired thug in Norton's mansion but it was removed from the final print. Chances of seeing it remain slim since the film's rights are owned by New Line Cinema who aren't exactly going to release a director's cut anytime soon.

Besides trying to gain American citizenship, Jet had gone to America in the late '80s to find his fortunes there as an actor. Li thought his chances might be better in the United States since he was younger (by 9 years) than Jackie Chan; also he was constantly being told that, because his martial arts style was purer and more invigorating than what Chan had to offer his film-going public, he would be more impressive to American moviegoers.

Jet's sparse command of English vocabulary and Hollywood's bias towards casting Asian-Americans in lead roles in mainstream productions had forced Jet to make Dragon Fight with Stephen Chow as he waited for Hollywood to show any interest in him. Much more like Bruce Lee, Jet Li and his wife (Huang Quiyan who had been in Shaolin Temple 2 and 3) ran martial arts classes during his stay in the U.S. when no movie-making was happening for him. He also earnestly promoted the Wushu competition that was to be a part of the Asian Sports convention (which was to be held in Beijing in 1990).

In regards to the 1989 classic Outlaw Brothers, Oshima's "close personal relationship" with the director (Frankie Chan) apparently allowed her to boost her role and shrink Nishiwaki's. The pair have been playing bitch wars ever since. This is comparable to what happened with Conan Lee in Philip Ko's Fury in Red where the latter had his character killed off (stunt double gets blown up in a car) due to friction between the two.

During the making of A Man Called Hero, British stuntman Jude Poyer said he had a copy of Incredible Kung Fu Mission with him while sitting with Ken Lo. Ken said that John Liu's kicks lack power that Liu's master, Tan Tao Liang, had. Biao backed that statement up by saying he studied with Dorian Tan. Jude explains:

"VCDs are even cheaper here in Suzhou than in Shanghai. Relieving the boredom found here in our out-of-the-way hotel was well worth the taxi ride into the town centre. Walking through the lobby wet from rain and heavy laden with shopping, I see Biao, Ken, Tsui and Chi-Hung sitting at a table with a near-empty bottle of red. They call me over and we finish off the wine and examine my buys. Biao isn’t sure whether to be impressed by my purchase of a pirate copy of Painted Faces, a dramatization of his childhood with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung."

Jude continues...

"The VCD isn’t available in Hong Kong" I offer. Ken Lo picks up my copy of Incredible Kung Fu Mission and dismisses the kicks of rubbery John Liu as lacking power. "His Sifu, Tan Tao Liang was good though," say I. "Tan was my Sifu for kicking too" smiles Biao. "Brother Biao" pipes up Elvis Tsui (who, now loosened by the wine’s effects bares a closer resemblance to the Tsui that Jude had seen on screen); "Your kicks are great."

Mission: Impossible 2 was originally 3 and a half hours long. The film had been cut not only due to the studio execs not wanting to exceed suitable theatrical length but because the film's action sequences were considerably more violent. Bullet in the Head is another film of Woo's which had a similar length. In fact, there's a subtle reference to Woo's masterpiece in the scene where Nyah guides Ethan's gun-held hand to her heart in a bid to rid herself of biological pain. Woo even went so far to have a bike joust as an honourable way to pay tribute to the film. In doing so, Woo was also hoping to gain enough interest for an American DVD release of the film.

In 'M:I 2' John Woo referenced another classic Hong Kong film - In the Line of Duty 4. The reference is the scene where Luther finds out that a bomb is underneath his vehicle by looking at a puddle reflection.

In the late '90s, Jet turned down an offer to co-star on screen with Jean Claude Van Damme (Tsui Hark's Knock Off).

In the same period, Miramax Pictures (after acquiring the worldwide rights to six of Jet's Hong Kong-made features to be redubbed and edited for the English language market) expressed real interest in working with Jet on new projects (that would occur eventually with the productions of Hero, Green Hornet and a contractual commitment for Jet's dream project of a Tibetan monk who wins a trip to Manhattan and brings harmony to a tough neighbourhood). This is ironic seeing as how it was reported that originally Tarantino had a hard time convincing Miramax to fund a project that would co-exist between YWP & JL.

In Miracles, the arrival and departure scenes of the daughter were shot back to back on the docks of Tsim Sha Tsui. The nightclub set, which was built on the backlot of Golden Harvest, was re-used for the nightclub scene in the movie "She Shoots Straight". The rope factory was built in the main studio of GH, this is the main studio used for the final fight in Drunken Master 2.

With the large assortments of hats the men used on the set, it wasn't uncommon for the extras to wear someone else's hat. But, if anyone was to accidentally put on Jackie's hat, they would instantly know. Apparently, Jackie's hat size is 1/2 a size larger than the average man (hence his birth nickname Cannonball). So if the unknowing person put on Jackie's hat, he would find that the hat would fall over his eyes.

Eleanor particularly liked "Miracles", which she recognized as a modern take on Frank Capra/Damon Runyon, and this pleased Jackie when he heard about it. During a reshoot for Rush Hour, Jackie took the time between takes (and at the end of the day) to make a videotape for Eleanor in which he went into detail explaining how hard he had worked on Miracles. He told her that Buster was one of his teachers, and even going so far as to do an imitation of Buster from "The General." For part of the taping, Jackie was sucking on a throat lozenge. In a moment straight out of the movies, Eleanor, watching the tape later, asked what the heck he was chewing on. At almost the same time on tape, Jackie realized what he was doing and apologized for chewing. Eleanor laughed.

Eleanor thought that Jackie's cheerful spirit of creativity was strongly evocative of the early days of silent comedy, when honesty, subtlety and pure exhilaration of movie-making were at their peak. She also thought Jackie was cute. There were many times that Jackie reminded her of Buster on film. Eleanor was enthusiastic about the way Jackie would use the kernel of an idea from Buster's repertoire, then enlarge and expand upon it, making it his own. Buster often did the same thing himself. The aforementioned idea utilized in Project A 2 was done in several varying forms of Buster's films: Backstage (1919), One Week (1920), The Blacksmith (1922) and Steamboat Bill Jr. (1927).

On the U.S. DVD version of The Victim, it is stated on the audio commentary (by Bobby Samuels and Ric Meyers) that this was actually Sammo's directorial debut. This has an air of credence to it for a variety of reasons. Bobby has worked with Sammo (as you may have seen in films such as Gambling Ghost and Don't Give a Damn) and lived with him for several years, so therefore there is a lot of credibility given towards this factoid thereby making it plausible.

Of particular note is that in the beginning, Sammo looks quite similar to the way he did in Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog (in regards to his hair style, hair colour, girth and clothing) hence this film was made in 1977. Iron Fisted Monk was only labeled his initial directorial effort due to the film being his first film as director for Golden Harvest as well as his first released (The Victim was released in 1980 where Sammo's popularity had escalated hence the confusion).

Another thing to be considered is that the production company for The Victim is Graffon Film Co. (it would seem very unlikely for The Victim to be made during Sammo's prolific and extensive time when he was working on productions made either by Gar Bo Productions or Golden Harvest). This may seem unlikely considering the quality of the action sequences are years ahead of what he would do later on in that same genre and era, but that's because the context of the story allowed Sammo to film such scenes (as well as the action directors he worked with).

Apart from Chow Yun Fat and Terence Chang, the one person who Woo seems to get along with the most is Philip Kwok which is unsurprising given the fact that they both had the same teacher - Chang Cheh. Woo was so impressed with Kwok's work on Once a Thief and Hard Boiled, he called him back to work on Hard Target. He was scheduled to go and be his stunt co-ordinator but there was a problem with the stunt union saying that since he was a non union guy, he couldn't get work on the picture.

Though ironically (regardless of a similar title), many of the action bits from Hard Boiled are reused (for those who care to analyze them) such as two opponents, on opposite sides of a wall, trying to shoot each other as they run along each side in the same direction. More trivia concerning the films of John Woo can be found within the reviews of Woo's films by Neil Koch.

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

Game of Death trivia:

While filming their scene, the Korean (Ji Han Jae a.k.a. Chi Hon Joi) had a rigourous enough time of it to comment that he did not want to act in any more movies with Bruce Lee . Bruce got so fed up that he considered using an alternative Hapkido exponent, either Angela Mao (of whom proved herself by that time due to her work with Sammo on Hapkido) or Whang Inn Sik (who shot his scenes in Hapkido back-to-back with those from Way of the Dragon).

It was upon seeing the latter two Hapkido exponents in those martial arts movies that Bruce realized how turgid and, dare I say it, geriatric Chi was as an on-screen fighter.

Bruce wanted to film the Taekwondo floor before the Inosanto one but both Whang and Sammo were in Korea (they were filming Hapkido and When Taekwondo Strikes back to back). Bruce got angry towards Sammo until he realized that Sammo was bound to contractual agreement as opposed to snubbing Bruce out of fledgling interest. They quickly made up and Sammo received the privilege of fighting Lee at the beginning of Enter the Dragon.

As an interesting side-note, before Sammo went to Korea to work on Hapkido, him and Bruce had a discussion on martial arts in one of the hallways of the GH studio. Both decided to have a friendly challenge match which resulted in a draw.

In hindsight of Bruce's script notes that were filmed for his version of Game of Death, it's easy to see how he re-wrote it to work regardless of who was the Hapkido practitioner i.e. the complex, universal and multi-layered symbolism (that Bruce Lee intended) works regardless of gender.

For example, the combination of the red light (think of The Police/Sting song Roxanne) and the bed on the third floor indicating the fact that Angela is a hooker. Furthermore, considering the idea of the finale being a prolonged fight sequence hence why the tired assistants may feel tempted to rest or (in Angela's case) indulge in sexual gratification (especially if they won and used her as a sex slave to warm up before the brawl with Kareem).

Picture this, the old adage "if you can't beat them, join them" springs to mind when we see the three remaining protagonists enter the fray and notice the female Hapkido expert rise from the bed. Also, seeing Bruce and James frown upon Chieh in a patronizing shameful manner implies that not only is Chieh Yuan too stiff with his tradition but he just got hit by a woman. Of course, if you read further into it, seeing Chieh Yuan and James Tien run up the stairs suggests that they don't see why they should wait around and be beat around because of a woman thus their early demise - highlighting that man's ability to overcome bias against sex is their own downfall.

The final message behind Game of Death:

A lot of people tend to be disappointed that Bruce didn't climb proceed to the top of the pagoda to get the treasure. In Bruce's scripts for TSF and SF/NL, when the hero finally overcomes his tests and arrives at his goal, he rejects it and leaves, having obtained internally the insight of what is truly valuable: life itself, a treasure of far greater value than the one he was pursuing. Similarly, in the final footage that Lee shot for Game of Death, when the hero finally overcomes the last obstacle to his goal, instead of climbing the final set of stairs to retrieve the prize - he no longer pursues it.

Something about his trial caused him to become awakened to a higher truth. He turns and descends the stairs, exiting the pagoda to return to the world, an enlightened and wiser human being. Another interpretation is that often the object you are pursuing is not as important as you think it is; however, the journey is worth taking, the energy is worth expending, because during the course of your quest you just may catch a glimpse of something of far greater worth than the task at hand.

The external quest for which you are striving is not the meaning of your life; you are not your job, you are not your bank account, you are not your trophies. The quest to discover your true self is, ultimately, the greatest adventure in which you can take part and the most fulfilling one in all of life. Prestige (money), position (fame), standing (status), honour - these are not the important things. They hold no intrinsic worth. Seeking those things is significant only if they present you with an opportunity to take part in your own hero's journey and to realize what is and is not truly important.

In Game of Death, the treasure at the top of the pagoda proved to be, in the final analysis, only one more of life's distractions. The real treasure lay within the soul of Lee's character. The point being: are you going to be distracted all your life or are you going to live your life fully in the moment? Whatever you think is so great in the future pales in comparison with what is so great right now, just as you are. The secret that some people never get is that it doesn't matter what's at the top of the "pagoda".

If you are disappointed that Bruce Lee's character didn't proceed to the top of the pagoda to get the treasure, you needn't be, because he understood what's at the top of every pagoda: enlightenment. And so the deeper meaning of Game of Death is the eternal conflict of ascending in one's own consciousness. And the metaphor that Bruce utilizes to convey this message is the notion of styles in the martial arts. The final level of the pagoda can be seen to represent man's greatest obstacle: his ego or excessive sense of self-consciousness, which is what causes suffering and fear - the one thing separating man from connecting in a deeper sense with the rest of the world.

This lesson...being fully alive in the moment...is the real treasure the hero had been seeking all along, but it had taken a physical, bodily pursuit to awaken this realization. As Lee once told his student Daniel Lee, "What man has to get over is the consciousness of himself." This was actually the same lesson he would discuss with the wise old monk in Enter the Dragon when he said, "There is no opponent because the word I does not exist."

Tower of Death trivia:

The completion of the acting scenes were extremely difficult since the actor who plays the Lo brothers spoke very little Cantonese aside from his Korean. Prompting him to receive a great deal of translation from Hwang. It even leaves gaps in the movie since Kim Tai Jung speaks little and looks like as if he is really concentrating on his lines.

The film was very successful. It was more successful than the first film which made HK$ 3,436,169 and it was a huge hit in Japan. Internationally, the film had made more than three times its cost so that speaks volumes about this its success. To everyone's dismay, producer Chow was still disappointed.

Raymond had one of the best years of GH with the box office profits of JC and SH. During the 3 years it took to get the film made and released, Jackie had made a record-breaking HK$ 10 million with The Young Master and Sammo's Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind made total gross of HK$ 5 million within the space of a week.

With this movie being his project, he wanted the best. He determined that Tower would be released as Game of Death 2 in the states. He also edited in the greenhouse fight from the Chinese version of the first film because he felt that the film didn't capitalize enough with the Bruce Lee scenes and intended to add even more than what's seen in the finished product, until Ng See Yuen refused any more footage to be added - leaving his name to be dropped in some versions where Corey is the only listed director.

Many incidents happened as carriers flourished or halted as there was no more communication between the two aforementioned studios. However, Ping and Kwai (who were contractually obligated to Ng's Seasonal Films) caught Chow's eye thereby money was given to them by Chow for productions over the following years.

For instance, Kwai would work on Righting Wrongs, Yes, Madam! and Blonde Fury. Ping would work on the Tiger Cage films, In the Line of Duty 4 and Once Upon a Time in China 1 & 2. On the other side of the coin, Yuen Biao and Tsiu Siu Ming were already contracted with GH.

On further note, Hwang Jang Lee's character's name is Moshikawa (as was spoken on the set) as opposed to Jim Koo/Chin Ku/Jin Ku. In regards to the swastika on the coffin....

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

There have been several various edits of Tower of Death (in some cases, I may refer to Billy Lo's {or Bobby's} character as Lee since he is a different character in the Asian prints):

* Japanese version - A totally different movie. The beginning has Lee teaching a Jeet Kune Do class while he is challenged by Hwang Jang Lee from phone. After numerous attempts at Lee, he flies to Korea and enters the pagoda. Reportedly, this has numerous outdoor scenes - whether this is the missing footage of the 'real' Bruce Lee or the footage he shot remains unclear.

* South Eastern Asian Version - This premiered in certain parts of the Philippines and Korea. It has the same description as the Japanese version, only there is claimed to be more fight scenes in, and actual Lee footage with the actors in the same frame.

* Korean version - This version of the movie removes the Bruceploitation factor (i.e. the clips of Bruce Lee) and just plays it as a straight-up independent Kung Fu flick. There is a much more longer demonstration of Hwang Jang Lee practicing his martial arts skills in the beginning. There is a new scene involving Lee reading a newspaper concerning Hwang's death (this isn't meant to be the same scene which used Enter the Dragon in the regular version). In the finale, as Tang Lung is about to find the elevator, he steals and uses a pair of nunchaku against a guard. This version can be bought here.

* Hong Kong version - This might not apply to all Hong Kong prints. This version, which may be relegated to a few prints, is almost the same as the UK VHS release except the night club scene where Lee talks to Hwang's illegitimate daughter is extended, using outtakes (possibly more) from Enter the Dragon of Lee talking to the dart lady in Han's guestroom.

The flashbacks at the end of Lee practicing his Jeet Kune Do are longer and so is the Tang vs. Hwang brawl , with more acrobatics from Yuen Biao and, even, Yuen Wah. The theme music plays throughout the entire final fight. Halfway through the film, there are alternate versions of the fights. Plus, there's more footage of Lee looking in different rooms and his garden, more abbot footage as well as more scenes featuring Hwang's daughter (i.e. the actual woman who played her rather than just the Enter the Dragon footage).

* U.S. Game of Death 2 version - The disclaimer is the same as the above (i.e. it might not apply to the DVD prints e.g. the 20th Century Fox release). Instead of the above, Lee's face from Way of the Dragon is shown instead of the Enter the Dragon scenes in the beginning. The abbot scene is condensed to only the stationary Roy Chiao scenes, with Way of the Dragon outtakes (only the ones that specifically reveal Bruce Lee's face) and a redubbed version of a black & white movie featuring a young Bruce.

The scenes featuring Lee searching his brother's apartment and crying are deleted in turn of the greenhouse scuffle from the Hong Kong print of Game of Death. The meeting with Hwang's daughter is condensed to the Way of the Dragon indoor facial shots of Lee and one scene not shown in the HK print of Tower of Death that has Lee sitting down on a couch. The drawback here is that Lee's actual yells are not dubbed in, but the soundtrack is edited in the correct scenes, a problem the HK version has.

* Spanish version "Towel Del Muerte" - This version is much different than the previous two, since all the above-stated Enter the Dragon footage are censored, with the footage of the abbot, apartment search, crying scene and Casanova fight removed. Instead, the outdoor fight scenes from Way of the Dragon are edited in and the unreleased mirror scenes from Enter the Dragon are used as flashbacks.

Corey had directed the fight in King of the Kickboxers where Keith Cooke takes on the bandits (as well as the scene which precedes it where Loren takes on the bandits who are harassing Keith).

When making The Master, not only had Jet and Tsui Hark utilized as much money as they could from their own pockets but they also managed to scrape cash from Shuki-Levy productions - the people behind the 'Power Rangers' franchise. It was hoped that it might find mainstream distribution in the action movie marketplace.

Like what had been rumored about the alleged tension between Jackie and Benny for Wheels on Meals (which was just a way to create publicity), there was a perception of unease from on-lookers between Jet and lead villain Jerry Trimble.

Yuen Wah mentioned that during their fight, Trimble did something wrong and apologized to Jet (who couldn't speak English at the time) but he didn't reply. Trimble was confused by that before realizing that it was due to language barriers.

For another matter, during production Li broke his right wrist. Thus he could not use that arm for certain martial arts routines in this picture as he clashes with Johnny (Jerry's character) and his thugs. It took a lot of creativity to find ways for the hero to fight his adversaries one-handed, often with the injured limb positioned behind his back or leaning on some prop (at one time the camera focused on Jet's leg work and stayed away from his immobile arm).

In some scenes shot after his injury, Li wore a zipper jacket whose right sleeve was pulled way down over his hand to hide his cast (it gave his star a very lopsided look in these sequences such as the chase sequence near the beginning). Li has described, with tremendous understatement, the effect of his mishap on this production which displayed few interesting stunt interludes: "It was a terrible inconvenience caused by a not so simple injury."

During his three months in the U.S. to make The Master, Tsui was not only disappointed by the production crew assembled for the project but he made several discoveries about his new leading man...

"I found out there's a lot of things he doesn't do, doesn't like to do, he likes to do."

The director summed up the situation:

"I was thinking about something and it didn't work out - the casting, the story, everything...I thought it was supposed to be a comedy but...Jet doesn't act in the way I expect him to act. And that's something that I realized in the middle of production. I found that it didn't work."

The fight scene between Jean Claude Van Damme and Mike Miller (Australian TKD / stunt maestro) in Knock Off was much more longer. They shot one hell of a hardcore intricate fight scene between the two of them, with both taking some major knocks during the shooting. The fight was not a kick fest which was a pity for Mike as the guy can kick...but a very cool intricate fight scene that was then the lead in to the Jeff Wolfe fight scene with Jean Claude, where Jeff got to let loose with his kicks to full effect.

The frustrating thing is that clips from the shooting of both of these fight scenes showing actions cut from the film were used in a "Making of" that screened once on HK TV before its cinema release. The Blonde Fury herself Kim Maree Penn (who plays one of the CIA agents) was also scheduled to let loose in a fight scene but drastic changes to the shooting script, deleted scenes and then gratuitous editing to the action that was shot took away the majority of the film's thunder.

Someday, hopefully someone at MDP Worldwide will be persuaded to release the lost footage and perhaps ala "Highlander 2", we'll get a revised "Renegade Edition" of the film that finally does it justice.

Mike Leeder got a glimpse at the original script for Hark's cinematic oddity. Jet was to be an undercover Mainland Chinese secret agent teaming up with rogue CIA agent JCVD. If you have a problem with the released version then imagine a film that was originally supposed to end with our heroes escaping a raging inferno by tying their jeans together to make a rope ladder, while the bad guys attempting to do the same, tumble to their deaths when their "knock off" jeans come undone.

Our heroes then traverse an underground tunnel leading from Macau to Hong Kong, only to emerge in the midst of a parade and shake hands with Prince Charles as he officiates the handover. Li jumped ship, to be replaced by Michael Wong and the script underwent major rewrites that promised a lot. The first half of the film does offer some great ideas, weird camerawork and some nice visual touches to present a very different Van Damme movie and view of HK.

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

Serafim Karalexis was one of the first guys to start distributing Kung Fu movies in the U.S.

Serafim told this real funny story about how he and his partners freaked out when 5 Fingers of Death opened in the states and did blockbuster business everywhere it played. They were like "We got to get a hold of one of these pictures!!" They had absolutely no clue what to do or where to go. "Red China?" one of the partners thought. Sensing a good thing, Serafim literally got on the next plane to HK and within less than 24 hours after first seeing "5 Fingers of Death", he was having a meeting with Runme Shaw discussing distribution.

When he landed in HK he just called around and asked who 'in town' made motion pictures! He was that clueless. After finding the Shaw Brothers in the phone book (!), he called up to the studio and basically said, "Hi. I'm Serafim Karalexis. I'm a distributor from the U.S. here to buy films. Please have a limo pick me up and take me to your studios!"

And they sent one!! What audacity, sheer verve, this guy had. To make an even longer story shorter, he ends up releasing "The Duel of the Iron Fist" in the U.S. and it makes him & his partners a ton of money. Snake in the Eagle's Shadow was one (if not the last) of the martial arts pictures he imported.

In regards to Tomorrow Never Dies, there was another experienced HKer who worked on the film's production: Chi Wah Ling. Chi worked on the stunts arranged in the HK segment of the film, along with working as...

(1) One of the action directors for Jet Li's Hitman.

(2) One of the action directors for Jet Li's Black Mask.

(3) One of the martial arts choreographers for Lethal Weapon 4 (Huan Chiu Ku, who was one of the martial arts choreographers for this, assisted Chi for the action scenes in Hitman coincidentally enough).

(4) One of the fight choreographers (alongside Corey Yuen Kwai) for X Men.

...and...

(5) A wire specialist for Romeo Must Die.

Chi was also in the Godfrey Ho directed Angels rip-off 'Angel Enforcers' which had Mark Houghton in it.

There was a scene in Jackie's Who am I? where he wanted to make a point about how there's good and bad in every race. The scene was on the lines of “Why do Chinese have to fight Chinese? ” but then Jackie had to cut that scene out. Why? Because the movie was too long. In spite of this, he said that he would put it into one of his other movies with the hope that the Chinese government will see it; or as Jackie put it: "That means, China don’t fight Taipei; Taipei don’t fight China. That’s my philosophy." Jackie went on to say...

"Then, of course, I put in a little comedy. I don’t want to always say political things. I put a little politics in and then I put in a little comedy. That’s why when the bad guy is fighting me, I say, "Come on, why Chinese have to fight Chinese?" Then he says, “No, I don’t hold a Chinese passport! ” Then he starts fighting with me. Then, when I start to beat him up, he says, “No, no, no. I’m Chinese.” And I say, “Now you say that you’re Chinese! ”

Stoner was originally titled "The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss" and was to co-star Bruce Lee alongside George Lazenby. Unfortunately, Lee died about two weeks before filming was set to begin.

George signed on for the film and two others at a pay rate of $10,000 U.S. per film. This was a very large pay cut from his normal film salary. He took such a big pay-cut because Bruce was originally supposed to co-star in the film and it was to have a large budget and was going to be distributed by Warner Brothers worldwide. Lazenby had been signed and paid by Lee in Hong Kong just two weeks before Lee died.

It was Lazenby's belief that by agreeing to co-star in Lee's next three film projects that Lee would help his career which was on the slide after he quit the part of James Bond. Therefore he agreed to make the films for less money. Lee wanted Lazenby in the films because of him previously being Bond. When Bruce died, George was bound to his contract for three films, which all ended up being cheaply made and not given a U.S. release. Lazenby also could not demand any more money for the roles.

Before Bruce died, the original marketing and tagline of the film was going to be "It's Lee, It's Lazenby, It's Bruce vs. Bond".

The film was set to be a very large budget production with a U.S. release.

Actually, the film was originally intended to be the largest budgeted martial arts/Hong Kong made film of all time (making Enter the Dragon look meagre) and to have a wide international release, including a U.S. release. However, when Lee died suddenly, the film's budget was significantly scaled back and it was given a suffocatingly limited release, which did not even include Europe or Australia!

During filming George suffered an allergic reaction to the shampoo at his hotel and as a result he got the condition 'Alopecia areata', which caused his hair to fall out.

In '82, a JC fan was able to see Snake in the Eagle's Shadow at age 10 because the distributor, Serafim Karalexis, asked for a 'PG' rating. The movie was a hit in the U.S. in '82. If the distributor insists on a 'PG' they'll get it but most go for the 'R' because they perceive that action fans think 'PG' means no violence. Back in the '70s, every Kung Fu movie got an 'R' rating. Even the goofy Bruce Liang comedy flicks. Every Liu Chia Liang movie, Way of the Dragon and the heavily cut bloodless Street Fighter. This fan found it a real nuisance to be a young kid in the early '80s as it meant being unable to attend the latest Shaw movies at the Grindhouse theater because of that pesky R rating.

One fan in particular has a really old worn out VHS copy of Jackie's first hit movie which he recalls having a longer intro to the movie compared to other many other versions that he's seen. In this version, the movie opens with a camera shot of hills, with a voice-over talking about the history of the rivalry between the Snake school and the Eagle's Claw Fist school. After which you see the shot of the snake fist master running and coming across Hwang Jang Lee. The regular version starts with this shot.

When the film was initially released in America (as Eagle's Shadow) they changed Hwang's name to Juan so that the film could appeal to the Hispanic demographic as can be seen in this poster. This was artwork courtesy of Neal Adams. To see a list of his work, go here.

The American version contains a slightly different soundtrack to the HKL version. The whole movie had a completely different score and it was much better than the general version's score. It has like a Space Invader-type of music then, for the other parts, it has a very like soft Oriental feel to it. Some of the music you hear in the Snake in the Eagle's Shadow can be heard in The Eagle's Shadow but within different parts of the scenes.

When Jackie trains with Simon, there's a significantly cool training montage music which is completely different from the typical version. The use of piano accentuates the scene splendidly well. The French dubbed version has a much cleaner sounding version of this tune also (the HKL also has it on the English track but with worse sound).

It's also featured on the DVD of Drunken Tai Chi (at least the Eastern Heroes release has this tune) when they are doing the Yin and Yang basketball training. Speaking of which, I found Drunken Tai Chi to be of superior entertainment value versus Snake in the Eagle's Shadow. Donnie Yen's debut is vastly more distinctive even if it lacks the in-depth bond between master and student of which made Jackie's first hit superb.

As some of you may or may not know, Stephen Chow can't require citizenship in Canada. This is due to allegations of "Triad connections", the main reason for this is that a lot of Hong Kong drug dealers often use entertainers as carriers, since they travel frequently and are usually accorded special treatment by foreign customs officials. The Canadian government in particular has started taking a much closer look at entertainers who fly in regularly from Hong Kong precisely for that reason.

If you remember, Charles Heung was involved in the production of God of Gamblers 2 and 3 so because of mentions of him being linked with the Triads (due to his father being a godfather and his brother being renowned for his notoriety), this prompted the authorities to think likewise with Chow. Here is a report on the appeal hearing.

A long time ago, it was once believed by some that Wellson Chin (the director of the Inspector Wears Skirts series) was actually a pseudonym used by Jackie (who produced the first two films of said series and Naughty Boys - another film by Chin). What originally gave this belief credence is that during the time of said theory, the only other film Chin was attached to as director was another Cynthia Rothrock film called Prince of the Sun.

So why would people assume that Jackie would feel the need to resort to deception? Perhaps to avoid the inevitable scrutiny that follows any film he's creatively associated with. Although Jackie has earned fame and fortune with his stunt-oriented film persona, he has never been able to earn respect as a director the same way, say, Sammo has. By keeping his involvement quiet, he would have more room to experiment without people looking over his shoulder.

This theory was dropped when Wellson had done a variety of films as director which Jackie couldn't have done due to the latter's schedule. The Tsui Hark produced The Era of Vampire (a.k.a. Vampire Hunters) which was directed by Wellson is a good example.

[JOSEPH_KUBY]

The making of American Shaolin....

Story:

The story had been floating around in Keith Strandberg's head for some time, and when Seasonal was discussing the follow up movie to the very successful The King of the Kickboxers, the idea of doing a movie about a young American who goes to the Shaolin Temple was brought up. From their perspective, it fit perfectly with the goal of making a movie that would appeal to a large audience, and the decision was made to start on the script.

Strandberg, who is actually a black belt martial artist and a scholar on Chinese history and contemporary culture, was particularly suited for the writing of the American Shaolin script. As a result of his martial arts background, he already knew a great deal about the Shaolin Temple, and his familiarity with China, along with his fluency in written and spoken Mandarin, would come in handy while writing the script, and later when producing the movie.

Strandberg and executive producer Ng See Yuen spent many hours in Los Angeles going over the idea, mapping out the plot line, adding and discarding scenes to make the picture the best it could be. When the outline for the picture was done, Strandberg returned to Amish Country, PA to write the screenplay. "I love living in Lancaster County, because it's so quiet and removed from anything else, I can really concentrate. It was a little weird to be working on a movie based in China while watching Amish buggies go by on the road," Strandberg admits. "I've been to China so many times that I knew the tone and atmosphere I was looking for."

American Shaolin meant a lot to Strandberg because of his martial arts background and the debt he feels he owed to the arts. "I was able to work through a lot of tough situations because of the martial arts," he says. "American Shaolin is one way of showing my gratitude by writing and producing a movie that shows the positive aspects of the martial arts. Too many movies nowadays are just one fight scene after another, and they give the arts a bad name."

"American Shaolin offers a very positive message to all ages about discipline and taking responsibility for one's own life. Drew Carson, the lead character, is a mixed up kid, who needs the discipline and challenges built into the martial arts," Strandberg continues. "He finds all he needs at the Shaolin Temple and with the training, and he succeeds. He becomes a complete person, someone in charge of his life, and the lessons he learns along the way will have meaning for the audience."

Strandberg is proud of his past movies but feels that "American Shaolin" was definitely in the right direction for Seasonal, as well as for martial arts movies in particular. "The audience for American Shaolin is very broad. I think anyone from age 4 to age 80 will be able to get something out of this movie," he says. "The positive message will get out much more effectively in a movie like this than in a picture that is rated R, and just shows violence and action."

Casting:

The first step to realizing the American Shaolin dream was the casting of the lead character, Drew Carson. The character is not an easy one, because he has to go from confident youngster to a humiliated loser to a fish out of water to a struggling fighting monk-in-training to a successful Shaolin monk. It would require a combination that is increasingly hard to find: a martial artist who is also an accomplished actor, or an accomplished actor who is also a martial artist.

And not just any old martial artist, either. Almost all the roles in the movie required, to some degree or other, martial arts action, and the kind of action Seasonal is known for is quite difficult to perform. So, Drew had to be at least a black belt expert in the martial arts. Casting sessions on both coasts came and went, and although the people at Seasonal found many fine martial artists and many exceptional actors, the combination they were looking for eluded them. They considered using actors without any martial arts experience but quickly discarded this idea.

Finally, Drew Carson walked through the door in the form of Reese Madigan. A comprehensively trained professional actor, Reese was just coming off a successful New York theater run in "Henry IV", and was available for the role of Drew Carson. And, it didn't hurt that Reese himself is a black belt in Shotokan Karate. It also helped that Reese is fascinated by the Shaolin Temple, and he jumped at the chance to play the title character.

Aside from Reese as the lead, the other chief roles were for fellow disciples or for the masters in the temple. A unique mixture of mainland Chinese actors and Asian Americans were chosen for these roles. Billy Chang plays the role of Drew's best friend, Li, while Daniel Gae Kim is Gao, Drew's initial rival, who later becomes his good friend. Cliff Lenderman, a Seattle, WA native known as 'Jeet Kune Do's Strongman', plays the demanding role of the Drill Sergeant. All of the monks were also very accomplished martial artists, making the job of the stunt and fight choreographers that much easier.

Says Lenderman about the Drill Sergeant, "I liked the character because he was a good role model for kids. Even though he was a real tough guy, he was very involved, and deep inside he really cared about the disciples".

"American Shaolin has something very positive to say to kids," Lenderman continues. "Kids think of the martial arts as only fighting, but Drew learns that there is so much more to the martial arts. When kids see that, they will know there's more to it than just kicking and punching."

Production:

Once all the casting was done, principal photography began on 6th April 1991 in Asbury Park and Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The decision to film in these rather run down New Jersey shore towns was an attempt to create an atmosphere of desperation from which Drew would want to escape. Drew's home was actually filmed inside a crumbling seaside amusement park, adding a feeling of time running out for Drew if he doesn't do something different.

It was a great location for the film, and Director Lucas Lowe took advantage of the very "American" images in New Jersey. "It was very important to establish early on that Drew lived in America, and he wasn't happy," says Lowe. "The deserted amusement park, complete with empty boardwalks and misty beaches, proved to be the perfect backdrop for the American side of the story."

Hackensack, New Jersey was the venue for the tournament scene where Drew gets humiliated. Playing Drew's rival - Trevor Gottitall the Third, Trent Bushey, a soap opera star, fit the part like a glove. "As soon as I saw him," says Strandberg of the casting session, "I knew he was Trevor."

After the Jersey shooting was wrapped, the filming in mainland China began on 18th May, 1991. Once in China, the scenes where Drew arrives, looks for the temple, asks for admission and so on had to be shot in sequence.

Why

Because Shaolin monks shave their heads, that's why, and until Drew and the other disciples in the Temple's last training class are officially admitted into the temple, they all have hair.

Seasonal insisted that all the actors with parts as monks shave their heads. Because of the action and the amount of time each of these monks spend on screen, a skull cap would never have worked. This was a point of contention with some of the actors initially approached for roles, but Seasonal remained adamant. Either shave or we'll find someone else, they said, and eventually all the actors agreed to shave their heads.

"I was looking forward to shaving my head," Reese Madigan says. "It really helped me get into the character of Drew Carson."

Everywhere the cast and crew went in China, it was easy to spot the "American Shaolin people", they were the only ones with hundreds of bald guys traveling together. For one scene alone, over 400 actors had to have their heads shaved! "We had to get shaved every single morning," remembers Cliff Lenderman. "With a straight razor! It hurt, but I enjoyed being without hair. I felt more powerful and definitely more intimidating. I felt like a Shaolin master."

"Americans cause enough of a stir in China," notes Strandberg, who used to direct tours for groups of 30 or more Americans throughout China. "Bald American monks, towering over the Chinese people, almost caused riots. We were continually surrounded wherever we went, and people would call out 'Meigwo Shaolin', which means 'American Shaolin'. No matter where we were, in the streets of Shanghai or in the wilds of China, people knew immediately who we were. It was impossible for us to go incognito in China."

The filming of American Shaolin took place primarily in temples scattered throughout China. Although some filming was done at the actual Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, it is fairly small and relatively unimpressive. So, three other temples were used as doubles for the Shaolin Temple. The Tian Tung in Zhe Zhiang Province is the largest and oldest Buddhist temple in China, and it was an incredible location. Staggered up a mountainside, Tian Tung Temple at one time housed 5,000 monks!

It was very interesting to have the real monks at the various temples watching the "Shaolin monks" make the movie. They were invariably excited to see the movie shot, and bent over backwards to make the experience a good one for everyone concerned.

"At Tian Tung Temple, one monk in particular was especially nice to us," recalls Strandberg. "He would advise on the correct way to strike the gongs or the huge drum used to call the other monks. He also made a great vegetarian noodle dish that he would invite me to eat about once a week."

Summary:

American Shaolin turned out to be the most difficult of all Seasonal Film productions. One of the biggest problems during the making of "American Shaolin" was working within the communist system. The crew was made up of Chinese nationals, Hong Kong citizens and Americans, and that made for enough confusion without factoring in the communist work ethic - or lack thereof.

Pile on top of that language problems (Strandberg was the only American who spoke Chinese, and very few of the Chinese or Hong Kong crew members spoke any English - You'd think Seasonal producer Roy Horan would have stepped in to help), problems with the food (no Western food - "Peanut butter was considered a major find!" remembers Cliff Lenderman), the intense heat and less than first class accommodations in the wilds of China, and you've got yourself a tough shoot.

"The experience making 'American Shaolin' was real rough, being in China and all," recalls Daniel Dae Kim (who plays Jin in the TV series Lost). "The product will make it all worth it. We made a good film." Indeed they did, just not a very good one!