26-11-09 : The Blood Bond Saga (part 49)

Rumble in the teahouse (part two)

Our lethal leading lady Phoenix Chou has impressed everyone throughout the shoot. She's stunningly beautiful from every angle, she's delivered the dramatic beats that her part demands perfectly, she's overcome every physical challenge we've thrown at her...

As I mentioned earlier, as we draw to the end of the schedule, we're reshooting a fight scene we'd filmed at the start of production. Phoe has been working 'round the clock, eating at odd hours, barely has time to train for the sequence, so, when we finally get around to (re) shooting it, she is absolutely... incredible.

The last 24 months have seen the debuts of two other female furies: Jeeja (from Thailand, in "Chocolate') and Veronica Ngo (from Vietnam, in 'The Rebel'). I genuinely believe that, with this fight, Phoenix joins their number.

She's got the looks, the athleticism and, perhaps most importantly, she has her own, unique style, an applied version of Chen Tai Chi combat. Of course, the art has been modified for the screen, and we make use of Phoe's natural flexibility to have her deliver kicks and other camera friendly movements, but it all comes from a Tai Chi Chuan base.

My boundless gratitude to Sifu Ocean Hou, whom I met through AnD, for introducing me to the intricacies of this art, and for training Phoe for the film.

There was one particular shot where I felt Phoenix literally make the leap from very good to great. She's fighting off three attackers at the same time with the kind of power and grace we haven't seen since the glory days of Golden Harvest.

Even watching the playback at the monitor, we could feel Phoenix was on fire. After each take, she would watch herself critically, and say "I can do it better...", before marching back to go at it again.

Phoe did everything we demanded of her, and more, and I think 'Blood Bond' is a great showcase for someone who deserves to be major new action star.

Next : And, in the end....