27-7-08 : On set with Chow Yun-fat

27-7-08: SHOOTING THE FAT: On the ‘Shanghai’ set with Hong Kong’s greatest actor.

It’s incredible enough to be standing within 15 feet of Chow Yun-fat, more amazing still to work on a film with him and yet more stunning to see him with a gun in his hand. For almost a decade, fans of Hong Kong’s most ballistically inclined action star have waited to see Chow get down with the firepower. Though the TWC period epic ‘Shanghai’ is much more a dramatic thriller than a high octane John Woo-style actioner, there’s still a palpable buzz on the set when, during a tense casino showdown, Chow Yun-fat finally takes up arms…

For Hong Kong natives over a certain age, there’s a special resonance to Chow making a period film set in Shanghai, given that he came to fame starring in the TVB series ‘The Bund’. The show made him the territory’s most popular television actor, but he initially had difficulty making the transition to film. It wasn’t until director John Woo, over the opposition of the Asian film distributors, cast Chow Yun-fat as Mark Gor (‘Brother Mark’) in the gangster thriller A Better Tomorrow. This film (soon to be a Dragon Dynasty DVD release) made Chow the region’s biggest star, and he was soon shooting movie after movie, in genre upon genre. His name in the cast guaranteed that a film could be financed, and that it would find an audience.

I first became aware of Chow Yun-fat when Toby (son of Ken) Russell screened A Better Tomorrow for me. Prior to that, I’d been a die-hard kung fu film fan. I knew that Hong Kong produced other genres of film, including gangster thrillers; I never had much interest in them. A Better Tomorrow established a new genre of stylized contemporary gunplay actioners, one to which UK super fan Rick Baker gave the name ‘Heroic Bloodshed’. Though he also made many romances and comedies, Chow is still best known internationally for his Heroic Bloodshed titles. At Dragon Dynasty, we’ll be releasing the two sequels to A Better Tomorrow, as well as The Killer, a movie widely regarded as the genre’s defining film.

I first met Chow on the Hong Kong set of Hard Boiled, his last collaboration (to date) with former mentor John Woo. Producer Terence Chang kindly invited me to visit the hospital set constructed at Kowloon’s ‘Coca Cola Factory’ studio.  The star greeted me cordially, and seemed happily bemused that a white guy from England had seen quite so many of his films. At that time, I lived in Birmingham (for my sins…). Every Monday, I’d attend the Chinese mid-night film show at a city centre cinema. (Believe me; living in Birmingham, you need all the entertainment you can find…) For about a year, it seemed that Chow was in every film, every week. What struck me most about him, in person, was the dichotomy between his gentle real-life persona, and the lethal loners he played in his gunplay thrillers. Perhaps that explains his appeal, that such a gentle man is cast in a violent mold.

Our next encounter was on the roof of London’s late, lamented Scala theatre. It was a rare hot day in an English summer. Alain Delamata’s Made In Hong Kong video label had flown Chow Yun-fat, and his lovely wife Jasmine, to the British capital for a number of promotional events. I got roped in to interview Chow on video, on the roof, with the London skyline behind us. It was so hot that, half-way through our discussion, the girl holding the boom fainted, and her pole plunged down at us. I can’t for the life of me remember which one of us caught it. I’d like to be able to tell you I saved Chow Yun-fat’s life, but I think it’s more likely that he saved mine!

I arrived in Hong Kong just as Chow was making the move to Hollywood, and so saw him only in passing for the following few years. That’s easier than it sounds. It’s no secret that the actor uses public transport (including buses and the subway) when he travels around the city (and, indeed, any city where he finds himself). I ask him about this during a break on the set of ‘Shanghai’, and Chow tells me that this is the only way to really experience a city, at street level (or beneath it).

‘Shanghai’ marks the first time that I’ve actually worked with Chow. Watching him on the set, he’s a calm and calming presence, treating everyone around with equal humour and good grace. Between takes, he’ll chat to whoever he finds himself near. I relish this rare chance to talk about the film, his earlier films, mutual friends… One thing that impresses me about Chow is that he’s always willing to deliver lines off-camera to his co-stars, and to give his fellow actors a real performance to react to. He epitomizes someone who celebrates the art in themselves, rather than themselves in the art.