In my last couple of blogs, I wrote about the experience of working with the Asian superstars Chow Yun-fat and Gong Li on our epic TWC period film ‘Shanghai’. For the next couple, I want to share some comments on the performers who illuminated a couple of key supporting roles. Stanislavski famously said that there are no small parts, just small actors, and this was certainly borne out when we cast Chinese-American actor (and Alivenotdead regular!) Andy On.
I was closely invo...Read more
THE MOST STRIKING GONG: In ‘Shanghai’ with China’s greatest screen actress.
Considering the 1.3 billion population of China, and the fact that, as Mao said, women hold up half the sky, it seems remarkable that, for a good number of years, modern Chinese cinema produced only one screen actress of note. More remarkable still is that the same performer, Gong Li, remains easily as luminously, stunningly beautiful, on-screen and off, as she was when she first became the muse for Zhang Yimou, most illustrious of China’s 5 th...Read more
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...Read more
23-7-08 A VISITOR FROM THE MILKY WAY: Johnnie To drops by the ‘Shanghai’ set.
I’m back in Bangkok for the shooting of TWC’s period thriller ‘Shanghai’. Just a few weeks ago, our back-lot was open land where the water buffalo roamed. Now 1940s Shanghai streets lead off in all directions, and suitably attired extras bustle down them. The sun pounds down and I emerge blinking from the shade of our base camp, situated in the faux Shanghai Customs House. To my happy surprise, we have an unexpected visitor in the person of lege...Read more
21-7-08: Bruce Lee and me (part two)
Media Asia giving me access to the Bruce Lee archive was like giving Dracula the keys to the blood bank. I was IN! The crypt keeper down at the vault where MA stored the materials it had inherited from Golden Harvest was a little fellow named Larry. He showed me what they had on the Bruce Lee films. I was surprised how few photographs of Lee they owned. Apparently, Harvest boss Raymond Chow only bought from the unit photographer the photos he specifically wanted, and all the rest remai...Read more
20-7-08: BRUCE LEE AND ME: Remembering the Dragon (part one)
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Today marks the anniversary of Bruce Lee’s untimely passing, and I’m attending an exhibition of memorabilia staged by the Hong Kong Bruce Lee Club. (That’s my son Calvin doing his best ‘wa-tahhh!’ in the photo below.) The exhibition is located in Kowloon Tong, not far from Lee’s former home, so, afterwards, I take the kids to check out the Little Dragon’s abode at 41, prefix = st1 ns = &q...Read more
July 15, 2008
I arrive in Thailand for our film ‘Shanghai’ which, for reasons too convoluted to go into here, ended up shooting in London and Bangkok rather than in the eponymous Chinese city. I knew that the film’s star, John Cusack, was a long-time student of Benny ‘The Jet ‘ Urquidez, and I’m delighted to...Read more
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With Vic Armstrong on the 'Shanghai' set.
16-7-08 : ROLLING WITH THE REAL INDY : On location with Vic Armstrong
Last time I was on a major movie location in Bangkok, it was for The Medallion, then called ‘Highbinders’, and...Read more
There are dozens of films programmed in the festival, but it seems that the only ones relevant to Dragon Dynasty either haven’t yet been released (Painted Skin, Ip Man) or are classic films being re-screened.
Wong Kar-wai’s re-mix of his martial art house film Ashes of Time is screening. At an ea...Read more
June 15, 2008
Day two of the festival starts well. After a couple of meetings, I get a late breakfast at the Hyatt with Donnie Yen, who has been in Shanghai for several months shooting ‘Ip Man’, his bio pic about the famed Wing Chun kung fu maestro, who was also Bruce Lee’s teacher. The fil...Read more