Back when he was studying film at the University of Austin in Texas, Tsui Hark,
was called "King Kong" - an allusion to his real name Tsui Man-kong. What nobody
knew at the time was that the slim Chinaman's budding career would later take
on the famous apish proportions with films that stomped their way to worldwide
screens. But unlike his friend John Woo, Hark failed to climb to Hollywood's top
and had to go back to Hong Kong after only one film: the wildly entertaining
Double
Team, a kind of Man from U.NC.L.E. with the martial antics of Jean Claude
Van Damme and Dennis Rodman's gift of the gab. Despite this failed Hollywood attempt,
Hark resumed with a Hong Kong success with
Time & Tide, an actioner boasting
a popular rock star cast. Since then, he's wrapped the long-awaited sequel to
his 1983 martial arts fantasy hit
Zu Warriors of the Magic Mountain.
Double
Team is screening at Locarno 2001 in the Asians in American Cinema section.
Action sequences
"Most things are thought out after the script is written. We try to define
the highlight of each action scene, the interesting point of the scene
that will call for a certain language and make people more involved in
the scene. When we go into production, we often have to face practical
conditions and change things. But most things, like the flying out of
a window, the frozen frames of the explosions were well prepared in advance.
For that, you need to have a built set, and make some kind of gadget for
the camera to go from the wall to the window for example. So that has
to be set in terms of weeks, instead of letting things happen right on
location." "One of the situations I'm very much interested in every time
it comes to action sequences, when the characters are trapped in a very
impossible environment and have to think their way out. Then your boost
the audience's curiosity for the scene and how the character is going
to get out of the situation."
Actors/pop stars
"You have really different actors, of different calibre. Some have this
method acting, some have this improvisation method, some believe in a
fixed style of acting. All these things actors share all over the world.
On Double Target, Dennis Rodman worked and tried really hard, but he was
inexperienced, and after a while he realized that he could create chemistry
on the screen by inventing. And I think inventing, creating, is a very
interesting process. Some actors are scared of changing the script, but
getting the actors to be creative on the set is for me very interesting.
But improvisation does not concern only the actors of course. The director
has to improvise too. For example, when you have a car chase to do, and
suddenly the car doesn't work, breaks down, then you have to change your
film style by making everything with the dead car. So that kind of things
is improvisation too. Anything can happen on the set. In the middle of
the production Wu Bai had problems with his spine, so suddenly he couldn't
move at all. We had to take medium shots of him. In the beginning, we
thought he could be moving running, do funny stuff. But in the end all
we could do was to film him in medium shots." " I didn't intend to use
pop stars. But the people I tried to get had schedule problems. So I just
got my actors one by one. And the first one I got was Nicholas Tse who's
a rock star. But I chose to use him because he is that sort of person
who has a lot of frustrations through life, and his shininess befits the
character. And I think rock stars are very interesting because they are
romantic somehow in their nature, which was very useful in portraying
the characters. The name of Wu Bai came to me very late in the production.
I used to listen to his songs and I liked them a lot, so suddenly when
his name popped up, I said: "Why not?" At first I thought he would worry
about his appearance on the screen, but I think he's doing all right
."Working in Hong Kong again
"Working for a studio for my last two films, I found gradually that the
material is very important so I chose to go back to Hong Kong. But I'll
go wherever the good material is and make movies there. It's not a question
of making movies inside or outside Hong Kong, I think basically we're
looking for interesting material. Because Hong Kong is now related directly
to China, things have changed of course, in the mentality of the people,
especially the government of Hong Kong. But I don't think there is much
difference in the film industry."
Complaints
"We got many complaints when we shot that action scene around Jack's apartment,
in a real building. We got screaming, yelling everyday because we were
jumping from roof to roof, and we broke so many structures! We had to
pay a lot in compensation! (laughs) But everything is real. Except Jack's
apartment, which blows to pieces. That's a set. But the jumping around
was real and it caused a lot of problems during production."
Pregnancy
"I think the reason why I chose to put 2 pregnant women in the film is
I needed the birth of a baby to create a dramatic impact on the young
guy played by Nicholas Tse. So he would look at life the way it is, eye
to eye. I also needed to finalize the relationship between him and the
other pregnant woman. I needed to get to the dramatic "inside action"
of the young guy. Some people were annoyed by the problems of having 2
pregnant women in the movie. But I said: "Why not?" There is no regulation
or restriction saying "You shouldn't put 2 pregnant women in a movie!"
Producing
"I also think of myself as an audience. When I start a project, I think:
"As an audience, would I be interested to see this film?" And when I think
"Oh, yes, I would really love to see something like this", then I say:
"OK, let' s do it." And sometimes you look around, and you think: "Oh,
I really miss that kind of movie, with that kind of substance." So again,
let's do the movie." "I try not to be too dominant in dealing with a director
with whom I can experience great creativity. Because if you are dominant,
you subdue the other person into following directions that you're interested
in. If you get a director to work on a film, then you'd better believe
in this director. Otherwise, why employ him? So it's more a marriage between
a coach and a fighter in a ring. The producer is the coach standing outside
the ring, the arena, but who sees the director fight his challenge, for
his goal.But you have to assist, encourage him so that he gives his best
to the movie. But even so, it's always a very flexible kind of relationship.
Sometimes, if the fighter has problems in his private life, then he has
problems fighting. Then you have to really give him a lot of support and
maybe use a lot of methods to boost him up."
Story boards
"In previous experiences, I usually had long story boards. After a while I started
to find out that story boarding is very restrictive. Because it means thinking
pretty much about one kind of graphic. So it is better to use it as a reference,
not as graphic regulations that we have to follow. So in Time and Tide
I tried to get out of the story board, for some specific parts you still
need to explain what you want to do with graphics. But I found out that when
they see a story board, all the people, the action people, the cinematographer,
tend to follow the story board, but the story board cannot take into account
all the things that happen on the set, so it is restrictive."
Yannis Polinacci & Robin Gatto
Time And Tide
