News Article

Action Director Ching Siu Tung: Hero Won't be Less Meritorious than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Meri Paper, 6 March 2002
Reporter Shi Yu

Lee Ang's blockbuster, Crouching TIger Hidden Dragon, exposed the Western audience to the intricacies and wonders of Chinese wushu. The stunning, groundbreaking martial arts sequences choreographed by renowned Martial Arts Director Yuen Wo Ping had the audience spellbound and speechless. Last year, Zhang Yimou's first wuxia pian (martial arts movie), Hero, caught the attention of everyone. Will the martial arts sequences, the core of a wuxia pian, in Hero equal or surpass the standard of high quality actions in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Will it again bring about another pleasant surprise and acclaims from the audience? When interviewed on the day before, Hero's martial arts choreographer, Ching Siu Tung, indicated, "I have done my very best, to my utmost effort, and lots of  novel ideas were implemented in the martial arts choreography; I believe it won't be inferior to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Ching Siu Tung, one of the most successful martial arts choreographers from Hong Kong, has won many awards in Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards, Hong Kong's Golden Elephant Awards for Best Action. His directorial or action choreographed works such as Duel to Death, A Chinese Ghost Stories series, Swordsman 1 and Swordsman 2, Terracotta Warrior and Dragon Inn (1992) had appealed well to the audience' tastes. Last year, he received the 38th Golden Horse Best Action Award for My Schoolmate, The Barbarian. When this reporter interviewed Ching Siu Tung, he had just returned from United States of America, where he did action direction for Spiderman.

In 1990, Zhang Yimou acted as the lead role in Terracotta Warrior, which was directed by Ching Siu Tung. 12 years later, the two of them got to collaborate with each other again. However, this time, Ching Siu Tung worked for Zhang Yimou. Ching Siu Tung said, "Terracotta Warrior, Swordsman 2 and A Chinese Ghost Story are my most satisfied works. While both Terracotta Warrior and Hero are about Qin Dynasty, more than 10 years have lapsed since the former was produced. In contrast, the premises and styles of actions in Hero are refreshingly different from Terracota Warrior. Hero pursues a kind of classic painting style, and hopes to attain beautiful, rhythmic actions in the choreography.

"In the movie, we especially hired China's National Gymnasts to do demonstrations of certain moves, so as to achieve a smooth, joint series of cohesive actions and to impart a balletic feel: The scene where Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung are romantically fly-dancing mid-air on the yellow leaves, fighting against each other, chasing each other in the woods; Another is where Jet Li abseils down the cliff, doing leaps above the water. The choreography in Hero conveys an ethereal dance-like beauty; it's more romantic and aesthetic than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Yuen Wo Ping painstakingly crafted many different fight scenes using many different weapons, especially the duel between Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh in the armed escort agency's yard, where Michelle Yeoh fought using sabre, cudgel, halberd, etc. Will Hero be showcasing such amazing duels utilising various ancient weapons of China? Ching Siu Tung explained, "Hero sports a lesser variety of weapons than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. However, we have come up with a rich gamut of changes in the styles and strokes for the similar weapons, to let the audience see that though the weapons are the same, the forms are palpably disparate. In addition, Hero blends specific action scenes with specific environments, hoping to create a unique mood for each fight scene."

Save for Jet Li and Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Zhang Ziyi and other stars aren't well-trained pugilists. How did Ching Siu Tung instruct them to dance with sabres and toy around with spears? Ching Siu Tung elaborates, "I put in my best endeavour to mask their shortcomings while amply showing off their strong points. Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi are trained in dances, are feminine, so I wouldn't choreograph aggressive, powerful moves for them. Rather I created moves that best demonstrate their charm and litheness. Tony Leung Chiu Wai is without any martial arts background, so he didn't perform the actions very well. On the other hand, he is an experienced actor who is highly expressive emotionally, and is best at displaying the character's emotions during the fights. So we would shoot his actions from different angles and then link them together with his expressions, to help him complete an action scene. I would tailor different set of moves for different actors and actresses."

When asked about how he felt when working with Zhang Yimou, Ching Siu Tung replied, "He is exemplary in showing the intricate feelings and relationships of people, in creating the kind of atmosphere. I came not only to help in martial arts choreography, but also to learn from him, to learn from his presentation of the story and the acting of the characters. I greatly respect his talents."

Ching Siu Tung indicated that Hero is a unique wuxia pian that comes with a singular way of story telling, of setting the environment and that he had done his best. Post-production of the movie is done with enhancements of computer generated images in Australia, and how the outcome will be would be difficult to say, but he believes it will be of no lesser merits than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Source: Sina, in Chinese

See also Meetings with Wu Jing in Hengdian - Yuen Wo Ping, Corey Yuen and Ching Siu Tung: The Three Schools of Martial Arts Choreography

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