from the straits times interactiveDec 21, 2004
Hey, what's so funny?Hong Kong's King of Comedy prefers martial arts to making people laugh... serious
By Hong Xinyi
Media Reporter
HE HAS been tickling your funnybone as Hong Kong's comedian extraordinaire for the past 15 years.
But if you ask him, what Stephen Chow really wants to do is flaunt his prowess as a martial arts expert.
In town yesterday with some of his co-stars to promote his latest film Kung Fu Hustle, Chow, 42, displayed little of his screen persona's mischievous irreverence.
The cheekiness evident from his first starring role in 1990's All For The Winner to the 2001 blockbuster hit Shaolin Soccer was noticeably absent.
In person, the Shanghai-born comedian exudes an almost intimidating aura of stern solemnity, volunteering nary a joke to break the ice.
Dressed casually in jeans, a white T-shirt, sneakers and huge 1970s-style sunglasses, he would look remarkably youthful if not for the brittle white hair sprinkled in his longish haircut.
It is only when Life! asks him about his life-long passion for martial arts that some enthusiasm seeps into his unfailingly polite replies.
'Kung Fu Hustle fulfilled my dream of making a martial arts movie. Shaolin Soccer was still more of a sports movie,' says Chow, who has been practising martial arts as an amateur since he was a boy.
Growing up in a poor family in Hong Kong, he was first inspired to do so when he became enraptured by Bruce Lee's movies.
'But I had to think about how to make a breakthrough. After all, people have seen so many gongfu movies. It's a lot of pressure, but it was also a challenge.'
The result is Kungfu Hustle, a martial arts comedy extravaganza that has been three years in the making.
'I combine traditional martial arts with modern special effects in a way that's never been done before,' he says with a hint of pride.
'To me, special effects are a tool I can use to realise my imagination. The story and the characters are still the most important elements.'
The various gongfu experts in the cast also show a reverence for authentic martial arts, despite the many whizz-bang-pop special effects that populate the movie.
'To me, the spirit of gongfu represents everything that is positive about being human,' he pronounces thoughtfully in somewhat halting Mandarin.
Chow, who is single but was once said to be dating Hong Kong singer Karen Mok, jokingly says his hair turned white because of the stress of making this movie.
As much as that sounds like something out of one of his favourite fantasy swordplay novels, the project has been a tumultuous one.
For one thing, rumours of various rifts have plagued the production.
Ng Man Tat, Chow's longtime screen sidekick, was reportedly unhappy when he did not get a part in the film.
Sammo Hung left the project after choreographing one action sequence, reportedly due to creative differences. He is credited as one of movie's action choreographers although Yuen Wo Ping gets the main credit.
Chow brushes off these tabloid speculations placidly as mountains made out of molehills.
As for speculation that Singapore's Stefanie Sun was to have been the film's leading lady, he gives this gracious response: 'I've always wanted to meet Stefanie because I like her songs and we could discuss working together. There has been no opportunity so far, but I still welcome a meeting.'
To raise the stakes even higher, the film marks the first time Chow's own production company, The Star Overseas, is collaborating with Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, the Asian film production unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The movie is slated for limited release in the United States in March next year.
Although Shaolin Soccer scored a distribution deal with Miramax, that movie was heavily edited and eventually opened to a lukewarm limited release in the US in April this year.
It grossed US$488,872 (S$804,752) in the US over a four-month period.
'The outcome was very different from what I expected,' admits Chow.
'But I treat it as a valuable experience. Everything has to be done step by step. Shaolin Soccer did not get very spectacular results in America, so in that way there is less pressure. Of course, I hope this movie does better.'
Indeed, from being disparaged for his so-called mo lei tau (Cantonese for 'nonsense') humour in the 1990s to being revered as a cultural icon today, you might say Chow could do without Hollywood's blessings.
Academics from prestigious Chinese universities have even written books about his movie's postmodern sensibilities.
But ask him whether he feels he has progressed at all as a film-maker and comedian, and he is nonchalant.
'I'm the sort of person who likes to look forward. I very rarely look back at my old movies, so I can't really say how I've changed,' he says.
'I'm very grateful and happy that different kinds of people, including academics, enjoy my work.
'But frankly, I think they are giving me too much credit. Actually my aim is very simple: I just want to entertain.'
So while some call Kung Fu Hustle, Wong Kar Wai's 2046 and Zhang Yimou's House Of Flying Daggers the three blockbusters to watch in Chinese cinema this year, he declines to predict if his film will capture the hearts and minds of a larger audience.
'I don't categorise movies as arthouse and commercial. There are only good and bad movies. Film-making is a difficult business, and the only way to do it is to do the best job you possibly can.'
