NYAFF 2010: SAMMO HUNG SPEAKS!
[ A big thanks to Diva Velez for the following interview with the legend himself. You can find her writings on film at: www.thedivareview.com]
The Lady
Miz Diva: I'd like to congratulate you on winning the
first Star Asia Lifetime Achievement award at the New York Asian Film
Festival. Are you surprised about the great reception you get from
American fans?
Sammo Hung: Yes, I'm
very excited and surprised and I feel sad. I get the award and it looks I
need to retire soon. {Laughs}
LMD: Does it
ever occur to you to slow down? It seems like your fights are more
intense than 25 years ago. How are you feeling?
SH: I'm fine, I'm fine. I
like my job, you know? And after many years I still feel very nice and
very good. Actually, I love movies, this is very important. All the time
I try it make myself happy and when you're happy you have a lot of
things to think about.
LMD: Your grandmother was
famous martial artist Chin Tsi-ang, your grandfather was the well-known
director Hung Chung-ho and both your parents worked behind the scenes in
film. Was there ever any chance of your working outside of the film
industry?
SM: No, I don't think so,
because my grandpa and grandma, they were very popular people. I was
aware all the time with my mother and father. After I was born, my
parents, grandma and my grandpa, they all stopped the film business
already. Then I was like a normal child; I went to normal school, but I
didn't like normal school. Then I went to the Peking Opera school.
This was a new style and new study. Actually, for my family, I don't
think there was any relationship {to being in films}. At that
moment, I just thought about some friends on my mother's side, their
parents, they were worried about Sammo, "Oh what will he do later after
this school?" "Oh, let him learn some opera and then he can take up
something later."
LMD: Was there one most
important lesson from the China Drama School that you still keep today?
SH: I think everything was very important for me. Because at the time and moment I learned something, my mind can't think about other things. Learning drama and action, whatever, this was very important and training until now. You think about how to do everything great.
LMD: Of all
the different film work you do, acting, fight choreography, directing,
writing, which is the most important to you and why?
SH: Actually, what I love to do is directing and I love to write. I love to keep some ideas that I want to think about and then how to create the stories and most important are the characters. I love to create the characters. I'm not the hero type; my movies have some many different characters.
LMD: I'd like to talk
about your fight choreography. All the films you have worked on have a
similar strength, but they all look different. I'm thinking of the
beautiful fight in Three Kingdoms scored to Peking Opera. How do you
determine what style or look is necessary for a fight?
SH: Mostly I've gotta know
the film first, the characters. I always follow the character to create
the fight, whether it's fighting or just action, whichever, you don't
put the character into the fight because the audience will watch and it
means nothing. If you can create the fight with the character in the
same tones and same movement, the audience will feel something.
LMD: In the
films playing at the festival, Ip Man and Ip Man 2 and in Sha Po Lang,
you have a wonderful collaboration with Donnie Yen. Can you talk about
working with him?
SH: Actually Mr. Yen, he's a
very good action star and whenever we create the fights, he's very easy
to handle. We have a very good time. Mostly when we fight, it's very
easy for us. I love to play with Donnie Yen; he's the best to play with
since Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao. Those three guys are a very good
combination.
LMD: How you feel about
popularity in the US? Was it ever important to you? You had a big
success here with the TV series Martial Law, but you never seemed to
make a big effort to break America. You work hard, but you never seem
desperate for the success you have. Like many of your contemporaries,
did you ever feel like you had to pursue US fame?
SH: Of course it's important
to me, but I haven't tried to deliberately make myself a success
outside of Hong Kong. I'm a very low key, mellow kind of guy. If
there's an opportunity, of course I'll try it out and see it will work,
but I'm not going to fall over myself to try to do that.
LMD: I'd like to talk
about your work with actresses. You make them look amazing and strong,
but still feminine and sexy. Do you approach fight choreography
differently with women differently than if you were staging men?
SH: Actually it's a very big difference because the
ladies are still ladies. When we create fights for the men, a man can
get hurt, he can do anything, whatever, to me it's like he can handle
something like that, you know? But a girl still is a girl. You gotta
be more careful and you've gotta know more what do when they get hurt.
One thing {with ladies onscreen} is when you're hurt; you take it
on your heart only. You cannot make a face {makes classic Sammo
pained face}, no. What she's gotta do is be the tough girl. She's
gotta pay something; the girls who are action stars, they're a little
bit harder and they're more harder than men, cos in their body their
energy is not like a man. If he wants to do something, he wants to be a
man, but she still is a girl, so we need more energy focus for
them. More protection.
LMD: You have been a part
of every important era in modern Hong Kong action cinema since the
1960's, very notably in the 1970's, in your own starring films
throughout the 1980's, and recently in movies like Sha Po Lang, Ip Man
and Three kingdoms, you're seeing another new age in martial arts
filmmaking. Is there a particular era of action filmmaking that you
enjoyed the most?
SH: I've worked for more
than 40 years. I started working 40 years ago, I'm so old, you know?
Literally, because the timing is different -- when I worked in 1973,
1975 and then until now, it just rolls like a wheel, you know, roll,
roll, roll. And then the timing {changes} we gotta follow up;
this year the Paris movie and two weeks later we got an action movie,
right now a comedy. Because the timing goes forward, push, push, push,
and right now the new technology for the audience they will see a lot of
things, you know? And then how do you create the fights and how do you
make the action movies, how do you chase the time and the audience? {A
filmmaker} has a lot of things on his mind; you gotta do something
to catch them.
LMD: Now you have to start designing fights in
3D!
SH: {Laughs} That's
right!
LMD: Are you tired of being asked about Bruce
Lee?
SH: Actually I haven't
talked too much about Bruce Lee, just a few things. Because Bruce Lee,
he's our hero. So many things, his movies, his posters on the walls, so
many people have never forgotten him, you know?
LMD: Have you ever
considered writing an autobiography?
SH: For so many years
friends have asked me that question, but I don't like it. I don't know
why. I've done so many bad things, but I don't want anyone to write it.
I don't want anyone to write it if it's not true, so why would I do
this?
LMD: Is there a film that you've made that
you feel best represents you?
SH: I like so many of the
movies I've done, like Prodigal Son and Pedicab Driver and Heart of
Dragon and Eastern Condors and Millionaire's Express. Actually I like a
lot of them!
LMD: If you retired, like
you mentioned you might after this festival, how would you like your
fans like those who came to the awards & the festival to remember
your career?
SH: I don't know how to say
that, but I always love that people always remember me. When people see
me they say hello, whatever. But even if they don't know me or forget
me, I don't mind that, too! {Laughs}
LMD: When you think of the
great Hong Kong action stars of the last 40 years there's Bruce Lee,
there's you, there's Jackie, there's Jet Li and Donnie Yen, but it
doesn't seem like there's anybody behind you guys. Can you think of an
action star who is coming up that we should look out for?
SH: Now it's very hard to
know. I hope that in a short time I can know who is coming up and ask
to do some good action films in the future, but now it's very hard. I'm
still looking for, I'm still waiting.
LMD: What then do you see
as the future of Hong Kong action films?
SH: It's really hard to see.
It's true, because the while action film {market} is very bad
because of the economy. Hopefully Ip Man 1 and 2 will let the producer
or the other filmmakers -- mostly they have the same feeling - {it'll}
give more filmmakers a chance to make good films. Then I see the
timing, the new, young generation, they're coming again. That's very
important. In the market, in the box office, we don't have a chance to
see any action movies; it's giving no chance to the new generation.
LMD: Is there the
possibility of an Ip Man 3?
SH: No, actually, I don't
want to make Ip Man 3 anymore. There's a lot of movies about kung fu
now. For me, this was because the writer really put his heart into
writing the story and the director put in a lot of heart to make this
film and Sammo Hung has a lot of heart. Actually, I'd love to do
another action film. Success or not, it doesn't matter but they must
put the heart in the film. A little more heart, a little more feeling,
then its okay.
LMD: What's next for you, Sammo?
SH: My next movie I don't
know how you call it in English, but it's about the background character
in the Peking Opera. The main opera character is called Wu Sheng, but
the main story is around the stage. I heard people talk about, "Oh it
looks like an opera," but it's not, you will see. The story is very
good the character is very good. I'm the action director, but I like
this movie. When I took this job I just finished Ip Man 2 and then
because they wanted to make this movie in March, we were training in
January and then they got behind.
LMD: Will you please give a
message to our readers?
SH: Actually, I would love
to say something for everybody. I hope everybody has good health and
take it easy on everything in life and not to be too hard on yourself.
If your heart is good, but in your mind you have to take it easy.
LMD: Uh-huh. Sammo, I
think you need to listen to yourself!
SH: That's just like me,
everything I gotta do harder, you know? I'm always, "I want this
one! I want this one!" But I need to keep doing something, I
need to create something, this is very important, but then after that,
if you do it, if it's a success or not, doesn't matter.
~ The Lady Miz Diva Vélez
June 26th,
2010TDR direct link: Sammo on The Diva Review
Do you feel this content is inappropriate or infringes upon your rights? Click here to report it, or see our DMCA policy.