Interview with Jino Kang
Although Jino Kang is the son of a Hapkido Grand Master, and Kang himself teaches Hapkido at his school in San Francisco, he has had a passion for filmmaking since he was in junior high school. The passion that is rivaled only by martial arts has paid off for Kang. When he first wrote, produced, and starred in his first feature film in the late-90s, Blade Warrior, he already had an impressive track record as a martial artists. He first opened a school for Korean martial arts in the 1980s and today holds a seventh degree black belt in Hapkido. In 2009, he was inducted into the Masters Hall of Fame. He continues his passion for filmmaking and martial arts by directing, producing, and acting in Fist 2 Fist and Weapon of Choice: Fist 2 Fist 2. Recently, I had an opportunity to talk to Jino Kang about his most recent film, Weapon of Choice.
Hello, Jino. Thank you for taking time to do this interview.
My Pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Weapon of Choice is one of the best independent action films I've seen in a long time. It's not often that I see a relatively low budget action film with such nicely choreographed fight scenes. How much influence did you have as the director and star of the film in the choreography of the fight scenes? The finale fights were amazing.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Ethan. Yeah, when you wear all the hats in production you’re responsible for all aspects of the film. When I write, I usually write a some form of choreography in mind, a raw form until I start ruminating about the scenes which will come to me, and I will write the choreography then rehearse with stunts people. I also try to incorporate and represent all different kinds of martial arts for visual stimulation. In addition, I like to tell a little story within the fights to make it interesting, but it does make it challenging since you have to tell it visually without dialogue. In my films, I also stipulate with the co-directors that I would choreograph, direct and edit all the action scenes before we start shooting so we don’t have misunderstandings. If this was someone else’s film then I would let the director/choreographer work it out and let them handle it. I’m easy.
Where did the filming take place and how were you able to utilize the locations to the benefit of the story? It became a recurring motif in many action films throughout the '80s and '90s that every action film had to have at least one big fight scene in a warehouse. I'm sure you were aware of this, and so how were you able to maximize the space in some of the interior sets where some of the core fight scenes occur?
The opening scene and closing scene is very important to me and we shot it in Treasure Island and Brisbane and San Leandro warehouses, respectively. We shot all over Bay area/San Francisco including Pescadero. I believe the smart criminals invest in legit businesses as they operate and be complicit at the same time, a modus operandi so to speak. I took advantage of that motif and we had a great team of set designer, Katy Tiemann who we worked with us to set up the interior shots. The opening scene was all a set setup to look like an Chinese banquet restaurant in a hall that we rented for 4 days on Treasure Island. We originally wanted to shoot it in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, San Francisco but we wanted to destroy things like tables and wares and it was too time consuming to bring in our own breakable materials and such. The warehouse scenes were two different warehouses. One in Brisbane and the other in San Leandro. We blended the different locations together and I believe it worked out pretty smoothly.
Are you a fan of police and mob procedural dramas? The movie feels in tune to some of the best movies and TV shows I've seen with similar themes. How much research did you do on the subject?
Yes, I’m a huge fan of Scorsese’s crime dramas, David Chase’s Soprano series, Michael Mann’s and Coen Brothers crime capers. I also follow most Asian crime dramas like, The Man from Nowhere, Old Boy, A Bittersweet Life (Korean films) and love all Takeshi Kitanos’ films. I make a habit to watch those that appeal to me.
What inspired this film in particular? I noticed that it's called Weapon of Choice: Fist 2 Fist 2, but is this a true sequel to your previous film Fist 2 Fist? What was the seed of the idea and how did it blossom into what it became?
Yeah, so this is not a sequel to Fist 2 Fist - just in name only for marketing purposes by the distributor. Anyway, I didn’t want to do another cage fight sequel, by the time Fist 2 Fist came out in 2011, the market was getting over saturated by cage fight films. I wanted to an action film that has martial arts in it, not the other way around, so I created Jack Lee first then his nemesis Banducci (played by Doug Olsson) and his bravado cohorts. All the other supporting characters fell into place then I wrote the first draft, then Tony took it and polished it with cooler dialogue and so on. Weapon of Choice was born. This took a year, by the way.
Your character Jack Lee is a true antihero in the film. He's a hitman with a heart. We've seen this sort of thing before in other movies, but because of how you portray him, the movie has a striking originality to it. What was the inspiration to playing this character?
Thanks Ethan! My thoughts are that when someone is given a chance to redeem himself from the bad to good, they will take it. I’m sure not all criminals will, but Jack Lee does. Jack Lee’s character is built on that foundation. He is given a chance to nurture and raise an orphaned niece (played by Kelly Lou Dennis) like a daughter. He does so and has really memorable times for Jack and Jaime (backstory), but it would be boring if we left it at that, wouldn’t it. But the good times doesn’t last when Jaime is kidnapped for vengeance and dark dealings of his former boss Banducci. Jack is pulled back into his cold killer that he was and without that transformation he would be too weak to fight the behemoth monster and his minions. Of course, but he does need help and gets it from Detective Ash (played by Katherine Celio and recluse San Testaban’s mercenaries (played by John Carney and William Armando). Jack has to change his lone wolf modus operandi in order rescue his niece.
What were some of the challenges of playing the main character, since you also wrote and co-directed the movie? Would you recommend other actors or martial artists also attempt writing and directing their own projects? It seems like an impossible task to do all three, or four if you also consider that you also coordinated the fights.
No. I do not recommend it, unless you want to work your ass off from beginning to end and then some. Every time I do it, I ask myself, what am I doing? Having said that however, if you want to make movies that matter to you, bite the bullet and dive in. No one else is going to do it for you.
When you look back now on the making of Weapon of Choice, what are your fondest memories from it? What are some things you wish you could have done differently?
I think working with the actors and crew was the best part. it was like a big family for a time being however short (30 days shoot). Sure, everyone goes their own way after filming is done but making things happen is the greatest joy with people you have become friends with. My only regret is not having enough funds to shoot more action scenes, more days to plan and detail the action a little more.
What are you hoping audiences take away from their experience of watching Weapon of Choice or your other features? Who are you hoping your audience is?
The first question that you’ve asked; I want the audience to walk away from this film saying that “this film is one of the best independent action film I’ve seen in a long time.” The little guys like us don’t have high budget/deep pockets but we’ll give heart and 100 percent effort to make the best film possible with what we got.
The film has some interesting notes of contemplation and hints of philosophy throughout it. Can you talk a little bit about your belief system and your own personal philosophy and how you were able to share them in this movie? Are your previous films similar in that regard?
Yes, Yin and Yang, Karma, don’t do anything that you’ll regret later and it will comeback and bite you back. Particularly my first film Blade Warrior has that Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” written all over it. In fact, in your face kind of way. Fist 2 Fist has more subtle theme of “The past will comeback and haunt you unless you pay for your sins” and message with social cutbacks for the needy. Weapon of Choice is dealing with moral decay of criminals, and one tries to comes out of that, it circles back and pull you back, and this conflict is what drives the film.
What makes a good acting partner? How about an onscreen fight partner?
Someone who can sell it. Make believe of that scene and interact with each other in harmony. For fight partner is someone who can work with you and help you look good and make it believable or vice versa.
What's next for you, Jino?
Weapon of choice’s true sequel “Blade Fury” script is almost done. This one is with much bigger budget and needs financing and packaging and will be tackling this real soon. Also, a true follow up to Fist 2 Fist called “Wages of Sin” a spec TV Pilot, working on the script with two other writers Christine Lam and Eric Gustfason. We should be able to start production late summer 2017.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview!
Thank you very much, Ethan!
