There are few filmmaking visionaries whose work has touched more than Yuen Woo-ping.
A triple-threat stuntman, choreographer and director, his illustrious career began hand-in-hand with Jackie Chan's, helming the seminal Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master in 1978 and supercharging the Hong Kong film industry with a new brand astonishing martial artistry and bawdy comedy.
His eye for high-impact and idiosyncratic fighting styles took him to Hollywood, lending his talents to the Wachowski Sisters' Matrix series and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill diptych, projects which bookended the unprecedented international success of his iconic wirework in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
After a ten-year gap, we at Screen Anarchy were overjoyed to be able to talk to him a second time for the release of his new blockbuster, Blades of the Guardians, a star-studded epic graphic novel adaptation that brings together four generations of talent for the prospective launch of a massive franchise. Centring around Wu Jin's 'second most-wanted fugitive' Dao Ma, the reluctant protector of a masked revolutionary, its marriage of bombastic spectacle and old-school wuxia balletics makes it the perfect fare for audiences celebrating Lunar New Year together.
Speaking with Yuen Woo-ping about the film, our enthusiasm for the project was deepened even further...
Screen Anarchy: Hello Master Yuen Woo-ping, and happy Lunar New Year! Thank you for speaking with us about your new film, BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS. It’s a grand epic with spectacle to spare and a fantastic concept straight from the pages of Xianzhe Xu’s popular comic series - could you tell us what attracted you to adapting it for the screen?
Yuen Woo-ping: Once I read the graphic novels, I knew this world was perfect for adapting into a feature film. The challenge is that the world of the novels is vast with many characters and intertwining storylines.
What I wanted to achieve with this film was to give audiences a taste of this stylized world: some of the key characters and key set pieces. Every character in this film could have their own film.
It is a joy to adapt a graphic novel into live action, but the challenging and compressing storylines that span books into a single movie.
This is your first adaptation of a comic book in a long and varied career, which surprised me! Your work has always been kinetic in every department, tracking constant movement between the characters’ physicality and the camera - was it exciting to be able to marry your fast-paced style with adapting Xianzhe Xu’s still images?
Xu Xianzhe is a very versed in cinema which is the reason the images in graphic novels flow so well. It removes a layer of challenge in adapting for live action. In terms of story though, it was a challenge to determine what was the right amount to fit into one film. I hope it was not too much!
One of my favorite things about your body of work is how thoroughly realised the fighting styles of your heroes and villains are; I’m thinking about the comic inebriated martial arts in DRUNKEN MASTER, or the ferocity of Beatrix Kiddo and Pai Mei’s brawl in KILL BILL VOL. 2 (Tiger Crane versus Eagle’s Claw). Could you talk about what strands of martial arts we can see in BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS?
The story of Blades of the Guardians is set in the historic period of Sui and in reality most combat would be with weapons. So we see a lot of weapon work in this film, sword, saber, double edged sword, mace.
Dao Ma and Di Ting were once Imperial Guards so even their costumes in the desert resemble Imperial armor. Whereas Shu uses a sword but his character and weapon are more fictional wuxia elements.
These type of elements combine to give the film a grounded reality but also conjure fantastical elements of wuxia.
There are some tremendous pieces of stunt work in this film, from a hilarious use of an enemy’s trousers to a dazzling horseback sequence where one of our heroes effortlessly dodges close-range arrows. What action beats were you most excited to mount during production?
As a set piece, the sand storm was a major challenge and something I was excited to film. My favorite fight in the film is probably the final fight between Dao Ma and Di Ting because duels can be more intricate and beautiful and combined with the story between those two characters, I think makes for probably the most emotionally tense sequence.
The location photography in the deserts of Western China is glorious, and there is a tangible sense of heat and harshness to the adventure. What would you say is the importance of shooting on location wherever possible?
The location is like a character in the film. A character is more convincing when it’s played by a talented actor rather than a VFX element.
Being on location, the audience immediately focuses in on the story instead of inspecting the VFX. We still used a fair amount of VFX but the practical locations give reality to the VFX.
The film has a huge cast, with special appearances from Tony Leung Ka-fai and Jet Li [pictured above], the latter of whom you have worked with very closely in past projects. How was it reigniting your working relationship after all these years of collaboration?
For Jet Li, I think the only thing that has changed are our ages and the number of injuries Jet has! It is always a joy to work with Jet because he is such a skilled martial artist. I am very grateful he took this role because doing fight scenes with the injuries he’s collected throughout his career is not easy. But he still looks great on screen.
For Tony, we have been in Hong Kong film industry for probably a combined 100 years but it’s our first time working together. So it’s never too late to do something new!
It gave me a warm smile to see you in the film itself, wisely stating that “the world belongs to the young”. I can tell that you really mean that, having surrounded yourself with great new talent like Yosh Yu, Chen Lijun [pictured above] and Cisha (to name but a few!). What do you hope you have imparted to them through your work together?
I think the most important thing I can pass on is that every filmmaker and every actor should find their own voice in this genre. That is the only way we will come up with new ideas and new stories.
When I first started directing, I realized my specialty was mixing action with comedy. It wasn’t a proven combination but it became very popular.
In my experience trying to repeat what works usually doesn’t work. In order to be original we must be courageous to try new things.
Your films have become a staple of the Lunar New Year release calendar, with two of your last few blockbusters (TRUE LEGEND and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: SWORD OF DESTINY) arriving in the festive season. Is there something magical about audiences getting together in the cinema at times like these to celebrate?
Cinema is a collective experience. Being in a cinema filled with people give an energy to watching a film that cannot be replicated elsewhere. So Spring Festival is the perfect time to watch a film like this because families have the time to watch films together. There is not better place to watch action films than on a big screen with friends and family.
Would you say that BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible?
ABSOLUTELY! Please watch this film on the biggest cinema screen you can find. I was recently shown a story of a fan who drove 100km to watch this film on an IMAX screen.
The film ends on a rousing and open-ended note - what do you have in store for another BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS adventure?
The world of the Blades of the Guardians is vast and there are many interesting characters and storyline. If we get a chance to make a sequel, I hope we can cook up something interesting that will surprise audiences.
The film is now playing worldwide, only in movie theaters, via a variety of distributors. In North America, please visit the official site of Well Go USA for locations and showtimes.