2005
The only time that I socialized with a student outside of college was a golf course which was literally outside of the college. During a game, I had a philosophical conversation with a Pakistani who liked rap (especially Tupac) and martial arts movies. His favourite movie was Ong-Bak, starring Tony Jaa. The thing that I remember the most was when talking about my desire for an acting career. Waqas said: “It takes time like hair and nails.”
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Besides wanting to try something new, I wanted to see why Yuen Biao loves playing golf. Speaking of Hong Kong cinema, a Woolworths TV advert had advertised the U.K. DVD release of Shaolin Soccer (a first for a H.K. movie). I feel that this movie could have been the one that bridged the cultural gap between England and Hong Kong. Stephen Chow’s movie could have been a gateway drug to H.K. cinema for so many people.
As a Media student in 2005, the most memorable assignment was going to Ilkley to film a music video. I liked it because Jemma wasn’t there. Laurie lived in an immensely impressive middle-class home that made me realize that I didn’t need to go to Los Angeles to live a luxurious lifestyle. The protective walls and tall trees reminded of what I saw in upmarket Beverly Hills via TV. Ironically, Laurie didn’t have a TV. His girlfriend, Jemma, was stunned because, to her, TV is an essential. When we were studying Media, we were taught the “warm bath” theory. We wondered what warm bath that Laurie bathed in. In retrospect, it was being in bed with Jemma. During another trip, this time to the ITV network in Leeds, Joshua showed me House of Flying Daggers on his laptop. I saw this as a sign that Chinese cinema was here to stay with or without Shaolin Soccer.
Because of the popularity of Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle (released in Hong Kong on December 2004), it was decided that the Sky movie network (which had several channels) would air two movies which were directed by the film’s main/first choreographer - Sammo Hung (who was replaced so that the movie could be theatrically released in America). These movies were Blade of Fury (which could’ve been a masterpiece) and Encounter of the Spooky Kind II, which was retitled as Spooky Encounters II. Besides England’s Hong Kong Legend DVDs being re-released by Fox in America, one of the things that cemented Sammo’s growing popularity was a reference to him on an episode of The O.C. that aired in December 2004. Back to the Sky network, the Sammo movies were English-dubbed as was another H.K. movie, which is titled I’ve Got You, Babe!!!
The latter starred Sean Lau Ching-Wan and Anita Yuen. It was only aired because someone at the Sky movie network was researching that Sonny & Cher song. Ironically, Sky never showed any of Sammo’s movies when Martial Law was aired. That U.S. TV series was the closest that he ever got to achieving some kind of mainstream popularity. I have a theory as to why Sky never did this. It would have been difficult to advertise Hollywood action movies on their channels when you have Sammo eclipsing them all on the strength of Eastern Condors alone. Even something that could be dismissed as throwaway entertainment like The Millionaire’s Express had attained heights which Hollywood action cinema could only aspire to. The movie works on two levels: a comedy which delivers amazing action and an action movie with a strong sense of character.
