The art of action design
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 HKCinemagic :
Now we can talk about your action direction career, and there is a lot to talk about! One of the first credit we found for you as an action director is Hong Kong Supermen but I guess you already started earlier?
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : Yes. This one is a Taiwanese production. The director was, I think, Ding… |
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| HKCinemagic : Ding Sin Saai.
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : Yeah! You know him? Wow, wow (laughs). My first action director job was on Tai San Tau Lung (To Kill the Big Villain in Mt. Tai (1980))
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| HKCinemagic : You did it with your brother?
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : No, I was on my own. |
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| HKCinemagic :
So, basically, you learned action choreography by yourself?
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : By my brother first but by myself after. I had to learn by myself once I became an adult. Becoming an action director was my aim from the first day I started as a stuntman. But it took me 10 years to achieve it. It's not easy to become an action choreographer. You have to be a stuntman for a while and then it depends on how good you are. |
Action scene from Tragic Hero, choreographed by Bruce Leung and Tony Leung Siu Hung
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| HKCinemagic : Obviously, you were good enough!
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : Of course (laughs). I was not the best one but I was not bad either (laughs). In fact, there are different kinds of stuntmen. The best one has a good knowledge of Kung Fu. You have to know what is Tai Chi, Bao Gua and beside that knows how to somersault. During the period of my training, I learned somersaults at YMCA. Not many stuntmen learned there as it was after work. I was the only one. It depends on how brave you are. If you have to fall down from 7 levels and you got no guts, how can you do that? If you are doing a fire stunt, you really must have the guts to do it. It's a crazy stunt. It's really hard to be an excellent stuntman. Besides your skill as a stuntman, the most important thing to become an action director is your imagination. Even though I know some excellent stuntmen in HK, they will always be an assistant at best because they lack the creativity. |
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| HKCinemagic : How do you rate the works of other action choreographers like Lau Kar Leung and Yuen Woo Ping?
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : Of course, according to their experience, they were great enough to become excellent action directors. I admire the most Mr Lau. He is a real Kung Fu master. You can tell the style from his movies. Actually, you can really learn something from his movies if you are a fan of Kung Fu. |
Lau Sifu showing his Kung Fu in Mad Monkey Kung Fu
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| HKCinemagic :
Was Samo's choreography an influence for your action director career?
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : In my opinion, Samo likes hitting, real hit. But some actors, they can not take it. Even some stuntmen can't. Sometimes, when those guys hear that “ok, it's real fight now!”nobody appear! Everyone's gone ! |
Samo Hung hit by Benny Urquiduez in Dragon Forever
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| HKCinemagic :
So, you prefer a less aggressive style ?
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : Aggressive is ok, it's acceptable but it depends. For example, I can hit like that. [Tony does a fast punch motion.] When you are trained both in physical and technique, like a Tae Kwon Do guy or a Karate guy for example, when sparing, you will get many hits. There is no problem for those guys. But some people are not good at that, you must deal with it. When I was training with my brother, he would do real hits (laughs). So I'm used to it myself, I can stand it. But not everybody can (laughs). |
Samo Hung punishing Yuen Biao in Dragon Forever
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| HKCinemagic :
The part of the action choreographer in Hong Kong cinema industry is quite unique. Do you think it's because of this HK action scenes are so memorable?
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| Tony Leung Siu Hung : Yes. We have a lot of freedom. Fighting scenes focus on the choreographer. We just do everything according to the story but most of the action moves are fake. For example, in Chui Kuen [Drunken Fist], I don't think it was real fight. It's imagination. We grab 2 or 3 main points from the real style and then make it our own. And that's something only found in Hong Kong . For example, the movement of the camera, everything is handled in my mind. The cameraman got no objection to that because he's used to take my instructions. The same goes with the editing, the editor take instructions from the action choreographer. We have power and freedom to do our job to the best, which is not the same in other countries. Even if recently, I got to do some work outside of HK and some of them, the cameramen or the producers, they were willing to compromise with my ideas. Because they know I come from Hong Kong and it's my style. When they got this idea, they follow my instructions. If they just want me to follow their western style, it's still OK; I'm ready to do anything. But that's the difference between the two systems. |
Action scene HK style for King of the Kickboxer, shot in Thailand with American actors
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| HKCinemagic : How do you share the work with your assistants? |
| Tony Leung Siu Hung : I deal with every scene myself . Of course, I have my assistants but it's me who has been hired, so it's I who must imprint my style. And, I treat my works as my babies. All comes from your mind, your imagination. You then have to share it with your assistant. It's the same with Tony Ching Siu Tung; after he finished working on a choreographed scene, it's eventually Ching Siu Tung's imagination which appears at the end. |
Ending scene of Vengeance is Mine, one of the most difficult work in the career of Tony Leung Siu Hung
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| HKCinemagic : You designed several great gunfights for movies like My Heart is that Eternal Roseor Long Arm of the Law 3. Is it a type of action you especially like to design? |
| Tony Leung Siu Hung : In every scene, I use my imagination to create something. It's not really a matter of props to use. What I found is that the simpler it looks, the more difficult it is. Like with the ending of a movie I did with Pat Ha [Tony Leung refers to Vengeance is Mine, discussed after]. In fact, I don't like to deal with gunfights and Kung Fu at the same time. You remember this scene from Indiana Jones with the gun, he just shoots at the guy (laughs). So you have to solve the gun problem first, get rid of it. There are only two ways, give a big kick to the gun or running out of bullets. We have no other choices… I hate that part. |
Shootout from Long Arm of the Law III
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