ONE JOURNEY, THREE KINGDOMS: Tracking the Resurrection of the Dragon, part two.
On the second morning of my Three Kingdoms set visit, I joined Maggie Q on the action unit. I’ve been on a few Asian movie sets in my time, but this one has a special energy. Director Daniel Lee, action directors Sammo Hung and Yuen Tak and a full complement of stuntmen and women work to craft an epic duel between Zhao Ziling (Andy Lau) and Maggie’s Cao Ying. The fight marks the culmination of a family feud that has spanned one of the greatest eras of Chinese history.
As the title indicates, the film is set in the Three Kingdoms period, immortalized in a classic work of historical fiction. The young Zhao Ziling goes to war against Cao Cao, a cunning politician and military strategist. Finally, Cao Cao’s forces are sent into retreat, but the battles between feuding warlords continue for sixty years. Zhao Ziling, now an old man, must finally take to the field against Cao’s warrior grand-daughter, Cao Ying.
Their duel begins on horseback, and the first shot saw Maggie facing the challenge of making a graceful dismount with her heavy kwan dao (see yesterday’s blog) in one hand. I’m always amazed at the way good actors can perform these feats of dexterity while staying in character. Yuen Tak is that rarest of things: a Hong Kong action director with ‘people skills’. Maybe he honed them working with Sammo on the CBS Martial Law TV series. He maintains a patient, amiable demeanor as he works with Maggie to fine tune her intricate martial arts moves.
During a break, Sammo regales those around him with a tale from an earlier production. He remembers how, whenever he called for one particular AD, the boy would hurry over, bow, extend one bent arm and say ‘How may I serve you, sir?’ After this happened a number of times, he asked about that AD’s background. It turned out this guy had worked in his father’s Chinese restaurant. Whenever a customer called him, he’d hurry over, with a towel over his arm, bow and say ‘How may I serve you, sir?’. Old habits die hard.
I meet Andy Lau as he arrives on the set in full Zhao Ziling costume and make-up.
Earlier in the day, I met his double. He looks so much like the star; I had a ten minute conversation with him before realizing that he wasn’t the real thing. After the confusion clears, he tells me, to my great surprise, that he isn’t a professional Andy Lau double. He’s an actor and plans to open his own film company. I guess he’ll be working with all the producers that can’t afford Andy Lau…
This year has already seen the real Andy Lau show off his impressive range. He was a master of strategy in the historical feature Battle Of Wits, a middle-aged drug baron in Derek Yee’s Protégé. Though he has occasionally made an impressive martial arts hero (most recently in House Of Flying Daggers), he is better known for contemporary dramas like the Infernal Affairs trilogy (available now from Dragon Dynasty.) Lau comes to Three Kingdom’s from another period film, Peter Chan’s epic Warlords. However, the stylized martial arts combat of this film is far more demanding. It’s made even more so by the extensive hair and make-up job needed to transform Lau into a believable 70 year old.
Aiding this metamorphosis is my friend Mark Garbarino, a top Hollywood prosthetics expert who has worked with Lau on various earlier features. He designed and created the bodybuilder suit for Running On Karma, the fat suit for Love On A Diet. Mark, too, just came off Warlords. He is tasked with ensuring that Lau’s old age make-up remains convincing, despite the challenge of wind, sand and sun. His other credits include 300 and Jet Li’s Fearless, and he goes from Three Kingdoms to the Jackie Chan-Jet Li film Forbidden Kingdom (which is financed, in part, by TWC.)
Between takes, Maggie feeds her horse some sugar lumps. The steed doesn’t eat them. He just licks the sugar as it lies in her hand. She had limited horse-riding skills before starting the film, basic martial arts, basic Mandarin. I’m amazed the way she manages to pick up new talents towards building a character. That’s the magic of it. There are better martial artists, better Mandarin speakers, but could those people use those attributes to create a role audiences will relate to? That’s what will make filmgoers understand the human motivations of this female antagonist.
Three Kingdoms is being financed, in part, by a Korean company, Taewon. A crew of Koreans works the set with quiet professionalism, shooting footage for an extensive making of documentary, and operating cutting edge software that allows them to edit scenes pretty much as they are shot. Amazed, I look over the technicians shoulder to see Andy and Maggie clash in an exchange I’d seen filmed just moments before.
As the sun sets against a Spaghetti Western landscape, I watch Maggie, or rather Cao Ying, wield her weapon with expert grace. As the light fades, the indefatigable Daniel Lee moves in tighter and tighter to get as many shots her as possible. The production has limited time with Maggie. Thankfully, she is so in sync with her director that they make every moment count. Finally it’s a wrap, and we head back to base camp.
Early the following morning, I’m riding the trackless wastes to the Guazhou airport, reflecting on this latest adventure. Three kingdoms, two days in the badlands and one wild ride.
- Zo, Baltimore, MD, USA | 2007-04-25 15:56:23