QUENTIN SPEAKS: Remembering a Cannes encounter with the Grindhouse guru.
In honour of the release of the awesome Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double-header Grindhouse, I’d like to recount for you the story of my first memorable encounter with the former. It was at the Cannes film festival. I was working for Hong Kong’s Emperor Group at the time, and we were prepping the vampire comedy actioner The Twins Effect.
There was a huge party to celebrate Hong Kong cinema, hosted by that cunning linguist Christy Chung, the only actress fluent in English, French and Cantonese, among many other tongues. The stars in attendance included Jackie Chan and Andy Lau. I was there with my dear friend Gary Daniels, Chan’s co-star in City Hunter, the living embodiment of Fist Of The North Star and leading man in the first film wot I ever wrote, White Tiger.
After the bash, Gary and I wandered down the Croisette, the seafront walkway that defines Cannes, and into the lobby of the Carlton hotel. Look, said Gary, there’s Quentin. And there was the man himself, fending off well-wishers, fans and those eager to pitch a project. QT was making slow progress through the lounge. Go say hello to him, urged Daniels. He’ll have read your book. (The volume in question being my Hong Kong Action Cinema. The publisher had approached him to write the foreword and Quentin had apparently declined, not an auspicious sign.) You go talk to him, I muttered. You’re the actor. Gary gave me an encouraging pat on the back. Remembering the way his Fist Of The North Star opponents split into bloody pieces when he did that, I stepped up to the plate. Hi, Quentin, I’m Bey… To my happy surprise, QT’s face lit up. Bey Logan? How are you? Read your book! Wanna get a beer? Gary and I exchanged glances, decided, in a lengthy millisecond, that we had no other pressing engagements, and proceeded to a corner table.
This was at 11pm. At 4am, Quentin rose to take his leave. In between, he had held us spellbound with a live, one-man performance of the entire script for Kill Bill, which was, at that time, just one film. I remember thinking, as I watched this extraordinary show, that the actual movie was going to have a lot to live up to. I remember QT incarnating Uma Thurman’s character as Vivica Fox pleads that her new domesticity should except her from the Bride’s revenge. Speak no further, bitch, he snarled. (The line was changed in the finished shooting script, but I’ve used it countless times, with a rough approximation of QT’s delivery.) He delivered both sides of the exchange in which Uma demands to be given a Hanzo sword. I well recall his summoning the martial majesty of Pai Mei, a role he had considered playing himself.
Adding to my appreciation of the recitation, he would cite the Asian film that had influenced a specific shot or scene. I guess I was, at that time, one of the relatively few westerners who had seen the original movies. By now, of course, as Quentin had intended, Kill Bill has created a new awareness of Asian action cinema, and an expanded audience that Dragon Dynasty does its best to cater to.
I first saw Kill Bill in Hong Kong. By all rights, the premiere should have been held at the Queen’s Theatre in Central, where so many of the classic films referenced, including the Bruce Lee flicks, had their premiere. Instead it was at the Golden Harvest owned Ocean theatre on Canton Road. I met Gordon Liu for the first time in ages. We had been living in the same city for several years, but it took Quentin’s work to re-introduce us. Like everyone, I was blown away by Kill Bill Part One, and was delighted that the finished film only enhanced my memories of Quentin’s blow-by-blow. Some time later, I saw Part Two, was equally impressed and, like everyone, can’t wait to see the two halves of this masterwork expertly blended into Kill Bill NC-17.
Grindhouse sees QT and his fellow maestro of mayhem, Robert Rodriguez, at the top of their respective games. Given the demands of such a venture, it speaks volumes that Quentin has been devoting whatever time he can to preparing his upcoming Dragon Dynasty DVD series of classic Shaw Brothers titles.
As an evangelist for Asian action, he has no peer. When I last saw Quentin in LA, he was working on his long-mooted remake of the Shaw classic Avenging Eagle. Whoever gets to see him perform that script is in for a wild ride. In the meantime, QT’s Grindhouse is playing in a rundown fleapit near you…
Comments
- Thomas, HKcinemagic.com, Shanghai | 2007-04-28 21:49:36
- Dan Day, London | 2007-05-03 11:22:30
- Arigo, Texas | 2007-05-09 20:30:25
- Will, USA | 2007-05-02 19:58:14
- Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Los Angeles, Ca. | 2007-04-27 23:21:15
- Jeff, Hkcuk.co.uk | 2007-04-26 09:11:32
- govokinolij, MESSAGE | 2007-07-13 09:38:15
- Alex, Toronto, ON, Canada | 2007-05-07 21:55:44