HARD BOILING JUBILEE: Tracing John Woo’s mean streets with Kea Wong.
We shot a location guide for the Hard Boiled DVD today. Much as I love seeing myself on camera (not!), I decided to pass the mantle over to TWC Asia’s adopted ‘little sister’, Kea Wong. Kea is a Chinese-Canadian actress who hails from Vancouver. She has a list of TV and film credits as long as a giraffe, but is best-known for playing the superhero Jubilee in the 2nd and 3rd X-Men films. (In the comics, Jubilee and Logan, AKA Wolverine, are best friends, which maybe explains the bond between this beauty and this beast.)
With the sun hammering down, we met our crew outside the famed Yung Kee restaurant on Wellington Street, and drove from there to Langham Place. This is a big new shopping mall/office block/hotel complex in Mong Kok, and stands on the site of the long demolished Wun Loi Dai Cha Lau teahouse seen at the opening of the film. The government has become very supportive of local film-makers, but, in the bad old days, the colonial rulers were slow to give productions permission to shoot on the streets. They shot anyway, and had to run if the police came. We were filming Kea’s monologue on the sidewalk outside Langham Place when a building security guard came out and accused us of shooting on their property. But this is a public thoroughfare, we protested. He pointed to a strip of metal running down the centre of the sidewalk. That side of the line is our property, he insisted. Kea took one step over the line and we continued. Only in Hong Kong…
From there, we moved to Temple Street. Seeing as this was a Sunday morning, and the famous ‘Miu Gai’ street market had not yet opened, we imagined it would be quiet. Of course, being Hong Kong, someone was drilling away in the upper floor of a building, so we had to wait for him to take a break in his labours. Hong Kong really is one of the noisiest cities in the world, and getting good sound recording is the biggest challenge when we shoot our location reports. The noise pollution was one of the reasons why Hong Kong films (including Hard Boiled) were shot ‘wild’, without sound, for so many years.
We drove to the Stanley Military Cemetary, where Bowie Lam’s funeral is staged. One of the fascinating things about shooting these kinds of features is that I get to see aspects of ‘my’ city that I might otherwise not notice. We treated this hallowed ground, resting place of so many who died for Hong Kong, with every respect. It’s a beautifully tended, and, on this bright Sunday, particularly restful. If you come to Hong Kong and want to track down a Hard-Boiled location, this is the one to visit. It’s situated at St. Stephen’s Bay, just beyond the village of Stanley itself.
The rooftop confrontation between Tony Leung and Philip Chan was shot on the Excelsior Hotel in Causeway Bay. Kea shot her to camera piece with the hotel behind her, and then we hired a little taxi junk to ride out among the yachts moored at the marina opposite. The actual marina seen in the film is located at Discovery Bay, but, given our tight schedule, we didn’t have time to take the ferry over there to shoot that location. Anyway, we got some nice shots of Kea in the prow of the vessel, with beautiful white yachts bobbing behind her.
The library where Tony Leung executes a traitor has been replaced by a sparkling new one in Causeway Bay. Unfortunately, they didn’t go for my idea that we would recreate the scene, with Kea playing Tong Leung, finding a Works of Shakespeare, taking out a prop gun and shooting me in the head. Maybe next time.
The hospital scenes at the end of Hard Boiled were all shot at a former Coca Cola factory out in Sha Tin. It’s not much to look at today, so we tried to find some interesting angles from which to shoot Kea as she explained the history of the structure. Its worthy of mention because it was the only ‘studio’ ever operated by Golden Princess, the production company responsible for many of the classic films of John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark.
From there, we went to the sin bin that is Wanchai. The opening of the film features shots of the neon signs for various bars and clubs that were located there back in 1992. We wanted to see which were still standing, and managed to find The Neptune Bar and the Superstar Club. Kea filmed her commentary in front of the latter, watched by an adoring audience of Indian delivery men.
Our last port of call was the Central bar district, Lan Kwai Fong, and the site of the now defunct Jazz Club where Tequila plays clarinet and John Woo tends bar. It was located on the 2nd floor of the California Entertainment building, 34, D’Aguilar Street. There’s another bar in that location now, so, when you come to Hong Kong, you can still raise a glass there.
Kea makes for a bright, funny guide, and brings her Jubilicious charm to the feature. Hope you guys enjoy watching the Hard Boiled tour as much as we did making it.
Comments
- Don Jariyasunant, La Palma, CA | 2007-05-05 13:14:06
- gary lewis, wadsworth ohio | 2007-04-29 14:52:04
- Jeff, Hkcuk.co.uk | 2007-04-28 18:12:02
- Sevket Erhat, North Cyprus | 2007-05-06 07:11:25
- AjP, South Carolina | 2007-11-20 07:57:45
- Daniel Choina, New York, USA | 2007-04-30 10:41:13