EASTERN THUNDER DOWN UNDER: Hong Kong cinema’s Aussie connection.
I’m enjoying a week’s vacation in Melbourne, catching up with the family I never get to see enough of. Though I was born and raised in England, my natural parents are Australian. I have the same mother as the sensational Aussie songbird Kate Ceberano (which makes her my half sister; though we don’t use that term in the family. It’s all or nothing! I always complain that I got ten percent of the singing voice and none of the looks!). She and my guitarist brother Phil (who also has his own band, Trentwood) are constantly touring, so it was great that our schedules allowed for a real family gathering.
Besides the musical, our family has also deep roots in the martial. My step-father, Tino Ceberano, is regarded as the father of Australian karate. A student of the legendary Gogen Yamaguchi, he brought the Japanese style of Goju Kai to the land Down Under. My brother, Paul, is continuing the tradition. Paul’s son, Louie, is a perfect blend of the two traditions, being equally proficient in karate and guitar! Presiding over this whole clan is my mother, Cherie (herself a Goju 3rd dan), who has about her increasingly the bearing of a Jedi master…
One of the most illustrious of my father’s students is Richard Norton, a blonde budoka who has proved adept at every range of martial arts combat, and every brand of action film-making. He started his film career working for his good friend Chuck Norris, and became a leading man in his own right, starring in over a dozen straight to video actioners, most recently Roadhouse 2. More remarkably, Richard also earned his chops in the more demanding world of Hong Kong action cinema, working with the great Sammo Hung in Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars and Millionaire’s Express (a Dragon Dynasty DVD release). Richard produced and starred in his own underrated Melbourne-based actioner, Under The Gun (AKA Iron Fist) in which he and Tino engage in a slam bang weapons duel.
The Aussie-HK connection predates Richard, though. Just as Jackie Chan was being apprenticed to the Chinese Opera School, his parents moved to Canberra to work in the French embassy. As a result, Chan had Australian citizenship, and would constantly fly down under to visit Papa and Mama Chan. After Jackie graduated fromYu Jim-yuen’s academy, the kung fu movie industry went into decline, and he considered relocating to his parents’ adoptive home. Going by the English name ‘Paul’, Chan moved to Canberra, tried (in vain!) to learn English and worked on a construction site. At night, he kept up his training in the shadowy attic of the ambassador’s residence. It was in Australia that he first received the call to return to Hong Kong to make films for director/producer Lo Wei.
Though Richard Norton had far superior fighting skills, the first Australian action hero to star in Hong Kong films was George Lazenby. James Bond fans will remember Lazenby for his portrayal of 007 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Although the film was dismissed on initial release, it’s now regarded as one of the best in the series. The victim of awful career advice, Lazenby had refused to sign a contract for further Bonds, and his subsequent film efforts flopped. Down on his luck, he found himself in Asia, where he realized that Hong Kong ‘kung fu’ cinema was the new thing. Landing in the then Crown Colony, Lazenby demanded, and got, a meeting with Bruce Lee.
In the middle of a typhoon, Lee picked up the former Bond in a Mercedes that also contained Betty Ting Pei and Bolo Yeung. (Now hat was quite a carful…) As Bolo remembers it, when they arrived at a restaurant, Bruce announced that, as Bolo did not speak English, they would converse in Cantonese, and Raymond would translate for Lazenby. Lee had Raymond Chow sign Lazenby to a three-picture deal, and intended for Lazenby to play a supporting role in his Game Of Death. The star’s untimely demise prevented this, but Chow held Lazenby to his contract, and he went on to make three movies for Golden Harvest.
Lazenby played the most inappropriately named narcotics officer of all time in Stoner, which saw him battle the likes of Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao alongside kung fu queen Angela Mao. He’s a Sydney crime lord in the Jimmy Wang Yu vehicle The Man From Hong Kong, shot on location in Australia. The film opens with Sammo Hung and an Australian stuntman duking it out on Ayers Rock. The premise of the film, a no-nonsense Hong Kong lawman paired with western cops, foreshadows both the Rush Hour films and Hung’s own Martial Law TV series. The film’s director, Brian Trenchard-Smith, is one of the many underrated B movie directors to enjoy a career re-examination courtesy of Quentin Tarantino. The former Bond rounded out his Hong Kong movie career with the offbeat thriller Queen’s Ransom, which saw him cast alongside Wang Yu, Angela Mao, Bolo Yeung and (in a cameo role) Queen Elizabeth II. (Shot during the Royal Visit to Hong Kong, the Queen and Prince Philip are visible in the background as a terrorist team plots against them.)
Though he later gave up citizenship, Jackie Chan never forgot his Australian roots. He shot most of his Thunderball-esque actioner First Strike in Queenland. I remember visiting him at the snowy location of Fall’s Creek, just outside Melbourne. He introduced us to his snowboard instructor, John Eaves, who ended up acting (or, at least, playing a major role) in the film. Chan also shot the whole of Mr Nice Guy in Melbourne, with Richard Norton back onboard as bad guy. (Richard remembers getting some great acting advice from director Sammo Hung: You always seem so normal, Sammo observed, and no-one remembers normal!)
It was on Mr Nice Guy that Jackie met two Australians who became key members of his stunt team. The acrobatic Wu Shu wizard Brad Allan later provided Chan with a physical foil in Gorgeous. I had fun working with Brad on the documentary Jackie Chan: My Stunts, in which he performed a Chan-style fight sequence. He went on to become a successful stunt coordinator, most recently on Rush Hour 3. Paul Andreovski joined the JC Stunt Team at the same time, and is also Jackie’s personal boxing trainer. When we were in Ireland prepping for The Medallion, Paul trained me every evening. The film may not have been in great shape, but I was!
First Strike marked the movie debut of the hulking Australian wrestler Nathan Jones, who would later enjoy a brief, memorable cameo getting eliminated by Brad Pitt in Troy. He has since become a firm favourite with Asian casting directors, fighting Jet Li in Fearless and Tony Jaa in The Protector (available for Dragon Dynasty).
Though raised in England and resident in Hong Kong, I’m very proud of my Aussie heritage, and to be part of a tradition of Antipodean involvement in Asian cinema.
Comments
- Matt, Goulburn Australia | 2007-07-31 00:39:14
- Jordan Yee - Ah Lung Productions, New Zealand | 2007-07-28 09:30:14
- Houston Williams, California | 2007-08-07 02:12:02