KING CHARLES REMEMBERED: The passing of Salon’s chief marks the end of an era.
I first met Charles Wang about 20 years ago. I was still living in England, and trying to make some headway in the film industry. One of my friends, the writer Richard Laplante, had optioned his book Tegne to a crusty old fellow named Joe Shaftel. Joe had been a producer on the long-running American TV series The Untouchables. We discussed the possibility of shooting the Tegne movie in Hong Kong, where I already had a few connections in the local industry. If you go there, Joe advised, you should look for Charles Wang from Salon Films. I hear he’s the man…
Charles was, indeed, the man. His Salon Films company, founded by his father, won the Panavision license for Asia, and rose to become the preeminent production services company in the region. It’s hard to find any international production shot on this side of the world that didn’t see Charles in charge of supplying its equipment.
The film that really put the company on the map was the 1966 classic The Sand Pebbles, starring Steve McQueen. Much of the film was shot on location in Taiwan and Hong Kong. It’s a key film in the development of Hong Kong cinema, as the local stuntmen experienced, for the first time, some of the Hollywood tricks of the trade. (The film has just been re-released on DVD, and sharp-eyed viewers will spot, among the Chinese heavies, Yuen Shun-yee, of Dreadnaught and Iron Monkey fame, and, in one spectacular close-up, Shaw Brothers legend Lau Kar-leung.)
I first became aware of the Salon brand when I saw it in the credits of the 1988 Van Damme vehicle Bloodsport. It would be hard to underestimate what a seminal film this was in the development of international martial arts movies. Salon provided all the equipment, and Charles himself was credited as ‘production consultant’. (He also cameos in the film as a doctor seen in the hospital after Van Damme’s friend is injured.) This movie began Charles long association with the Belgian action hero. Salon also provided production services on Kickboxer (shot in Thailand) and Double Impact. (Jean-Claude attended Charles’ memorial service in Hong Kong.)
When I showed up in Hong Kong on my Tegne mission, I was delighted that Charles agreed to meet me in person. He greeted me warmly at his office in Kowloon Tong, and started asking standard questions about the production. What, he demanded, was the above the line budget, and how much was the below the line? I had to confess I had no idea what these terms meant. With a sigh, he went to the door. I was afraid he was going to usher me out, as I was obviously a mere neophyte. Instead, he slowly closed it, and sat back down. We were eye to eye. Okay, he began, above the line means cast, director… And he proceeded to spend half an hour of his precious time explaining the inner workings of the film industry to me. At the end, he shook my hand, and he said “Well, whether or not this film ever comes together, we know each other now, and I hope we can work together in the future.”
After I relocated to Hong Kong and started working in the industry, I had numerous chances to work with Charles and Salon. We rented equipment from them for my Jackie Chan documentaries, for Twins Effect, for The Medallion… Occasionally, Charles would visit the set, usually in traditional Chinese garb and always smiling. We were shooting a scene for Medallion at a swimming pool in Bangkok when Charles materialized. I reminded him of our first meeting, and thanked him for his earlier patience and kindness.
Besides meeting the challenges of equipment rental, Charles became increasingly involved with actual production. He was an associate producer on Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, and supervising producer on Rush Hour 2. (Salon had provided services for the Hong Kong shoot on the first Rush Hour, and Charles appears as chauffeur in the MTV director Brett Ratner shot for Dru Hill’s How Deep Is Your Love?). He took a full producer credit on the Steven Seagal film Belly Of The Beast. I remember him marveling at the skills used by director Ching Siu-tung to make Seagal look better than he had in years.)The last time I saw him on a movie set was when I visited Milla Jovovich on the s-f actioner Ultraviolet, on which Charles was an executive producer.
I last spoke to Charles a couple of months before he died. We discussed a potential project to be shot in Shanghai. I wish I could say we had some kind of personal exchange befitting a final conversation, but it was, as ever with Charles, all business, but conducted with warmth and charm. I understand that he was talking business right ‘til the end, discussing films that he knew he would never live to see.
Charles Wang’s life and career spanned the full length of the Hong Kong film industry’s golden years. His company will continue, his legacy is secure, but he’ll be missed.
Comments
- Ray Farrell, Ireland | 2007-08-10 07:23:22
- Brian Jamieson, Los Angeles | 2007-08-10 18:57:58