RAISING THE DRAGON HEAT : Remembering movie mayhem on the mean streets of Hong Kong (part two)
Dragon Heat had the best international ‘rogue’s gallery’ of any Asian action film shot in 2005.
The first person cast was Huh Joon-ho, a Korean character actor best-known internationally for his roles in Volcano High School and Silmido. The film was originally set up as a HK-Korean co-production, and ‘Mr. Huh’ (as we all referred to him) came as part of the deal. He speaks very little English, and can have something of a forbidding presence. When we first met, I gave him a copy of the UK DVD of Volcano High School, and he lightened considerably. This was a relief, as it was my job to coach Mr. Huh in his English dialogue for the film. He worked very hard at it, and there was something about his halting delivery that made the lines even more powerful. I remember running a scene with him, and feeling my chair move back, such was his presence when performing. Mr. Huh wasn’t always the easiest person to deal with on-set, but, on-camera, he delivered. (I met him at the Pusan Film Festival the following year, and he greeted me warmly, so I guess he must have enjoyed the Dragon Heat experience.)
It was my suggestion that Huh’s partner in the film be played by an American actor with some ‘name’ value. Daniel Lee was initially resistant, then agreed to let me go after Hollywood actors who could pass as (at least) Eurasian. Our associate producer Jimmy Moy approached Jason Scott Lee, who was tied up doing a play. I talked to Michael Madsen’s agent, but Madsen wasn’t interested in doing “a kung fu movie in Hong Kong”. Madsen’s agent suggested his client Dean Cain, who I knew primarily as TV’s Superman in Lois And Clark. However, after I saw Cain’s terrific performance opposite Denzel Washington in Out Of Time, I rethought my position. By the this time, though, Daniel had come around to wanting a real western name, someone who had been in an Oscar winning film, and wanted me to approach Billy Zane. Zane’s agent turned us down because the actor was directing his own film. Anyone else on your wish list?, I asked Daniel. “I always liked that guy from Aliens and The Rock”, he replied. “Michael Biehn…” He looked up and shook his head. “But we’ll never get him.”
Michael Biehn arrived in Hong Kong ready to rock. I had sent him to train with my old friend Benny The Jet Urquidez in LA. He had character notes written all the way through his script. He was lean, focussed and prepared. The first night he was in town, we had dinner together in a local restaurant. “I’ll do what I can,” he told me, “but I’m not a martial artist, I’m not a stuntman…” I told him not to worry, that we had a top Hong Kong action coordinator, Chin Kar-lok, working on the film. What I neglected to mention that Kar-lok is also a popular host of a wacky TV game show. A TV set in the restaurant was playing the show, showing Kar-lok, dressed in purple suit, orange dreadlocks and pink glowing bow tie, rolling in a rug with a contestant. “This,” observed Michael, drily, “does not inspired confidence…”
Michael proved to be a real trouper, even though we lacked many of the amenities enjoyed on Hollywood movie sets. He and Daniel soon established a great rapport, and it was fun to watch Daniel being excited by the experience of working with Michael. Working hours and methods are far more demanding on Hong Kong films
than they are in Hollywood, but Michael rose to the occasion. He found himself running down endless hallways at 3am, working a 20 hour day with only the haphazard Hong Kong movie catering for sustenance… A local reporter asked him if The Abyss was really the toughest shoot in cinema history. “Compared to THIS movie?,” he replied, drily.
I discussed the casting of Maggie Q in an earlier blog. The bad guys league was rounded out by Chicago-born martial artist/stuntman/actor Philip Ng. Though his character is Korean, Philip is actually Chinese. I cast him on his first Hong Kong film job in The Twins Effect, and he has been working consistently ever since. (He’ll soon be seen in the Dragon Dynasty DVD release of Invisible Target).
The last member to join was the hulking Mark Henderson. The role of ‘Sarge’ called for an actor who could convincingly play a muscular ex-US army soldier. Mark came in to read, and it turned out that he is, in fact, a muscular ex-US army soldier… Given his imposing presence, I asked what he did for a living, imagining he would be either a personal trainer or a club doorman. “I play trumpet with a jazz band,” he replied, “and sing a little…” I had the chance to see him perform, and was blown away. One of my warmest memories of the shoot is of sitting with Daniel Lee on the set, exhausted, listening to Mark play the theme from The Godfather to raise our spirits.
Comments
- Stuart, Hell | 2007-10-08 03:31:56
- Kev, Boston MA | 2007-10-04 17:05:36