Article written by Dennis Eng for the Hong Kong Standard. Courteously forwarded to me by Lisa Roosen-Runge.
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CHOW Yun-fat does not need an introduction. At least not for Antoine Fuqua.
The two of them had met before at a Christmas party thrown by director Oliver Stone but it was not until Fuqua got a call to direct The Replacement Killers that he jumped at the chance to work with Chow, who has attained something of a cult following in the United States.
"I didn't even read the script. I just wanted to work with Chow Yun-fat," the director said during a recent tour of Hong Kong to promote The Replacement Killers.
"He's like Clint Eastwood and Cary Grant. He can walk into a room and dominate it without saying a word. He has a presence. So I wanted to make a film with not a lot of dialogue for his first American film. He's better at that.
"I think Clint Eastwood was very good at it as are Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. They can bring a lot to a scene by just being very calm and then exploding. You put a gun in his hand and the guy's incredible."
Not surprisingly, The Replacement Killers spares Chow from having to learn too many lines of difficult dialogue in English and leaves much of the talking to some earsplitting bullet-ridden action sequences.
Targeted at younger audiences and hard-core action fans, the film, according to executive producer Terence Chang, is also a safe bet when it comes to Chow's American feature film debut.
"I wanted it to be youthful and fun. It's easy to shoot something that's old and standard. I wanted to be a little bold so that when a young audience goes to a movie they can enjoy the movie," Fuqua explained.
"I wanted it to be for a younger audience because I think younger audiences need a new action star and an ethnic action star _ a Chinese James Bond."
Incidentally, it was also not too surprising to find certain John Woo-esque influences throughout the film even though Woo's only involvement is through WCG Entertainment which executive produced the film.
"I think the reason why John wanted me to do it was because we have the same taste in a way. I saw his work and I appreciated it so much. He's obviously more developed as a feature director but as my career goes on you'll see more," he said.
"More is exactly what Fuqua has in store. Having built a solid foundation with a number of music videos such as Coolio's Gangsta Paradise, which earned him the MTV Video Music Awards for best rap video and best video from a film, he has already begun working on Entrapment, starring Sean Connery.
Billed as an action thriller, Entrapment is budgeted at US$90 million (HK$702 million), which is considerably more than the US$26 million used for The Replacement Killers.
According to Fuqua, Connery plays a skilled art thief who is being hunted by an undercover cop.
"It twists and turns and is totally surprising. But the third act takes place in Hong Kong during the handover. We'll recreate a lot of it later this year," he added.
Another highly anticipated project currently in the pipeline is based on a book called Monster which he owns the rights to via Stone's production company. Far from being a horror flick, it is the true story of a boy who became a killer at the tender age of 11 in California.
"He used to ride around on his little bicycle and blast people away with a sawed off shotgun. He thought he was at war because he was a gang member.
"But the way I'm doing it is completely different. It's sort of a psychological thriller. It's really about what's going on in this young boy's mind. He thought he was in Vietnam. He grew up watching all the war movies."
With Stone behind the project, it was only a matter of time before Chow got his hands on another Stone production, The Corrupter, which is to be directed by James Foley.
Due to begin production on 2 March, shooting will take place over a period of 12 weeks in Toronto with an additional 10 days in New York City.
According to Chang, The Corrupter came to life after he read an article about two corrupt cops in New York City. Eager to adapt it on screen, he was equally eager to have Chow cast in the role of a corrupt and womanising but street-smart cop.
In the film, Chow plays a cop in his 30s. A 10-year-veteran, he is used to taking bribes from various triads in Chinatown. However, an investigation by Internal Affairs soon partners him up with a young cop, portrayed by Mark Wahlberg.
But when his idealistic partner falls prey to the triads, who want to get their money's worth, Chow's character takes on an almost paternal role as he seeks to protect him.
"It does seem rather similar to the film, Donnie Brasco, but the tone of the film is very realistic," Chang said.
Needless to say, The Corrupter will have more lines of dialogue than The Replacement Killers.
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