CYF Archive: Major Articles and Interviews

Miscellaneous CYF News Excerpts

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Read CYF News: Back to CYF News & Media Page The World is Read! Go directly to: 1998 News & Media Notes from 1997 and earlier Major Articles and Interviews

LA Times insert magazine cover for March 12, 1995. Time Cover Pic, January 26th, 1998 international edition. (Info below.) (And thanks to Mel and L.P. respectively for these scans!

Major Articles and Interviews:

"Major" is kind of arbitrary -- none of these articles are blurbs, but some are more important than others. Plus, these are only the ones on-line. The articles marked "At this site" are archived (follow me closely) at this site; I mention this because occasionally the links on the other ones expire.

• 1998:
  • CYF Talks About Winds, Clouds, and Everything, by Lam Chiu Wing for Apple Daily, July 26th 1998. A marvelous article: some interesting comments by CYF on the HK-Hollywood differences, and then a fascinating word-association section ("'Hong Kong people.' 'Mean, really mean, they can work and play, overcome hardships and endure.'") Great stuff. [At this site]
  • FAXED FROM TORONTO: FAT GOR REVEALS 4 THINGS ABOUT HIMSELF, by Cheung Pui Fong for Next Magazine, vol. 442, April 1998. A short and fluffy piece about CYF's luxurious lifestyle on the set for TC. (And thanks to Wolverine for having translated and transcribed the article!) [At this site]
  • From Pedestrian AB To Hollywood Killer, by am Yin Nei for Ming Pao Weekly, issue #29, March 15, 1998. A detailed, thoughtful analysis of CYF's career, from his TVB soaps to his Hollywood ventures. Fascinating stuff. (And thanks to Wolverine for having translated and transcribed the article!) [At this site]
  • Four articles from The Star, by Davin Arul: Just Call Me Fatt-Chai (an interview with CYF; well worth a look); Accept No Substitutes (a discussion of the making of TRK); The Man and His Movies (a partial filmography based on MWHK); and Man in the Net. (And many thanks to Mr. Arul for courteously passing on the archival URLs, and to David Lee and Gordon Chan for informing me about the articles originally!)
  • Bogey, Clint, Bronson...Fat? Meet the Hottest Action Hero You've Never Heard Of, by Veronica Mixon for E-Online. A well-written interview, with some interesting comments by CYF on TC. Site includes RealVideo and QT excerpts of the interview. (And thanks to David Lee and Benson Mirhan for the URL!) [Around February '98]
  • Chow Time, by Todd Dougan, on TNT's RoughCut site. A wonderful read, though the news is not always good (at one point CYF says he won't make any more films in HK). Interesting news too about an (unlikely) project with John Singleton. Don't miss this interview. (And thanks to Kent and David Lee for the URL!) [Around February '98]
  • Chow Mania, by Huey Wong for Happening, which dubs itself Singapore's on-line guide to arts and entertainment. A fairly mundane interview; to me most notable because it broaches the question of Asian stereotypes in Hollywood with CYF. (And many thanks to Benson Mirhan for passing on these URL!) [Around February '98]
  • Chow For Now, by Richard Corliss. CYF appeared on the cover of January 26th's International Edition of TIME magazine. Mindbogglingly, there is no mechanism whereby back issues can be bought in North America, but at least the story is on-line at the TIME site. Richard Corliss' article is well worth reading, but mildly depressing: it focuses on CYF's difficulty fitting in Hollywood.
  • A Chance to Work With Chow, by Dennis Eng, for the Hong Kong Standard of January 23, 1998. Offers some interesting details on TRK and some scuttlebutt from Antoine Fuqua. (And thanks to Lisa R.-R. for courteously drawing the article to my attention!) [At this site]
• 1997:
  • New Film Violates Image, by Ching Pui-On for Next Magazine, vol. 405, December 1997. [At this site]
  • Exclusive interview: Chan Wui Nin repays Chow Yun Fat's debt in previous life, for the Ming Pao issue of November 30th, 1997. Some interesting details on on the relationship between Jasmine and CYF. [At this site]
  • Chow the Hollywood Hitman; written by Fionnuala Hannigan for the April 18th South China Morning Post. A great article, with some fan-pleasing tidbits on CYF's coolness. [At this site]
  • Hong Kong Takes On Hollywood, by Peter Hum for the Ottawa Citizen of October 26th, 1997. A wonderful, detailed analysis of the impact that CYF and other HK luminaries are having in Hollywood. [At this site]
  • CYF at the Toronto Film Fest -- not exactly an interview, but rather my account of meeting CYF in September 1997, at the Toronto Film Festival, and his "Q&A" session there. [At this site]
  • Hong Kong's Better Tomorrow; at Channel A. Eeriely similar to the L.A. Times article on Hong Kong film, "Hong Kong's Final Cut?" by Edward Wong of June 15, 1997, and containing the same quotations....Hmmm.
  • Countdown. Return: Chow Yun-Fat; by Ching Pui-On for Next Magazine volume 394 (May 9, 1997). Translated by Wolverine. Slightly depressing rant by CYF about the commercialism of movie-making, and his eagerness to return to HK. [At this site]
  • Direct from Hollywood: Losing 20 pounds like mad, Chow Yun Fat is a killer with a garter [sic]; written by Ching Pui-On for Next Magazine volume 364. Translated by Wolverine. The original article is also online (Chinese decoder required) . Gives a good flavour of HK press...and some gossip on the RK production. [At this site]
• 1996:
  • The Way of Chow Yun-Fat; written by David Chute for Voyager; transcribed by Jaime Villacorte. A brief bio, along with a filmography and a couple of quotations.
  • Voyager's Criterion Collection site contains in-depth reviews of both Hardboiled and The Killer. Both reviews are careful to give the context of Woo's opus, and of CYF's acting career.
  • The A Better Tomorrow series is given an interesting, if brief, review by Peter Reiher, a casual fan.
• 1995:
  • Chow, Baby; by Richard Corliss for TIME International (6 May 1995). A wonderful article, sure to please CYF fans by its enthusiastic appreciation of Chow's greatness. "There's tough, there's tougher, and then there's Chow Yun-fat."
  • Hong Kong's Coolest Export; by R.J.Smith for the Los Angeles Times (3/12/95); archived at The Hong Kong Movie Page. In this well-written and interesting cover article, Smith gives CYF the title "The coolest actor in the world". Well worth reading: the most convincing picture of Chow Yun-Fat the individual I have yet read.
• 1994:
  • I know of none from this year ....
• 1993:
  • CYF: Dreaming the Reality. A neat account by Rick Baker of CYF's visit to the UK in 1993. Archived at Eastern Heroes. (And thanks to Darryl Amaki for the URL!)
  • Chow Yun-Fat Interviewed; by Ian Parkin for The Scala Cinema (1993); archived at The Hong Kong Movie Page. A very loosely-structured pair of sessions where Chow answered questions from audience members at a UK retrospective of his works.
  • Two articles from Bad Subjects: "The Meaning of Chow (It's in His Mouth)" (Steven Rubio, 1993) and "A Better Tomorrow? American Masochism and Hong Kong Action Films" (Sandell, 1993). The former article I highly recommend; the second is interesting, but some of the analysis is questionable. For example (as Rubio himself brings up): Sandell fails to realize, that the use of Disney nicknames in The Killer originates in the subtitles/dubbing rather than in the film itself.
• 1992:
  • King Gangster; by Bey Logan for Film Extremes (1992 #1). CYF is relaxed and sociable: this is a great interview. (And many thanks to Russell Giacometti, who laboured for weeks transcribing it!) [At this site]

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