IFC.com has a great interview with famous Chinese fight choreographer, Yuen Woo Ping.
Though he’s hardly a household name (at least in the United States) it’s no exaggeration to say that Yuen Woo Ping is one of the most influential filmmakers on the planet. As the director of 1978’s “Snake in Eagle’s Shadow,” Yuen helped launch the career of Jackie Chan and define his unique style of comedic kung fu. He went on to direct or choreograph the fights in almost every major Chinese martial arts film of the last quarter century, and when he brought his unique style to America in “The Matrix” in 1999, he revolutionized the way Hollywood action films were made for years. Yuen Woo Ping’s new film as both director and fight choreographer is called “True Legend,” but it’s a title that might just as well be bestowed upon Yuen himself.
Yuen says he has a hard time choosing favorites from any of his films, but he narrows his extensive cinematic catalog to five great fight sequences.
First up:
Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) Versus Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi)
From “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000)
Directed by Ang Lee
YWP: “‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ contains diversified fighting styles. Some are more realistic and some are more poetic. Each of them serves a narrative purpose. In fact, I also greatly enjoy those poetic ones, like the bamboo-top fights, which aren’t common in my past movies.”
Check out the rest here.
Photo: Wikipedia
