During his nearly 20-year career in Hong Kong action films Philip Ng went through the entire gamut of action film production, from stunts and choreography to starring. Throughout his career he has worked with some of the greatest people in the business including Jackie Chan, Sammo Hunga, Yuen Wu Ping и Donnie Yen.
Western audiences know him best for his role as Ma Yongzhen in "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" and by role Bruce Lee in a Hollywood movie "Birth of the Dragon". The latest Hong Kong springboard for Phil's Western debut was his 2019 film "Undercover: Punch and Gun".
Along with his friends Andy On and Vanness Wu from "Ip Man 4: Finale", Philip shows his strengths in both designing and executing action in the spirit of the golden era of Hong Kong films of the 80s and 90s that inspired him to get into the business many years ago.
Philip stopped by KFK today to share his insight into the creation of "Undercover: Punch and Gun"; about how he went through all the hardships to make the film, as well as other challenges he and others in the Hong Kong film industry have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also dives into personal revelations about his time working alongside the legendary king of action films. Sammo Hoonthat you won't want to miss! So, without further ado, welcome Philipa Ng!
Hello Philip, welcome back to Kung Fu Kingdom! Nice to chat again and hope you're doing well during the pandemic?
Hi Brad, glad to be here again, I'm doing well, thanks!
Philip on KFK's mission
Cool! So before we begin, our mission is to inspire 100 million people around the world to take up martial arts because of the positive benefits it brings to people, physically, mentally and socially - what do you think about this goal?
I think it's great! I think it's important to properly understand martial arts culture, and martial arts has so many facets, whether it's combat, health, exercise, or entertainment.
There are many different ways to use martial arts in very beneficial ways and I am very fortunate to be able to do it in different aspects, so to have a platform like this Kung Fu Kingdom, for distribution, is great.
Last movie: "Undercover: Punch and Gun"
This is definitely our goal! Okay, let's start with how did you end up in the martial arts crime thriller Undercover: Punch and Gun?
This was my project, I was one of its producers. Andy He, Vanness U and I met while working on a film "Star Runner", and for everyone this film was the first in something.
It was the first time I was hired as an assistant choreographer, Andy won the Best Newcomer award, and it was Vanness's first major role in an action film. It was a first for all of us, we were like new kids at school and after that we kind of stuck to each other.
Heavy influence from Hong Kong films of the 80s and 90s
We always talk about Hong Kong films from the 80s and 90s that influenced us, and that's one of the reasons I make films now.
I worked on an action movie that I produced Charlie Wong and I'm always vocal about my ambitions and intentions, and he said, "Hey, do you have an idea for a movie with your friends?" And I said, “Yeah, and it's in the spirit of the '80s and '90s action movies, which was ironic.”
We looked at several directors and several scripts and finally settled on Louis Kun-name и Frankie Tame. They were first-time directors, but they were very prolific screenwriters and very good storytellers. I was in charge of all the action, and once it came down to it, all that was left was to involve all my brothers.
So what's the greatest story you can tell us about filmmaking?
There are a lot of stories! It was a difficult journey for me. I've done a lot of different jobs and this was the first time I've done something like this.
I should thank you Charlie Wong и Gordon Chan, two other producers who helped with financing, and Gordon, who simply brought his own ideas to the project, similar to those in "Fist of Legend".
Broken ribs by Andy On
I think the most memorable moment was when Andy broke two of my ribs and I had to finish the film with an injury. We shot back-to-back, which is very rare, but we were just lucky that everything worked out with the locations and things like that.
When we got to the finals, Andy and I had a fight and there is a sequence of moves that ends with a back kick. There was a miscommunication with the props and stunt shoes with softer soles for Andy were not prepared in time. It would still hurt, but the ribs wouldn't break!
Andy had thick boots on and we just decided to carry on with them and it just so happened that Andy slipped a little and I put my hands up to block but instead of hitting me high he hit me in the ribs. At first I didn't realize that he had broken my ribs because I continued to be active. But then I told my assistant: “I think I broke my ribs, but don’t tell anyone!” (both laugh)
Show must go on…
We continued filming and after that I filmed with cables where I was pulled very hard against the wall, but I was still fine. But then I walked into the dressing trailer and because I was sweaty, I took off my shirt, turned on the air conditioner and started sneezing. The first time I sneezed, I felt a crunching sound. I told my guys to come and check on me and they said, "Oh, Phil, I think you need to go get an x-ray." And so it happened - I broke one rib and cracked the other!
Stomach infection cost muscle loss
People told me that I should stop production for a while, and I said: “I can’t, all the locations are no longer available, we’re doing the ending, and we don’t have money for reshoots.” You can see that at the beginning of the film I'm pretty strong, but I kind of get smaller and smaller because I got some kind of stomach infection and I was feeling really sick.
Despair makes you endure whatever it takes
So the last week of production was full of all that, which was very hard, but you know, it's a testament to how desperation makes you endure what you have to endure. I learned a lot from this experience as an action director about what to do and what not to do, and I plan to do more. So I've definitely learned how to make life a lot easier!
On working with best friend Andy On
Was it the first time you were filming the fight with Andy that you got injured? You guys have worked together quite a lot.
Yes, he is my best friend. I fought with him a lot and choreographed a lot of his films, and this is really the only time I got injured. Sometimes it's good when I do choreography that I'm not involved in because I can really focus on creating the action, but I'm still usually forced to do one or two scenes.
As in "Zombie Fight Club" I was forced to fight with him in one scene. (Both laugh). But that was the only time I got hurt working with Andy, and it wasn't really his fault. There was just a miscommunication with the props department and I decided to just go ahead and we were limited on time so we didn't have much of a choice.
It really harkens back to the 80s and 90s, the reason these films are so good is because they have a lot of budgetary and technical constraints.
Return of the intuitive feeling
Even with a bigger budget and some workarounds, I think I would still have shot it the way I did with Vanness on top of the car, Andy shooting in people's faces, and me getting punched and kicked in the stomach.
I want that visceral feeling - there are a lot of movies these days where they hire a pop star, train him for two weeks and give him an action role. People might be averse to it, especially if they're not kung fu fans, but I think when you see people like me and Andy fighting, it's more aesthetically pleasing, so we try to do our best.
So, what action scene or stunt would you say was your favorite in Undercover: Punch and Gun?
I'm especially proud of Vanness's knife fight scene. We didn't have a lot of time for it, but I gave them a lot of freedom. Andy, Vanness and I knew who our characters were and what we had to play, but I gave them a lot of freedom in terms of what they wanted to do and how to portray their actions.
Andy really likes guns, so I said, “Okay, Andy, you can make some cool gun fu!” And Vanness was like, “I want to jump and stuff,” so I said, “Okay, let’s do parkour.” When it came to knife fighting, he really wanted to use the Balisong, and I was like, “Well, this is hard to use, I can barely handle one!” And he said: “Yes, I trained with him since childhood!” So I gave him a few weeks to practice and he showed me some tricks that were pretty complicated and I said, “Okay, let's use this.”
Again, I tried to make the scene aesthetically pleasing but also believable, which is what I like to do with my choreography. I was greatly influenced Donnie Yen и Sammo Hung, because what they do is stylish, but also believable. You see and understand that if someone is trained enough, they can make a tough fight. It's like a helicopter armbar, a technique that's rarely used in competition, but someone really skilled can probably do it, so that's the type of choreography I like to do.
Andy came into the Hong Kong film industry as a newcomer and has become quite a talented martial artist, but does Vanness have martial arts experience or did he learn it for the movies?
Well, neither of them had much martial arts experience before starring in the movie, but Andy is super athletic and learns everything on the fly. It took me a month to master the 720-degree kick, but when I taught it to Andy, he learned it in three days. I've been training since I was a kid, but Andy is a quick learner!
Vanness is just a workaholic. He does things like wall flips and things like that by himself. I told him what direction I wanted his character to go in, he was in Taiwan at the time and I was in Hong Kong. So he took it upon himself to train for a month, so when he was on set, we were ready.
Be an actor, choreographer, stuntman and director
Would you like to continue working as an action director?
Throughout my almost twenty-year career, I have been involved in both acting and choreography. Before I became a choreographer, I was a stuntman, and then I did acting and dubbing at the same time, then I progressed to a choreographer, and then an action director.
For my films, I would probably prefer to choreograph, unless it's someone I'm dying to work with - Yuen Woo-Ping or Sammo Hung, I think I choreograph a little better for myself because I know what I’m capable of. I think it's the same with Andy and Vanness because I know them very well and we've worked together so many times.
Working with Yuen Woo-Ping
You've worked with some of the best in the business; Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen, Yuen Woo-Ping, etc. What have you learned from such varied experiences filming action films with them?
I learned a lot while working with Yuen Wu-Ping on several projects, but obviously the project we worked on most closely was "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai". There are a lot of rules in filmmaking, so when a film is put together, it feels truly cohesive to the viewer.
However, sometimes you break the rules because it might make something better in a particular case. There was one where the director, DP and I were all thinking, “Okay, this shot should come from here,” but he looked at it for 30 seconds or so and said, “No, it should come from the other side of the camera.” And we're all like, "Okay, you're a master, you've been working on "Drunk Master" и "The Matrix"! Or just “Insert Kung Fu Classic Here”!
Yes, and you see in the final montage that he is absolutely right. And it was not something particularly important, but some small things. It's a testament to someone's experience because you don't learn this in school, you learn it by making billions of films.
Working with Sammo Hung
Sammo in Hong Kong is known as "Dai Guo Dai", which means "Big Big Brother", he is simply known as a leader. And I worked with other famous people in business, where people work well together at the moment, and then, as it were, giggled over each other behind their backs. But not Sammo, because everyone respects Sammo. He can probably do your job better than you, even if you're just doing lighting or sound design, he knows every aspect of filmmaking. Sammo respects the person's assigned role.
The cool thing about it is that when he's a director he's very strict and that's well known, but when he's an actor he won't interfere with your position, which he could do and no one would say anything to him.
I know other actors and other action stars who will really interfere with your filming or choreography, which is fine if they have good ideas, but sometimes they cross the line.In our films with Sammo, where we were just actors and other people choreographed for him, he didn’t say anything. He could laugh and maybe joke a little, but he works well with others and that's something I really admire. Sometimes when I'm on set and I'm not a choreographer, I feel the need to put in my two cents, but I know where to draw the line thanks to guys like Sammo.
Philip Ng's love affair with Drunken Master
What's your favorite martial arts movie of all time?
My favorite for many reasons is "Drunk master". I remember watching it on VHS when I first immigrated to America as a child and wondering, “How can I find my cultural identity and be proud of who I am?” And it happened through kung fu.
My dad was a big, big fan of kung fu movies, and he would watch movies with me and pay attention not to the main character, but to everyone except him. He noted: “This guy knows Mantis” or “This guy, he has a black belt in judo and we saw each other at parties.” And I thought, "I wish I was one of those guys," and not even the main guy, but someone that some kid's dad tells him, "Look, that guy Phil, he's good at kung fu." .
The perfect kung fu movie
He rented movies and one of the ones he brought home was "Drunk master", and I think it's the perfect kung fu movie. Everything is there and everything is done perfectly. There's a naughty student based on a real historical figure and there's a strict but funny and weird kung fu master whose past is about to be revealed, and then there's the main supervillain (Hwang Jang Lee) who does crazy kicks. He's super funny and the fight pacing may not be what people know, but it's still amazing.
If you ask Andy about his favorite movie, he will answer: "Drunken Master 2", and I love that era, but the first "Drunk master" influenced me very much. When they made lines in Chinese, they rhymed, everything was like a small poem.
I remember how Yuen Cheung-Yan, brother Yuen Woo-Ping, once quoted lines on the set of a movie we were working on and I had to correct him because I knew them so well (both laugh)!
So this is a testament to my love for "To the Drunken Master" and you can imagine my fandom when I worked on films with these guys, and especially something like "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" with Yuen Woo-ping! I remember seeing the first teaser with a red background like Shaw Brothers, with all the guys in the roles, and thought: “Wow... when is the movie coming out?!”
Entertainment and recreation
So, moving on to fun and relaxation, what's something interesting or cool that people don't know about you?
I think everyone knows what a geek I am! (Both laugh) I'm a comic book geek, I'm truly the most knowledgeable geek! Van also knows quite a lot, but every time a superhero movie comes out there is a huge discussion where I explain everything to Andy and Van, which is great, I love it.
I remember being on set when "Avengers: Endgame" had just come out, and I was walking away from the other actors and telling everyone else, “Hey, we're talking about the ending, spoilers, stay away!” And, of course, I also have a poster with Shang-Chi!
Shang-Chi: Asian Superhero... Finally!
When I was young, I didn't have many friends outside of kung fu, and I read a lot of comics and played a lot of role-playing games, and my friends were into Batman, Superman and Spider-Man.
My mother bought me a volume of the encyclopedia of the universe Marvel and there was an article about Shang-Chi. And I remember thinking, “This is great, but if they ever make a movie about it, they'll probably cast someone else!” (both laugh). I hope that Sim Liu will tear everyone apart. It's good that there is an Asian superhero now. It shows how popular superhero movies have become and I'm excited to see Shang-Chi on the big screen this year...
A perfect question to jump to: If you could be a superhero, who would you be and what superpower would you most like to have?
I think I'd like to be like Wolverine and have the ability to regenerate.
As you get older, you have more problems with your body and you just start thinking, “Man, I wish I could be like Wolverine and just grow body parts back—but without Adamantium so I don't get metal poisoning!
Philip's future goals
Good idea! So, what other dreams, goals and ambitions are you trying to achieve?
I think at this point in my career I'm focusing more on production and producing. Every goal I wanted to achieve, I achieved, and it wasn't easy for me. I was in the business for 8 years before I got my first starring role, and some people wait even longer.
I think my childhood dream of people pointing at me and saying, "Oh, that guy is good at kung fu" came true when kids come up to me on the street, and it was worth it.
I also wanted to create a friendship with Andy and Vanness that was, if I'm not afraid to be bold, like a relationship Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao и Sammo Hunga. They make films on their own, but when they make one together, you get really excited about it. I think when the three of us get together, many people remember "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai", when Andy and I were filming it.
As you know, I also played Bruce Lee in "Birth of the Dragon", that wasn't the goal, but it was a great experience. I worked in television and did choreography, so everything I really set out to do, I did. Now I think I'm focusing more on production, producing films for myself and creating content.
Covid effect
Especially in times like these now with COVID, when you're a content creator, it's a little easier to control your destiny, and thanks to streaming services, no matter where I am, I can film here and sell my product Netflix or Amazon or streaming services in Asia.
This is basically what I'm working on now and due to COVID, several of my projects have been delayed or just canceled outright, which is a blessing in disguise. Over the past few months, my screenwriting partner and I have developed at least five projects, and we are now in the process of selling them. My goal is to start actual production, principal photography, before the end of the year, and I'm confident that the way things are going, we'll be able to do that. I'm not asking for big budgets, but I think I can give a pretty good price for what people give us.
So, perhaps in the Once Upon a Time in Shanghai sequel we will see Ma Yongzhen escape from prison...
(Both laugh). I don't know if this will happen, but maybe there will be a movie based on it!
Right before COVID hit, I was back in the States for Chinese New Year, and I was supposed to be back in Hong Kong last February to start working on some projects. But all this was postponed for obvious reasons and I ended up staying in the States for about 8 months.
Since then I have released several projects, such as "Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong", which I choreographed, and right now I'm just focused on developing these projects. God willing, I should be at least in pre-production by the end of the year.
Military wisdom: don't miss the heavenly beauty!
Well, we wish you good luck with that and hopefully the pandemic will be well under control by then. So what warrior wisdom or philosophical quote helped you become who you are today?
I think, especially now with COVID, the Bruce Lee quote from "Enter the Dragon": “It’s like a finger pointing to the moon. Don’t concentrate on your finger, otherwise you will miss all this heavenly beauty.” I think this is an important quote now, focus on what is important and everything that is not will keep you further from your goals or you will not notice the beauty in your life.
It's harder than ever to do that, but at the same time I think it's more important than ever to do just that. This kind of wisdom never gets old, but I think it is especially important now.
Philip's message for KFK followers
Yes, absolutely! As we wrap up, Philip, what special message would you like to share with Kung Fu Kingdom followers and your fans and followers around the world right now?
I would just like to tell martial arts fans to keep supporting kung fu movies and action movies. I think that 87Eleven had to sell "John Wick" in about eleven studios before they got to Lionsgate, and thank God, because these guys are opening up the market for guys like us.
I also know some of the guys who took part in "Paper Tigers", it's a smaller budget film, but a lot of people really enjoyed it. I think there is a universal language in kung fu films, and that language is movement.
Everyone knows what it's like to hit your head on something or want to punch someone in the face. These emotions and actions are universal, and I think kung fu films can help bridge the gap between different cultures, thereby spreading a message that is worthwhile.
Very well said, Philip! Thank you very much for the privilege of speaking again today, it has been a real pleasure. We look forward to hearing about the progress of your future projects in 2021. Stay in touch, Xie xie!
My pleasure, Brad, and thanks for having me back at Kung Fu Kingdom!
The text was translated by Aidos Nurgazinov
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Tags: Vanessa U, Sammo Hung, Philip Ng, Andy He, Yuen Wu-Ping
Tags: Vanessa U, Sammo Hung, Philip Ng, Andy He, Yuen Wu-Ping
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