About the film
In the wake of the success of “Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame,” Huayi Brothers began producing the film “Tai Chi 0.” There is a lot of anticipation attached to it, since for the first time in Chinese history, all three parts of the trilogy are being filmed simultaneously. Their working titles for the American market are “Tai Chi 0”, “Tai Chi Hero” and “Tai Chi Summit”.
The series of films is a fictional story about the famous founder of the Yang Tai Chi style, Yang Luchan. The part I'm starring in will cover the many trials that he will have to overcome in order to earn the recognition of the teacher from the illustrious Chen Village and thereby learn “Chen Tai Chi.” At the same time, he will help the villagers fight a traitor who intends to build a railway running straight through the village. The villain uses a giant steam engine known as "Troy No. 1" to intimidate the villagers and suppress their desire to resist. The vile machine was driven by eight British mercenaries, and I was one of them.
My first dialogues
Later that morning, we were finally called to the set and it was decided that I would be in charge of driving the car. I had to pretend that I was turning the steering wheel with great difficulty and tension, which in itself was problematic, since the wheel turned out to be light and fragile. Then I had to receive instructions from the main villain and shout out a text confirming receipt of the order. The assistant director would yell “test take” (essentially a rehearsal during which the camera might be on) and we would practice our dialogue. Almost immediately it turned out that the car was humming too loudly and I couldn’t be heard, even when I was screaming with all my might, so they attached a wireless microphone to me. When everyone was sure that they were ready for the real take, the assistant director shouted either part of these words or all of the above: “get to your places, turn on the camera, turn on the engine, get ready, start!” Instead of “ready,” it could be “one, two, three,” and then “start,” or simply “one, two, three,” starting on the count of “three.” The crew usually used a countdown, and sometimes, when accuracy down to milliseconds was needed, it could start at “two” or “four.” In this case, the sequence of commands was standard, and I spoke my lines clearly and without hesitation.
My first close-up
After dinner, it was decided to take a close-up shot of me turning the smaller wheels located on the opposite side of the car. It was necessary to convey the effect of intense work in a steam tank, with laborers scurrying around unloading and throwing coal into a flaming firebox, and from above I and another soldier controlled the wheels. Again, it was difficult to convincingly imitate the incredible difficulty and tension with which I rotate the fake wheel, light as a feather and extremely shaky. The problem was that as soon as I let go of the wheel, it began to spin like crazy, thereby revealing its plastic nature. The worst thing was that a real fire was lit in the oven right in front of my leg, from time to time the pant leg caught fire and serious flames appeared. Therefore, in addition to having to contort one's body in agony to simulate the required degree of effort, one had to be wary of the fire in front of one's feet and be ready to jump to the side if it began to spread. There were a lot of other interruptions, too, like the guy throwing the coal didn't always look sweaty enough or stressed enough. After countless takes, too many to remember, I finally mastered the art of turning the fake wheels, and the workers, after hours of throwing coal, looked exactly like stokers. After the last take was done, one of the assistant directors shook my hand and we all went to bed.
First day of action
The long-awaited first day of filming the action scenes eventually came on my fourth day in the studio. In the morning, I, with another relative newcomer, rehearsed stunt fights with two experienced actors. Both had years of experience in action films, including many weeks of work on fights in Jackie Chan's new film Armor of God 3: Chinese Zodiac. We split into pairs and practiced pre-prepared sequences of strikes. The key is to throw quick punches that feel powerful due to the speed and relaxation of the arms, but the most important thing is to move the arm back with the same speed and force with which the punch was thrown. Blocking is also not easy, because you have to pretend to see every punch or kick for the first time, and block at the very last moment, applying the necessary force for this, and then quickly move your hand back, becoming in a ready/waiting stance , but so as not to block the face in the frame. In addition, we practiced reacting to a blow by relaxing our neck and face, and tried to imitate the effect of absorbing a heavy blow, after which we pointedly threw our heads back. At the same time, he had to adjust his facial expression to each blow, constantly move and make sounds while delivering or receiving blows.
The first action elements in my performance may not seem too intense, but in fact they were fraught with danger. My role was to run as quickly as possible across a narrow metal bridge located on the second floor of the car, trying not to fall to death by falling into one of the openings in the floor, and at the same time not to crush my head or lose my “beaver hat.” ”, catching on low-hanging metal arches. I then had to rush down a narrow metal spiral staircase with a metal pole in my hand, trying not to get stuck on the pole, sprain my ankle, or break my leg. We shot a lot of takes and I had to run as fast as I could because I had to get to the first floor at the same time as those who had a much shorter distance. We spent at least half a dozen takes on this scene, and each time I raced as fast as I could to keep up with the rest of the actors. After all this, I find it hard to believe that any part of my body will appear in the frame, with the possible exception of my legs. At least after all this running I got a good workout for the first time in four days.
In the next scene, the main character jumps over two actors who rush towards him with their metal poles. It took a lot of takes to get this part right. Once, at the very beginning, the actor was performing a complex acrobatic stunt, doing a “corkscrew-screw” in the air above the attacker, and with a loud crunch, he inadvertently hit himself in the nose with his knee. He paused to check his nose, but after a short break insisted on continuing. Then the hero, using a bizarre backflip, invented specifically to complicate the landing, throws one of the actors into the air. He was asked if he needed a stunt double, but he refused, citing his past experience. Unfortunately, in the first take, the team responsible for the cables made a mistake, as a result of which he “drove” his knee into the wall and “earned” a large wound on his leg. After a little scolding from his brother Sammo Hungg, he had to reshoot the episode several more times until everything turned out perfect. After hearing from two experienced actors about the number of injuries they had received, I began to worry a little about my own work that awaited me the next day. The good news was that the next day, when I watched the scenes they filmed, the stunts and action overall looked very impressive.
To be continued ...
Posted by Keoni Everington
Source: theworldofchinese.com
Translation: EvilDollaR
Special thanks to DoD Favorit
It's a historical film)))
I hope Sammo doesn’t go overboard with the cables!
There's no way to do without ziplining!!!