HK Directors’ Spotlight- Benny Chan: The Usual Suspects
by Gabriel Chong | 20 January 2011

Here’s a thought- the principal cast of director Benny Chan’s new US$25mil blockbuster- Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse, Wu Jing and Jackie Chan- have all at some point or another starred in a previous Benny Chan film. It’s not a coincidence one quickly realises, when listening to the notable director of some of Hong Kong’s biggest action movies of late (New Police Story, Invisible Target, Connected and City Under Siege).

Benny Chan is in Singapore with his “Shaolin” star Andy Lau to promote his new movie. He points out that he chooses his actors very carefully, which often means that he ends up working with the same group of actors he trusts and is comfortable with. “You need to be able to get along with your actors,” he explains. “I have ever worked with actors who are lazy and demanding. When you ask them to stand in position for the camera, they do so reluctantly and slowly. And if you want them to stay back a little longer, they simply refuse to.”

But Benny says that for the sake of cordiality on set, he doesn’t shout or scold his actors. Instead, he takes it as a lesson, and doesn’t ask them back for his next film- so you know how he feels about Andy, Nicholas, Wu and Jackie. Yes, he praises these regular actors of his as consummate professionals and says that he has enjoyed working with each one of them. In particular, he is full of admiration for the dedication to their craft they showed when filming “Shaolin”.

Benny, whose very first feature film was the triad romance “A Moment of Romance” (1990) starring Andy, said that Andy would give his views on the set from a director’s point-of-view, a quality he attributes to Andy’s more recent efforts at supporting new directors through his production company, Focus. He is also quick to add that their collaboration this time was very different from their first.

“We spent a lot more time talking about the script, which was crucial to this movie,” Benny said. “In contrast, we didn’t actually have a script when we filmed ‘A Moment of Romance’. We were just given two months to film, and I had an idea of what I wanted Andy Lau’s character in the movie to be from visiting the Sai Kung area on Saturday nights on my motorbike. So we didn’t communicate much last time, because we were filming on a very tight schedule.”

Benny also says that Andy was his first choice to play the lead in “Shaolin” and because of that, he knew that this movie wasn’t going to be an all-out action movie like the Jet Li 1982 original. “Andy is not like Jet- he’s a much more dramatic actor, so I knew that this was going to be a dramatic film. Of course there was going to be action, but we wanted it to be about values like benevolence and forgiveness,” he said. “If we were out to make an action movie, then we’d have to get a whole lot of extras to stand in for Andy!”

As for Andy’s co-star Nicholas Tse, Benny says that the young actor has always been hardworking and fanatical. “He is always eager to do the stunts himself- even if I tell him to take it easy, he would still go ahead and do it anyway!” This is Benny’s fourth collaboration with Nicholas, which began in 1998 with the action-packed “Gen X-Cops” and has continued through “New Police Story” and “Invisible Target”. That last film was also his first with martial arts star Wu Jing, whom Benny worked with subsequently on his previous movie “City Under Siege”.

The Beijing Wushu Academy prodigy Wu turned out to be a great fit for the action-oriented Benny. Benny says of Wu, “He’s already a very accomplished martial artist, but to pick up Shaolin gongfu or ‘chan wu’, he took it on his own expense to start training with the monks even before shooting.” While it was no small task for the Taichi-trained Wu to adapt to the Shaolin style, Benny adds that Wu’s hard work has ultimately paid off tremendously, as audiences will see when they watch him onscreen.

Though Benny’s filmography would suggest a long career ahead in action movies, he is more circumspect about his future. He cites “Shaolin” as a harbinger of the kind of movies he hopes to make- and says he definitely does want to try his hand at a drama, with none of that fighting or big-budget action stuff he is usually associated with.

“I’ve grown older,” he laughs. “I used to be very active on set. If there was a racing car sequence, I would even get behind the wheel- and that’s why I tended to gravitate towards making action films. But with age, I’ve grown to appreciate dramas more, which is why there is a much stronger dramatic element in my films now.”

He also says he hopes to do something different with each one of his films, which he explains is the reason why he chose to do the critically-panned sci-fi movie “City Under Siege”. Though this means he is likely to venture off the beaten track once more, you can be sure he will continue to be in good company. After all, through his long and illustrious filmography, he’s already built up a long-lasting and fruitful relationship with some of the best Hong Kong actors around- so you can bet people like Andy, Nicholas, Wu and Jackie will continue to be in his movies.

SHAOLIN opens 21 January 2011