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Dragon Tiger Gate - A Wilson Yip
Film
aka Long Hu Men / Lung Fu Mun
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Donnie Yen as Dragon Wong
Out of the three heroes, Dragon is the more mature and colder
character. Coming from a broken family and a childhood filled with
hardship, Dragon was adopted at a young age by a triad boss. Growing
up amongst gangsters, Dragon was constantly pulled between right and
wrong. Yen, who played Chu Zhaonan in ‘Seven Swords’, is the only
action star that has the stunning fight skills, the contemporary
looks as well as the ability to look tough and yet bring out the
complex personality of Dragon Wong. The style of ‘Dragon Tiger Gate’
is decidedly modern and embraces the fashions of today. Yen’s fight
style is influenced by hip-hop and not tied down by rules, his
carefree nature makes him a trail blazer in the Hong Kong film fight
scene. This image fits perfectly with the philosophy of ‘Dragon
Tiger Gate’ which makes Yen the only choice for Dragon Wong.
In order to add to the tragic element of Dragon, the film has added
a romantic angle that is not found in the original comics - the
tragic love between Dragon and Lousha (played by Li Xiao-Ran).
Dragon’s adopted father, Ma, is killed by Lousha Gate for betraying
Shibumi. As the lovers stand on opposing sides, Dragon sacrifices
his love and makes an enemy of Lousha, in order to revenge Ma’s
death. On the action side Yen has to execute difficult fight scenes
and on the dramatic side he has to play out these complex emotions –
‘Dragon Tiger Gate’ will be Yen’s biggest challenge on all fronts to
date.
Apart from acting in the film, Yen also has the role of Action
Director. True to his belief of striving for new grounds he has
again made a surprising move. It is well known that Yen is seen as
the successor to Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kun Do, and is master of both
kicking techniques and the nun-chakus. In this film Yen has to pass
these two skills to Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue who play Tiger Wong
and Turbo Shek respectively. Yen’s Dragon is known for his ‘Eighteen
Dragon Slaying Palm’, but this move is definitely lack lustre
compared to the kicking and nun-chakus action. Always unafraid of a
challenge, Yen has brought out every trick in the bag to create an
extraordinary ‘open hand technique’, so in the film the three
disciplines will be equal in lavishness and the ‘wow’ factor. In an
interview, Yen admitted that his character’s low-impact fighting
style is tough, but as he does not believe in repeating himself he
is happy to accept the challenge. He has also undertaken the job of
ensuring that Tse and Yue will be able to match his fighting skills.
For this he has put the two through a rigorous training routine in
order to make them authentic action stars and to ensure that the
audience will not be disappointed.
Yen’s role in ‘Dragon Tiger Gate’ could have been a heavy load -
acting, action directing and instructing Tse and Yue. Fortunately
Yen has found the most effective way to instruct his students. He
makes sure that the other person is present when he shows approval
to anyone of them. This promotes a friendly competition between
them. His other way is to shame them into action. For example, after
Yue has completed a manoeuvre, he will say, “That’s not bad,
compared to Ah Sa (actress Charlene Choi)”, or if Tse’s performance
is not up to standard he will say, “That’s not a bad kick, you’re
catching up with Ah Giu (actress Gillian Chung)”. This humiliation
is enough to drive the two actors to work harder, pushing their
fighting skills to a higher level.
Nicholas Tse as Tiger Wong
Tiger Wong is loyal, self-composed and brave. By unwittingly taking
the Lousha Death Plaque he becomes the enemy of Lousha Gate and
instigates the final showdown between good and evil. Outside of the
fighting, Tiger is involved in many emotional relationships – the
complex relationship with his long lost brother Dragon; his
friendship with Turbo Shek; his filial love for his master Wong
Jianglong; and of course his love for his soul mate Ma Xiaoling.
Five years ago, in the very early stages of developing the project,
both the producer Raymond Wong and Wong Yuk-long, the original
creator of ‘Dragon Tiger Gate’, wanted Tse to play the role of
Tiger. But Tse, taking into consideration that Tiger Wong is a
household name and a character that has grown with and earned the
love of fans for over 35 years, was worried that he would not be
able to justifiably step into his shoes and so turned the role down.
Raymond Wong was not about to give up as he could see the
resemblance of Tse to Tiger, and felt that Tse embodied the spirit
of the character. Finally Tse gave in to Wong’s and Nansun Shi’s
persistence. In order to live up to the reputation of Tiger Wong,
Tse immersed himself to the point of obsession in bettering his
martial arts skills. He has carefully studied all different styles
of martial arts and has been training hard in Thai boxing, a
discipline strong on kicking skills. The results can be seen clearly
during the shoot, as each move he makes is authentic and Tse
definitely has the potential to become a leading action star in Hong
Kong. On the set, whenever there is a spare moment, Tse is seen
either sparring with the stuntmen, or practising with different
weapons. His love of martial arts is obvious as is the high level of
his fighting skills which will no doubt thrill and surprise the
audiences on the day.
Donnie Yen has always been an idol of Tse. When he was young, Tse
was a fan of Yen’s movies and used to replay the fight scenes in
slow motion, frame by frame, and then imitate his kicking moves at
home. Tse would jokingly say that all the furniture in his home
became kicking targets, and not one piece was left unscathed! When
Tse found out that Yen was the action director of the film, he was
thrilled yet afraid – thrilled that he would finally be working with
his idol, afraid that his skills would not match up to Yen’s
standards. As it turns out, Yen is more than satisfied with Tse’s
performance; he feels that it is at the standard of a professional
stuntman. To gain this recognition from Yen proves that Tse’s
efforts and training have not been wasted...
Shawn Yue as Turbo Shek
Compared to the coldness of Dragon and the single-mindedness of
Tiger, Turbo Shek is a much more extroverted character. Unlike Tiger
and Dragon, Shek’s humanity is not shown through his romantic
interest but through his unshakable persistence in persuading master
Wong Jianglong (played by Yuen Wah) to become his teacher. The
scenes reflect Shek’s passion for martial arts as well as his
rebellious and stubborn nature. Shek stands out easily from Dragon
and Tiger with the scar on his face, his head of blonde hair, his
nun-chakus and his candid personality.
In a way, the character of Shek seems to be the centre of attention.
Director Yip remarked that he is most fond of Turbo Shek. This is
because he is the most lonely and independent
character. In fact, Yip especially created a story about the scar on
Shek’s face to add to the dimensions of his character. Wong
Yuk-long, the creator of the ‘Dragon Tiger Gate’ comics, stated that
Shek is actually his alter ego. Although he is highly competitive,
Shek also has a good sense of humour, which perfectly balances the
seriousness of the two brothers and adds a touch of comedy to the
story. For this, Shek has always been the reader’s favourite
character. Even Nicholas Tse has admitted that Shek is his favourite
character - with the blonde hair and scar his image already stands
out, then add on the flashy style of the nun-chakus, it certainly
makes for a cool character. No surprise that on the day of the
poster shoot Tse seemed to be looking enviously at Yue!
Yue had, until this film, never been trained in martial arts. Just
the effort of learning how to use the nun-chakus with one hand would
have been a monumental task, let alone using both hands and handling
difficult manoeuvres, so Yue had always assumed that the nun-chakus
work would be digitally enhanced. When he found out that this was
not the case, the usually fun-loving Yue was floored by the
prospect. Yet like his character Shek, Yue’s competitive nature was
not going to let him give up without a fight. He turned his fear
into his strength and trained doggedly over the month that he had.
He suffered numerous set-backs and injuries but never slowed down.
In the film, Yue seems totally in control of the weapons, managing
difficult manoeuvres with ease. It seems hard to believe that he is
a rookie. No wonder that when interviewed, Yen has nothing but
praise for Yue, for his diligence and physical prowess.
In the film Shek and Tiger are close friends, and they often spar
with each other. Tiger teaches Shek kicking techniques and Shek
teaches him how to use the nun-chakus. In reality Yue and Tse have
become like brothers and have been a great support to each other. In
the three months of shooting the growth of their martial arts skills
were matched by the growth of their friendship. The shooting of
‘Dragon Tiger Gate’ has proved to be an unforgettable experience for
the two actors.
Dong Jie as Ma Xiaoling
Dong was Yip’s first choice for Ma Xiaoling. Nicholas Tse also
agreed totally in the choice of Dong as Tiger’s girlfriend, as he
felt that the pure innocence of Dong is a perfect match to the
character of Xiaoling in the comic books. When they initially
negotiated with Dong, they were disappointed as she happened to have
been contracted to another film. Yet two months later, just before
shooting, producer Raymond Wong happened to be sitting next to Dong
at a party and found out that the other project was delayed. Wong
immediately started negotiations with her manager and a deal was
struck in record time. As fate has it, the role of Ma Xiaoling fell
back into the lap of the original choice Dong Jie.
Dong’s character, Xiaoling, is the only daughter of triad boss Ma
Kun. She is the apple of his eye and grew up protected from the
world. Xiaoling’s emotional storyline has the most ups and downs.
She falls in love with Tiger as she helps him get closer to his
brother Dragon. Then her perfect world is shattered when her father
is massacred and her home wiped out. Overnight she becomes an
orphan. With the help of Tiger she makes her home in Dragon Tiger
Gate where their love grows. Yet disaster strikes again when Shibumi
attacks Dragon Tiger Gate. Again her home is wiped out and she is on
the verge of a breakdown.
Yet her love for Tiger helps her to conquer all hardships, she uses
everything she has to beg Master Qi to help her and manages to save
Tiger’s life.
Although Xiaoling is headstrong and grew up in a triad family, she
was never trained in martial arts. Even so, Dong suffered physically
during the shoot. Take the first night, for example; for eight
hours, under low temperatures, she had to withstand the onslaught of
three wind machines and the biting water from two ‘rain-makers’.
Although Dong never made a fuss, everyone present could not help but
feel sorry for this slight and delicate figure. On top of this,
there were scenes she had to push a wooden cart through thick mud or
repeatedly run up thousands of steps picking up beads on the way.
All this pushed Dong’s body to the max. Yet no matter how much her
muscles ached and her legs were numb, she never once complained and
there was always a smile on her face. We can only take our hat off
to the professionalism of this young artist.
Li Xiao-Ran as Lousha
The character of Lousha played by Li did not exist in the original
comics. It was created for the film of ‘Dragon Tiger Gate’. Lousha
and Dragon are lovers. Their backgrounds are similar - Dragon is the
adopted son of triad boss Man Kun, and Lousha is the adopted
daughter of Shibumi, leader of Lousha Gate. As they are both
fiercely loyal to their adopted family, unlike Tiger and Xiaoling,
they have had to keep their love under wraps. Dragon and Lousha are
both martial arts experts, they are both proud and unapproachable.
Compared with Tiger and Xiaoling’s sweet and romantic courtship,
Dragon and Lousha’s love is undemonstrative and confrontational.
Shibumi’s destruction of the Ma family turns the lovers into enemies
and puts them in a situation where they have to fight each other.
The presence of the character of Lousha not only underlines the
passionate side of the normally inscrutable Dragon but it is also a
load pulling at his heartstrings. As during his final showdown with
Shibumi, her adopted father, each punch and each move is charged
with a myriad of unspoken emotions.
As beautiful and untroubled is the love story between Tiger and
Xiaoling, the story between Dragon and Lousha is tragic and
difficult. Like Romeo and Juliet their love is doomed from the
start. During the shoot Li has nothing but admiration for Donnie
Yen. She said, “Yen is an action movie star, it is expected that his
fighting is good. As it turn out, his action choreography is
excellent too. Although some of the fight scenes have been very
difficult and some have even taken days to complete, the results
have been stunning. I have great admiration for him and am willing
to go through any hardship for him. Also, unlike his onscreen
persona, he is a very approachable person in real life.”
With the role of Lousha, Li has departed from her usual ‘sweet girl’
image to become an action star. Li hopes that after ‘Dragon Tiger
Gate’ she will be able to take on roles of stronger women. As for
the production, Li who has previously been involved in many
projects, feels that ‘Dragon Tiger Gate’ not only has the best
script and production team, but also is the biggest production and
has the strongest cast. And she has high hopes for the success of
‘Dragon Tiger Gate’.
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About The Production #1
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