[2024.04.05] RAYMOND LAM STUDIES MARTIAL ARTS TO SHAKE OFF SHOWY FIGHTING

courtesy of singtao.com

Raymond Lam fights from the beginning to the end, saying that he used to fight for show but this time is a real duel

Tony Wu says no one wants injury, Philip Ng just happens to kick a little higher and injures his cheek

Terrance Lau has boxing training before the shoot, and even has to learn to ride motorcycle at the last minute
courtesy of mingpao.com

The Soi Cheang Pou Soi directed Hong Kong novel comic book action film TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN (GAU LUNG SING JAI JI WAI SING) has been slated for a May 1st release. The film was 126 minutes long and would fought for the full 100 minutes, as martial art action aesthetics would be displayed in front of the audience's eyes. Based on Yu Yi's original novel CITY OF DARKNESS (GAU LUNG SING CHAI), Andy Seto Kim Kiu's CITY OF DARKNESS comic book style action concepts, the film starred Louis Koo Tin Lok, Raymond Lam Fung, Sammo Hung Kam Bo, Richie Jen (Yam Yin Chai), Terrance Lau Chun Him, Philip Ng Won Lung, Tony Wu Tsz Tung, German Cheung Man Kit, Kenny Wong Tak Bun, Fish Liew Chi Yu, Chu Pak Hong and Cecilia Choi Sze Wan. Director Cheang Pou Soi pointed out that this time was an unprecedented collaboration of a balanced three sided "novel x comic book x film". The film version adapted the novel and the comic book, of course it would also had a film version's unique creative content, costumes and action.

TWILIGHT had a series of intense martial art fights, one on one combat, slaughter scene, action director Kenji Tanigaki even tailored awesome action scenes for the actors. The actors also had to accept a series of action training. Cast members Sammo Hung Kam Bo and Louis Koo Tin Lok both praised all the actors fought very well, a rare sight of an action film in recent years. Hung Kam Bo said, "The action director has done very well, putting in a lot of effort." Goo Jai said, "Most actors go from not knowing how to fight to being trained to know how to fight. It is an extremely tough thing. Throughout the shoot I have seen surprises, seeing the results of everyone's hard work ending up to be a very entertaining film." They included Raymond Lam Fung, Terrance Lau Chun Him, Tony Wu Tsz Tung and German Cheung Man Kei. In the film they rose and fell together, their team up against the Philip Ng Won Lung played Wong Gau was even the major scene.

This time Raymond Lam Fung shouldered the important duty and fought from the beginning to the end. He said, "Actually this time's action was completely different from the past. This time I learned anew and started from zero. I am very grateful for the martial art coordinator Kenji and his martial art team. They really are very professional and open my eyes. Before the shoot we have already begun training for a month. I have act for over 20 years. Although more or less I would have action, but this time I really come in contact with fighting one on one. Kenji's demands are very high in order to get the sense of realism. A month of training was to pick up basic boxing. I have no contact with boxing, didn't know how to throw a punch at all. My fighting before was just for show, this time I hoped for friends who knew martial arts would feel the realism as well, for the audience to see the impact. Kenji came up with many different fighting styles, methods, scenes. I fought from the beginning to the end, even the action scenes had emotions in them. The audience wouldn't purely feel it was just watching an action film. This time all the participating team members felt that they got new challenges, so the audience would feel that everyone can fight very well." He thanked action director Kenji for his guidance and high demands.

Working on an action film for the first time, Terrance Lau Chun Him not only had to handle fight scenes but also learn to ride a motorcycle at the last minute. Lau Chun Him did not know how to ride to begin with, before the shoot he only had two lessons. He even had to shoot in the Walled City's narrow corridors, feeling fear was the enormous challenge.

Doing his best to personally complete all of the action, Tony Wu Tsz Tung even injured his cheek during the shoot when Philip Ng Won Lung kicked him. Tsz Tung said, "Action films have certain danger, no one wants injury. He just happened to kick higher and the misfortune happened to me. Very luckily I saw that I was the only one injured, everyone had varying degrees of injuries like Lam Fung's waist and leg, Cheung Man Kit and Ah Him got hurt too. This time what happened to me was purely an accident, requiring 15 stitches. At the time we were shooting the ending scene. If I couldn't shoot it I would've kept the production team from finishing. I apologized to the director, I never thought it would be like this. After getting the stitches I immediately went back for the make up artist to get an understanding on how to handle the make up, and see if I could shoot the next day. I didn't want to particularly say I was injured."