[2024.11.03] SAMMO HUNG HOPES TO MAKE GOOD MOVIES TO GIVE BACK TO THE AUDIENCE

Sammo Hung attends the Tokyo Film Festival Master Class, sharing his filmmaking journey with the audience and make a kung fu pose

Sammo Hung is the action director on the first two IP MAN films, even playing the Hung Kuen master in the second film. His round table duel with Donnie Yen is very exciting, not only winning The Golden Horse and Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Action Choreography but also the Asian Film Awards Best Supporting Actor.

Sammo Hung says that Bruce Lee's work has been greatly influential on him. They had a fight scene in ENTER THE DRAGON
courtesy of mingpao.com

The 72-year-old Hong Kong action movie superstar Sammo Hung Kam Bo was invited to attend the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival Master Class. After the event screened his film THE BODYGUARD, he appeared in a Chinese suit and a cane as the entire audience welcomed him with passionate applause. He has been in the film industry for more than half a century, and he mentioned at the event that he was heartbroken over Bruce Lee's early death, and regarded director Wu Kam Chuen (King Hu) as his mentor. He also claimed that during the prosperous era of Hong Kong films in the 1980s, he never rested but he never felt bitter; as for the fight scene with the "Strongest in the Universe" Donnie Yen Chi Tan in IP MAN 2, Hung Kam Bo said, "He is so powerful, but I am even more powerful." and drew applause from the entire audience.

Hung Kam Bo said that when he was a child, he studied Beijing Opera, learned to perform somersaults, and the posture of acting. The process was arduous, but he learned basic skills. Speaking of his fate with Bruce Lee, Hung Kam Bo said that the two only met a few time. "I was so shocked that he passed away, because he was very young; Bruce Lee's work has had such a big impact on me, so it was quite a heartbreak."

Speaking of his directing debut THE IRON-FISTED MONK (SAM DUT WOR SEUNG YU CHONG MAI LOK), Hung Kam Bo said that it was an action comedy. The audience responded to it well, which laid the foundation for him to focus on action comedies in the future. "At that time Hong Kong films were mainly Mandarin, I spoke Cantonese in the film MONK, then all Hong Kong movies after spoke Cantonese." Many movies featured Wing Chun. Hung Kam Bo said that Master Lau Kar Leung studied Hung Kuen, so his works included Hung Kuen. He was more familiar with Wing Chun, so he made Wing Chun because he wanted to give the audience more diversified movies. Speaking of the many directors he has worked with, he said that he entered the industry at the age of 15 or 16 when he was just a child. "I treated director Wu Kam Chuen (King Hu) as my master, and I studied by his side; I love movies, so I've done a lot of behind-the-scenes jobs. When Director Hu said, 'Sammo (Hung Kam Bo's nickname), come and push the cart.' I would help him with the cart."

Sammo Hung said that as a director in the 1980s, every time he finished a film he would think about the content of the next film and hope that each film would have a new subject; vampire movies were one of his ideas. "I have heard many ghost stories and Maoshan techniques before, when I wanted to make vampire movies, no one thought it was a good idea but it was actually successful. Those people changed their tone and said that you definitely would succeed!" Hung Kam Bo said that the 1980s was the golden age of Hong Kong films. He did not rest as he was making movies every day; although he had no break, he never thought it was tough. "Maybe I was an ox in my previous life, I have to work in order to be comfortable."

Having been to Hollywood to develop his career, Hung Kam Bo said that the production method there is different from that of Hong Kong; when he went to the United States earlier, someone asked him what he would like Hollywood to become. He said that he hoped that Americans could learn Chinese, so he would not have to learn English when he performed.

The event screened the classic fight scenes between Hung Kam Bo and Donnie Yen Chi Tan in IP MAN 2. Hung Kam Bo pointed out that this scene seemed to be very hard to film, but it was actually very comfortable. "Because I am familiar with Yen Chi Tan, the filming process was very fast. He's so powerful, but I'm even more powerful." As soon as Hung Kam Bo said those words, the entire audience applauded.

Hung Kam Bo finally said that now he has three wishes, the first is to be healthy, the second is to be happy, and the third is to make good movies to give back to the audience. When viewers are happy, he is happy. He also said that he was very happy to participate in the master class, because he rarely communicated with the audience. Unfortunately he did not understand Japanese. He hoped that the audience would support Hong Kong films more.