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Thread: RIP Benny Chan

  1. #1
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    RIP Benny Chan

    New Police Story director Benny Chan Muk-sing dies at 58
    Yahoo Lifestyle SEA Yahoo Lifestyle SEA23 August 2020


    This image shows film director Benny Chan Muk-sing regarding the film Call of Heroes, at Emax in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong on August 10, 2016. 10AUG16 [FEATURES FILM] SCMP/K. Y. Cheng (Photo by K. Y. Cheng/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)

    Hong Kong director Benny Chan Muk-sing has died today (23 August). He was 58 years old.

    According to Apple Daily, Chan was suffering from nasopharyngeal cancer.

    Last year, Chan reportedly felt unwell on the set of his film, Raging Fire, starring Nicholas Tse and Donnie Yen. He went for a physical examination and found out that he had nasopharyngeal cancer or commonly known as nose cancer.

    By the time he finished directing Raging Fire, he could not complete post-production work, and he had to hand the reigns over to another colleague.

    The last recent months, Chan was hospitalised at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin, Hong Kong. He was transferred to Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, where he passed away. The director is survived by a wife, a son and a daughter.

    Chan got his start in showbiz when he worked for TVB as an assistant director to Johnnie To Kay-Fung and later promoted to director.

    Chan was known for police and crime films - one of which, his 1996 film Big Bullet, which he directed, produced and co-written - won awards for film editing at the 1996 Golden Horse Film Festival and the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards. His other well-known works include New Police Story, Shaolin, Gen-X Cops, and Who Am I?

    A few tributes have started pouring online on social media. Actor-turned-director Stephen Fung shared a tribute on his Instagram, calling him "a strong force behind Hong Kong cinema."

    Actress Jeana Ho, who acted in Raging Fire, shared that she had formed a bond with the director, and got to understand his hard work, dedication and strengths
    Shaolin was the basis of our 2011 Shaolin Special.

    The last film of his that I saw was Call of Heroes. That was good.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  2. #2
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    More on Benny's passing

    Donnie Yen, Fan Bingbing and Aaron Kwok lead tributes to Benny Chan, iconic Hong Kong film director behind Shaolin and New olice Story
    Action film director Benny Chan Muk-sing passed away on August 23 from nasopharyngeal cancer – A-list actors have paid their tributes on Instagram and social media, remembering the iconic talent behind movies including A Moment of Romance, Invisible Target, Call of Heroes and The White Storm
    Laramie Mok
    Published: 12:40pm, 25 Aug, 2020



    Hong Kong action-film director Benny Chan Muk-sing passed away on August 23. Photo: SCMP

    Hong Kong cinema has lost an iconic action film director with the death of Benny Chan Muk-sing, who passed away at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital on Sunday (August 23).
    Chan had started to feel unwell last year when he was shooting the action movie Raging Fire (怒火), starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse. He was then diagnosed with late-stage nasopharyngeal cancer.
    After months of treatment at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin, the 58-year-old was transferred to the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital a few days before his death.
    The five-time best director nominee at the Hong Kong Film Awards was no stranger to movie buffs. Besides the popular action thrillers of recent years – such as The White Storm (掃毒), Shaolin (新少林寺), Connected (保持通話) and Divergence (三岔口) – action romance film A Moment of Romance (天若有情), released in 1990, stamped Chan’s own mark on the Hong Kong film industry.
    In the movie, Wah Dee, a young triad gangster portrayed by Andy Lau, became one of Lau’s iconic roles. The film is considered a modern classic of Hong Kong cinema.


    Andy Lau as Wah Dee in A Moment of Romance, now regarded as a classic of Hong Kong cinema. Photo: YouTube

    Alongside Andy Lau, Chan’s directorial efforts also nurtured various award-winning actors including Aaron Kwok, Sean Lau, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung, Nicholas Tse and Daniel Wu.
    Following the untimely death of the director, many celebrities have expressed their sorrow and paid their respects to Chan through social media.


    Posters promoting the Hong Kong action movies Big Bullet and Gen-X Cops. Photo: handout

    Aaron Kwok As the leading actor in the action-crime movie Divergence, directed by Chan in 2005, Kwok won the best actor award at the 42nd Golden Horse Awards.
    “I feel very sorry about that, my respectable director Chan, may you rest in peace,” Kwok wrote on Instagram.

    Donnie Yen Before joining the film industry, Chan also worked for various local television companies in the 1980s and 90s.
    Yen and Chan knew each other from working at Asia Television (ATV). They worked together for the TV series The Kung Fu Master in 1994 and Fist of Fury (精武門) in 1995. More recently, the duo joined together for the movie Raging Fire (怒火), which is yet to have a release date.
    “Twenty five years later, he’s still the same positive, strong, happy, inspiring director and friend. I will miss your smile, our creative exchanges and fatherhood stories. You will be greatly missed my friend,” Yen wrote on Instagram.

    Nicholas Tse
    Tse and Chan worked together on five films, such as Gen-X Cops in 1999, New Police Story in 2004, Invisible Target in 2007, Shaolin in 2011 and the unreleased Raging Fire.
    New Police Story earned Tse the best supporting actor award at the 28th Hundred Flowers Awards.
    “Director Chan has left us. From Gen-X Cops and New Police Story, to Invisible Target and Shaolin as well as Raging Fire, Chan was my mentor both on and off the silver screen, influencing my life. I will miss you forever,” Tse wrote on Instagram.

    Daniel Wu
    Wu was another actor that Chan frequently worked with. He was nominated for best supporting actor award at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards for his role as the villain Joe Kwan in New Police Story.
    “Today I was truly saddened to find out that legendary Hong Kong director Benny Chan had passed. Gen-X Cops, Divergence, New Police Story, I did some of my best work under his guidance. I will miss you dearly! You were the best in the game!” Wu wrote on his Instagram.

    Fan Bingbing and Wujing
    Besides various Hong Kong filmmakers, mainland Chinese martial artist Wujing and well-known actress Fan Bingbing also expressed their sorrow and bid farewell to Chan on Weibo. Both of them had worked with Chan for the movie Shaolin in 2011.
    Meet Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung, director of Better Days
    2 Jul 2020

    “Rest in peace director Chan, I will miss you forever,” wrote Fan Bingbing on Weibo.
    “The old days will be forever in my heart. Rest in peace director Chan!” wrote Wujing on Weibo.
    There are links to the social media posts in the source article. I would've published a formal obit on him if our print mag was still going (I linked that because I'm still getting responses about our ending of print).
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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