"The human effort." That is the response I get from the sagacious Yuen Cheung-yan, Hong Kong fight director/choreographer extraordianaire, when I ask why -- with Hollywood's extensive use of stunt doubles and exorbitant computer animation -- it is still necessary to train American actors three months before a film is shot.
His face as calm as his demeanor, Yuen continues, "You see, it's the real human effort of the stars that their fans always want to see in their faces and body language when they fight their enemies."
On the eve before CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE wings its way into sequel heaven, Yuen makes clear to me that when it comes to action and fight sequences, he puts his faith in the human spirit. "Today's technology can do many things, but it cannot replace the human effort and spirit in a film. If anything, the way Hollywood films are made today, it makes it difficult to hide anything unreal about the actors. With this human effort, it's like a computer game children play at best. That is why we train and work with the stars and the actors."
When we think of the first CHARLIE'S ANGELS film, we recall Cameron Diaz flying through the air kicking her legs like an Olympic long jumper, except she breaks more than leaping records, she breaks her opponents. Who can forget Lucy Lui whipping a chain around her body like a psychotic nunchaku where the only link missing is the link imprint left on some poor goon's face. And of course Drew Barrymore, aerially rebounding off her attackers' bodies like a pinball before landing in a perfect stance and Michael Jacksonly boogieing out of the room.
The man in charge of overseeing all those gags was of course Yuen. And now he's back with the three lasses from hell, Natalie Cook (Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Barrymore) and Alex Munday (Liu), a group of beautiful, investigative agents who work for the Charles Townsend Detective Agency. They have reunited for a challenging new adventure in CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE, a sequel to the action comedy, directed by McG and inspired by the popular television series. Has anybody else noticed how similar Liu's character name is to Al Monday, the character Robert Wagner played in the famous TV series IT TAKES A THIEF?
Producer Leonard Goldberg recalls, "When the first film was released, audiences were enthralled by seeing three female movie stars in these huge action sequences. Since that time, several movies have imitated that. So McG and I talked about elevating the action to a higher level. In FULL THROTTLE, the Angels aren't just flying across the room doing triple kicks but are also going to be doing some good old-fashioned punch-outs."
Director McG, who holds the record for best debut by a first-time director ($40 million opening weekend and more than $125 million total domestic for CHARLIE'S ANGELS, released in November of 2000), says, "We all wanted to make this film decidedly more muscular and show that these girls can hang with the guys. We ramped it up to include wrestling, motocross, car crashes and leaps off tall buildings. The Angels hold their own in arenas normally reserved for idealized male action heroes. We wanted to put them in those environments and still have them be beautiful and comfortable in their own skin.
"Sure we still have some of that spectacular wire work from the first film, but these fights are going to be more grueling and the girls insisted on doing many of their own stunts so you would feel the impact of every blow and the real peril that they're facing."
And so who better to train the Angels than Yuen, who trained the lamenting ladies for the first film, but now they have different expectations and understand the true complexity of how the Hong Kong crew functions and puts together the fights.
McG adds, "Cheung-Yan brings a code of honor and a way of conducting yourself that is very angelic. He's the ultimate example of 'speaking softly and carrying a big stick.' Months before we started principal photography, the girls were working out with him and his 'team Hong Kong'. He brought out the best in the Angels and has been a huge inspiration to me."
When asked if he could elevate the fight scenes, Yuen was confident he could deliver, emphasizing, "Cameron, Drew and Lucy trained so hard for the first film, they were in much better condition this time. We actually started in the first week of June 2002 and continued to train even after principle photography commenced in August. And so with this good foundation from CHARLIE 1, we basically continued on that foundation and added in some weaponry fight training, specifically with Cameron on her rope dart. I had hoped we would have a rope dart fight scene but the number of shooting days did not allow that to happen.
"But this time around, the Angels' fighting abilities reflect their personalities. Having confidence in yourself and your ability is as important as learning the correct moves. Each of them has an individual strength. Cameron has amazing explosive power and reflexes, and she is very focused. Lucy is strong and professional. Drew has very good flexibility and great willpower. They all told me that since the last movie they've been doing work on the side. But you know, training is training, it's hard and the girls gave it all they had when they came to work."
I think it's safe to assume Liu has had the most experience, considering she has worked with Jackie Chan on SHANGHAI NOON and trained with Chan's fight choreographer Andy Cheng for her role on ECKS VS SEVER: BALLISTIC.
In FULL THROTTLE (originally subtitled as HALO), the Angels prepare to strike without warning as they go undercover to retrieve two missing silver bands. These are no ordinary rings. They contain valuable encrypted information that reveals the new identities of every person in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
In the film, the Angels' histories are revealed through a series of vignettes. Barrymore's character is seen wrestling in a sort of backyard circuit as "Lady Insane" and as a monster trucker on the county fair circuit. Liu's character is revealed to us as a young gymnast being coached by Bela Karolyi and later beating a Bobby Fischer-type chess genius in a world championship match in Switzerland. Diaz's character is perceived as seeing the world through the bright eyes of the bushy-tailed newborn fawn that she is. Then she proceeds to beat the living daylights out of everybody.
Yet, when witnesses start turning up dead, only the Angels, using their expertise as masters of disguise, espionage and martial arts, can stop the perpetrators, a mysterious "fallen" Angel played by Demi Moore (her first studio film since 1997's G.I. JANE) and the Thin Man (the returning Crispin Glover). Aided by their trusty colleague, Jimmy Bosley (Bernie Mac replaces the reticent Bill Murray), the Angels' adventure begins at a remote Mongolian outpost and ends only after Dylan (Barrymore) is forced to face a dark secret from her past, a secret that puts the lives of her two best friends in danger.
In addition to the Angels, Yuen also trained Glover and Moore. Glover, who had previously worked with Yuen, says his training this time around was equally intense. "We'd begin with stretches, then practice kicking, punching and various fight combinations. At the end of the day, we'd work with swords. The style of fighting is influenced by wu-shu, a derivative of kung fu. It's the most dance-oriented martial art and has a lot to do with form. Cheung-Yan had a specific way of moving. He and his team were very clear about how you're supposed to hold your poses. There is no difference in the fighting style between good and evil. What is interesting is that his choreography is psychologically based. There are different styles for the different characters."
Yuen was adamant about avoiding a repeat of the actions from the first film, so for Diaz and Lui he moved their characters more toward kung fu training and Barrymore's towards street fighting stances. When asked about the difference between working with actors and actresses like Ben Afflack on DAREDEVIL and Keanu Reeves on MATRIX as compared to the Angels, he tactfully explains, "All actors are very hard-working and I am not saying this because they are stars but because it's true. They all really understand the importance of the human effort, as we discussed earlier, in their movies. But specifically, each actor has his/her own strength and we need to pay attention to that. For example, Cameron has more explosive power than Drew, who is more flexible."
Several problems are emerging in Hollywood films that use Hong Kong action directors and/or Hong Kong stylized action. One is that so many films are beginning to look the same. Another is that Hong Kong fight directors working on American films rarely get to do fights that are different from what they have done in Hong Kong. Case in point: in CHARLIE'S ANGELS, the final fight where Barrymore takes on four goons in the castle mirrors -- shot for shot, gag for gag -- a fight scene Yuen directed in IRON MONKEY, where the wife of the Iron Monkey character takes on four renegade monks. One has to wonder if Hong Kong action directors and action is just a passing fad in Hollywood. What is Yuen's reaction to these issues?
"Well, our goal for films like ANGELS and MATRIX, for example, are to combine Hollywood technology with our own work. We said that technology makes things look less real when used incorrectly. But on the other hand it can also enhance a traditional fight scene and make it look much more real when used right. That's basically our goal.
"And yes, it's true that Hong Kong directors often have ideas that only Hollywood can achieve. However, for many good reasons, shooting in Hollywood is also very time-consuming, and that has always been the most frustrating thing. But I really wanted to work on this film because we worked with McG and the Angels on the first one and had a wonderful time. We became like a big family. With sequels, I was told, people in Hollywood ask for more money to come back, but I did not do that.
"And I'd like to point out in terms of the Hong Kong action craze, certainly trends come and go. And it's really up to Hollywood. We just do our work. But bottom line, good action fights will always entertain the audiences worldwide because people's love for good action scenes is forever. But it's only so long as we work hard to improve ourselves all the time."
The true joy of FULL THROTTLE, promises McG, "is that the Angels get blown up, they get shot at, they break their ribs and then just pick themselves up and go on. That's why we root for them. It's like Rocky Balboa. You don't want to see him just win the fight from start to finish. You want to see him get beat up by Apollo Creed, and then you want to see him just barely pick himself up and make it happen in the final moments of the final round. That's what makes the Angels so endearing. They're so tough, so willing to go for it."
Prior to this interview, I bumped into Cheung-yan at the Los Angeles stop of a nationwide traveling film festival called, "Heroic Grace: The Chinese Martial Arts Film." He was viewing, for the first time in his life, the fight choreography he did for VENGEANCE, directed by Chang Cheh and starring Ti Lung and David Chiang. When I asked him what was going through his mind as he watched the film, and what were some of his most memorable moments while working at Shaw Brothers studios, he jovially shared, "Actually what was memorable was getting paid a lot of money by several different productions on the same day, everyday. I also couldn't believe how good the picture looked. I mean, that was 1970 or so. So I was thinking that the digital technology is quite something. The film really looked much better than I thought because of that. I also thought about how many years have passed by."
What's next for Yuen? "We've been talking with various producers and we may do a project that will make our martial arts fans very excited next year. I'm sorry, but I can't talk about it yet at this point, but some time we will."
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Photos by Darren Michaels
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