Kicks, for real

By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-12 11:08

Tiger Chen (left) gives martial arts instructions to Uma Thurman in the Hollywood movie Kill Bill.

The man has a singular talent for coaxing stunts out of ravishing damsels. And for assuaging fragile egos.

Veteran martial arts choreographer Tiger Chen, or Chen Hu, recalls how he coached the three pretty ladies of Charlie's Angels - Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu - who rewarded their young master with generous kisses.

"Cameron's kiss was the sincerest, Barrymore has the thickest and wettest lips, and Lucy's kiss was the loudest," says Chen, with scarcely concealed delight.

He also reveals how each of them thought the kungfu routines of the other two were better. Chen used the oldest trick in the trade to coax them to come on set - by telling each hers was the best.

Often, after two hours of practicing the mabu, a basic kungfu posture, the three would simply collapse on the floor, while the recommendation is to walk a while to prevent injuries. Chen told them they would end up with a big backside if they didn't - and had them jump up right away.

A protg of famed choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, the 35-year-old also reduced the likes of Keanu Reeves (The Matrix) to tears - almost.

The stunt mentor to stars for 12 years reveals how a dedicated Reeves "would cry when doing the stretches but would often ask for extra training at weekends".

Chen is now gearing up to face the camera himself.

Chen works with Keanu Reeves as his stunt mentor in The Matrix.

Kungfu Man (Gongfu Xia) tells of how a Chinese martial arts master protects an American boy from his kidnappers in an adventure set in South China's Yunnan province.

Its kungfu scenes will be choreographed by Chen along with Yuen Cheung-Yan, brother of his master Yuen. The film will feature a 6-minute kungfu scene in which Chen will fight with more than 30 others.

Explaining his decision to go in front of the camera, Chen says, "Choreography is, after all, a passive job. You are restricted by the director's ideas and the actors' physical condition."

Kungfu scenes, sans special effects, will account for half the film, says Chen. "What people like most is still real kungfu."

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