- Title: CHINA: DIRECTOR STEPHEN CHOW TALKS ABOUT HIS HIT FILM "SHAOLIN SOCCER"
- Date: 1st June 2002
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) CHOW SAYING: "After Shaolin Soccer, I will make another wushu-related film based on a Hong Kong story. I will also plan some films in which I don't play a role. I hope my company can be more prolific and diversify into things like computer animation and TV dramas." WIDE OF CHOW TALKING TO REPORTER SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) STEPHEN CHOW SAYING: "Behind wushu is the spirit of always heading forth and never giving up. This spirit, the fighting will, is what I learnt from Bruce Lee films. Bruce Lee's wushu theories heated up my heart like a fireball, helping me through many difficult times."
- Embargoed: 16th June 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA AND BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Reuters ID: LVA61G8MQ8JHR8B669LZ8XIG4M5C
- Story Text: Hong Kong's highest-ever grossing film "Shaolin Soccer"
is set for its U.S. debut - despite being banned from screens in mainland China.
It's been banned in mainland China, raked in prizes galore in Hong Kong and now looks set to capture the hearts of cinema-goers in Asia and the United States.
Shaolin Soccer, by actor director Stephen Chow, has become Hong Kong's highest-grossing film ever.
An unusual blend of soccer and Chinese martial arts, the movie anticipated the soccer mania fuelled by the current World Cup. It won director/actor Chow an armful of awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards earlier this year and caused a stir when mainland authorities banned it from screens - reportedly because they thought it ridiculed the sport too much.
The movie tells how a group of former Shaolin Monastery students use their martial arts skills to become an invincible soccer team.
Not resting on his laurels, Chow is now busy in Hong Kong preparing for his next blockbuster - another action-fuelled comedy. In a recent interview, Chow declined to comment on the row surrounding the movie's mainland ban - choosing instead to focus on the challenges it took to produce the film.
"Because it's a new theme and it's an action film, it is necessary for us to spend more time in the production. This is not an usual action film, it combines computer effects and Chinese martial arts, so we need to spend even more time in the production."
Chow said choosing a martial arts theme mixed with soccer was a natural one.
"As a matter of fact, I had a very strong interest in wushu (kung fu) when I was a child. In the beginning, I liked soccer very much, then my interest switched to wushu (kung fu). After Bruce Lee's death, I started to watch Bruce Lee movies and then got fascinated with Chinese kung fu. Even now, I still practise (kung fu) regularly and am very interested in studying anything relating to it."
The film has been snapped up by Walt Disney Co's Miramax Films, which bought the international distribution rights to the movie even before its Hong Kong release.
Chow has said he has big plans for the future and won't let himself be pigeonholed into the action genre.
"After Shaolin Soccer, I will make another wushu related film based on a Hong Kong story. I will also plan some films in which I don't play a role. I hope my company can be more prolific and diversify into things like computer animation and TV dramas."
Chow began taking kung fu lessons in his early teens and for him, its ethos has dominated his attitude to life.
"Behind wushu is the spirit of always heading forth and never giving up. This spirit, the fighting will, is what I learnt from Bruce Lee films. Bruce Lee's wushu theories heated up my heart like a fireball, helping me through many difficult times."
Chow became a television actor in 1982 and was recognised initially as a kids' show host. He made a career breakthrough in the late 1980s with appearances in TV and film comedies.
Head of Acquisitions for Miramax in Asia, Dede Nickerson, said Miramax was confident the film would appeal to audiences world-wide. The U.S. release is expected soon - marking Chow's American debut.
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