Difference between revisions of "Stephen Chow"

Latest revision as of 06:51, 5 March 2012

Publicity Still from Kung Fu Hustle

Personal Information

Born: 22 June 1962 Hong Kong

Birth Name: Sing-Chi Chow

Height: 5' 8½" (1.74 m)

Early Years

Stephen Chow began his career with the children's program "430 Space Shuttle" where he worked for 5 years. When the show completed in 1988 Chow found a number of dramatic roles on television. His first feature film was the film "Final Justice" for which he earned a Best Supporting Actor Award at the 25th Annual Taiwanese Film Awards.

His first comedy was the 1990 film "All For The Winner," a spoof of the Chow Yun-Fat movie "God Of Gamblers." The film was so successful that Chow Yun-Fat and Stephen Chow went on to co-star in "God of Gamblers 2."

Through out the 1990s as his career grew so did his creative control. Chow excelled in the comedy genre and mixed into it his love of Kung-Fu. Nearly all of his films from 1990 on were "Kung-Fu Comedies."

Selected Filmography

'Actor'

DVD Cover: Fist of Fury 1991

1988 Faithfully Yours
1988 The Last Conflict
1989 The Justice of Life
1989 Dragon Fight
1989 Tragic Heroes
1990 Love Is Love
1990 My Hero
1990 The Unmatchable Match
1990 Curry and Pepper
1990 Sleazy Dizzy

1990 Look Out, Officer!

DVD Cover: Love On Delivery

1990 All for the Winner
1990 Legend of the Dragon
1991 God of Gamblers II
1991 Fist of Fury 1991
1991 Fight Back to School
1991 God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai
1991 The Magnificent Scoundrels
1991 Tricky Brains
1992 Fist of Fury 1991 II
1992 The Thief of Time

1992 All's Well, Ends Well

DVD Cover: God Of Cookery

1992 Fight Back to School II
1992 Justice, My Foot!
1992 Royal Tramp
1992 Royal Tramp II
1992 King of Beggars
1993 Fight Back to School III
1993 Flirting Scholar
1993 The Mad Monk
1994 Love on Delivery
1994 Hail the Judge
1994 From Beijing with Love
1994 A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box
1994 A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella
1995 Out of the Dark
1995 Sixty Million Dollar Man
1996 Forbidden City Cop

1996 The God of Cookery

DVD Cover: Kung Fu Hustle

1997 All's Well, Ends Well 1997
1997 Lawyer Lawyer
1998 The Lucky Guy
1999 King of Comedy
1999 The Tricky Master
2001 Shaolin Soccer
2004 Kung Fu Hustle
2008 CJ7
2010 CJ7: The Cartoon

'Director'

1994 From Beijing with Love
1996 Forbidden City Cop
1996 The God of Cookery
1999 King of Comedy
2001 Shaolin Soccer
2004 Kung Fu Hustle
2008 CJ7

My Thoughts on Movies

Shaolin Soccer -- When introducing people to the world of Stephen Chow I tend to start with Shaolin Soccer. It's the most accessible to American audiences since the Chinese specific jokes are low and the Kung Fu Comedy is high.

Kung Fu Hustle -- I went to the world premiere of Kung Fu Hustle at Sundance in 2005. This movie is a good movie to watch second as it still is easy to handle for American audiences. The movie has more cartoonish moments and is often compared most to Looney Tunes cartoons, with the same amount of humor and action as a Roadrunner cartoon. It even has a direct homage to the Roadrunner cartoons.

God of Cookery -- Among Chow fans this movie is often at the top of their lists. The best way to describe the movie is if you were to mix Shaolin Soccer but instead of Soccer replace it with Iron Chef. Kung Fu Cooking competitions.

Love on Delivery -- This is my personal favorite, it's a mix of a kung fu comedy with a romantic comedy. The love story in this one is more important then any of the other themes. Kung Fu only comes in when the main character tries to become a Kung Fu Master in order to impress the girl that he likes. The movie ends with my favorite sequence including a boxing ring and a giant hamster wheel.

Random Facts

Most of Chow's films he can be seen starring alongside Ng Man Tat.

Jackie Chan guest starred in Chow's 1999 film King Of Comedy as "Famous Movie Star."

In many of Chow's films a main character may start physically ugly and then when finding their true potential will become beautiful. He does this often to humanize the character.

Stephen Chow's US film debut was originally going to be playing the part of Kato on 2011's "The Green Hornet." He was signed on to star and direct the film however he dropped out due to creative differences. While he was still set to be in the film he said of the role, "The idea of stepping into Bruce Lee’s shoes as Kato is both humbling and thrilling, and to get the chance to direct the project as my American movie debut is simply a dream come true.”

Stephen Chow Quotes

Right from the beginning of my work, I wanted to capture a mass audience. And I love the unusual: you never see dancing villains. For me, there's a fine line between comedy and drama; so it's not just played for laughs. There's a little romance in this story, too - something for everybody.

The reason to do a remake is always because the idea is good but the quality is not up to standard. With Kung Fu Hustle the quality is already there. And it would be hard to do it in English because it is all about Chinese culture.

Quotations about Chow

Among the new martial arts films, there is a maverick, namely, Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle, which is by far the highest-grossing chinese film in China. It opened on April 22, 2005, in the United States to rave reviews. It is a maverick film because Stephen Chow mocks everything that includes the culturally authentic and the cinematically authentic. His irreverence toward both traditional high culture and contemporary popular culture earns him the reputation as the king of mo lei tou, or nonsense that comes from nowhere and is seemingly irrelevant to the film's story. As A. O. Scott writes in his review of Kung Fu Hustle for the New York Times on April 8, 2005: "The movie snatches tasty morsels of international pop culture, ranging from Looney Tunes to Sergio Leone to Airplane!, and tosses them into a fast moving blender." American critics and audiences consider Chow "lowbrow" because of this dizzying mixture of pop culture. However, Stephen Chow's fundamental stance of laughing at himself as a social underdog in order to expose social injustices afflicting the underprivileged turns his mo lei tou upside down and often reveals his most serious, "highbrow," and tragic sides reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin. --Xu, Gary G

References

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0159507/

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992539

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/people/chow_stephen.htm (This is a good site for reviews on each of his films)

Xu, Gary G. Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Print. Pg. 90-94

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==Personal Information==
-*
+*Born: 22 June 1962 Hong Kong
+<br>
+*Birth Name: Sing-Chi Chow
+<br>
+*Height: 5' 8½" (1.74 m)
-==Early Career==
+==Early Years==
-*
+Stephen Chow began his career with the children's program "430 Space Shuttle" where he worked for 5 years. When the show completed in 1988 Chow found a number of dramatic roles on television. His first feature film was the film "Final Justice" for which he earned a Best Supporting Actor Award at the 25th Annual Taiwanese Film Awards.
-==Starring in Movies==
+His first comedy was the 1990 film "All For The Winner," a spoof of the Chow Yun-Fat movie "God Of Gamblers." The film was so successful that Chow Yun-Fat and Stephen Chow went on to co-star in "God of Gamblers 2."
-*
+Through out the 1990s as his career grew so did his creative control. Chow excelled in the comedy genre and mixed into it his love of Kung-Fu. Nearly all of his films from 1990 on were "Kung-Fu Comedies."
-==Directing Movies==
+==Selected Filmography==
-*
-==Selected Filmography==
- <br>
- <br>
 ''''''Actor''''''
-  <br>
+  [[File:Fistoffury.jpg|300px|thumb|right|DVD Cover: Fist of Fury 1991]]
- <br>
-	 Final Justice <br>
 	 Faithfully Yours <br>
-He Who Chases After the Wind <br>
 The Last Conflict <br>
 	 The Justice of Life <br>
 	 Dragon Fight <br>
 	 Tragic Heroes <br>
-	 Thunder Cops II <br>
 	 Love Is Love <br>
 My Hero <br>
@@ Line 36: / Line 31: @@
 	 Curry and Pepper <br>
 	 Sleazy Dizzy <br>
-	 Look Out, Officer! <br>
+	 Look Out, Officer! <br>[[File:Love-on-delivery-1994-1.jpg|300px|thumb|right|DVD Cover: Love On Delivery]]
 All for the Winner <br>
-When Fortune Smiles <br>
-Triad Story <br>
 	 Legend of the Dragon <br>
 God of Gamblers II <br>
@@ Line 46: / Line 39: @@
 God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai <br>
 	 The Magnificent Scoundrels <br>
-	 The Banquet <br>
 	 Tricky Brains <br>
 	 Fist of Fury 1991 II <br>
 	 The Thief of Time <br>
-	 All's Well, Ends Well <br>
+	 All's Well, Ends Well <br>[[File:GodOfCookery.jpg|300px|thumb|right|DVD Cover: God Of Cookery]]
 	 Fight Back to School II <br>
 	 Justice, My Foot! <br>
@@ Line 67: / Line 59: @@
 	 Sixty Million Dollar Man <br>
 	 Forbidden City Cop <br>
-	 The God of Cookery	 <br>
+	 The God of Cookery	 <br>[[File:Kungfuhustle.jpg|300px|thumb|right|DVD Cover: Kung Fu Hustle]]
 	 All's Well, Ends Well 1997 <br>
 	 Lawyer Lawyer <br>
@@ Line 77: / Line 69: @@
 	 CJ7 <br>
 	 CJ7: The Cartoon <br>
-  <br>
- <br>
 ''''''Director''''''
- <br>
- <br>
 From Beijing with Love <br>
 Forbidden City Cop <br>
@@ Line 89: / Line 79: @@
 Kung Fu Hustle <br>
 CJ7  <br>
+==My Thoughts on Movies==
+Shaolin Soccer -- When introducing people to the world of Stephen Chow I tend to start with Shaolin Soccer. It's the most accessible to American audiences since the Chinese specific jokes are low and the Kung Fu Comedy is high.
+Kung Fu Hustle -- I went to the world premiere of Kung Fu Hustle at Sundance in 2005. This movie is a good movie to watch second as it still is easy to handle for American audiences. The movie has more cartoonish moments and is often compared most to Looney Tunes cartoons, with the same amount of humor and action as a Roadrunner cartoon. It even has a direct homage to the Roadrunner cartoons.
+God of Cookery -- Among Chow fans this movie is often at the top of their lists. The best way to describe the movie is if you were to mix Shaolin Soccer but instead of Soccer replace it with Iron Chef. Kung Fu Cooking competitions.
+Love on Delivery -- This is my personal favorite, it's a mix of a kung fu comedy with a romantic comedy. The love story in this one is more important then any of the other themes. Kung Fu only comes in when the main character tries to become a Kung Fu Master in order to impress the girl that he likes. The movie ends with my favorite sequence including a boxing ring and a giant hamster wheel.
 ==Random Facts==
-*
+* Most of Chow's films he can be seen starring alongside Ng Man Tat.
+* Jackie Chan guest starred in Chow's 1999 film King Of Comedy as "Famous Movie Star."
+* In many of Chow's films a main character may start physically ugly and then when finding their true potential will become beautiful. He does this often to humanize the character.
+*Stephen Chow's US film debut was originally going to be playing the part of Kato on 2011's "The Green Hornet." He was signed on to star and direct the film however he dropped out due to creative differences. While he was still set to be in the film he said of the role, "The idea of stepping into Bruce Lee’s shoes as Kato is both humbling and thrilling, and to get the chance to direct the project as my American movie debut is simply a dream come true.”
+==Stephen Chow Quotes==
+* Right from the beginning of my work, I wanted to capture a mass audience. And I love the unusual: you never see dancing villains. For me, there's a fine line between comedy and drama; so it's not just played for laughs. There's a little romance in this story, too - something for everybody.
+* The reason to do a remake is always because the idea is good but the quality is not up to standard. With Kung Fu Hustle the quality is already there. And it would be hard to do it in English because it is all about Chinese culture.
+==Quotations about Chow==
+Among the new martial arts films, there is a maverick, namely, Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle, which is by far the highest-grossing chinese film in China. It opened on April 22, 2005, in the United States to rave reviews. It is a maverick film because Stephen Chow mocks everything that includes the culturally authentic and the cinematically authentic. His irreverence toward both traditional high culture and contemporary popular culture earns him the reputation as the king of ''mo lei tou'', or nonsense that comes from nowhere and is seemingly irrelevant to the film's story. As A. O. Scott writes in his review of Kung Fu Hustle for the New York Times on April 8, 2005: "The movie snatches tasty morsels of international pop culture, ranging from Looney Tunes to Sergio Leone to Airplane!, and tosses them into a fast moving blender." American critics and audiences consider Chow "lowbrow" because of this dizzying mixture of pop culture. However, Stephen Chow's fundamental stance of laughing at himself as a social underdog in order to expose social injustices afflicting the underprivileged turns his ''mo lei tou'' upside down and often reveals his most serious, "highbrow," and tragic sides reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin. --Xu, Gary G
 ==References==
 *http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0159507/
+*http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992539
+*http://www.lovehkfilm.com/people/chow_stephen.htm (This is a good site for reviews on each of his films)
+*''Xu, Gary G. Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Print. Pg. 90-94''