When kungfumagazine.com spoke to Gordon Liu Chia-hui several months ago, he was surprised and taken aback that most of our conversation was about martial arts, philosophy and life, with just a few tidbits about his roles in the KILL BILL movies. A man true to his roots in martial arts, where self-aggrandizement and self-promotion are not important (try telling that to other martial arts film stars or star wannabes; it makes you wonder about their true martial natures and hearts) and virtues like humility and loyalty are dying arts. However, in the name of cinema history and for kung fu film fans, Liu was persuaded (by yours truly) to speak about some of his classic films and share with us things he's never spoken about to the press - ever.
Gordon only got into film because his older kung fu brother, renowned martial arts film director Liu Chia-liang (this whole relationship thing was finally clarified in Part 1), pulled kung fu school rank on him and told him to act in film. While his roles were minor in such early films as MARTIAL ARTS OF SHAOLIN (1974), FIVE SHAOLIN MASTERS (1974), MARCO POLO (1975) and EXECUTIONERS OF DEATH (1977), a waterfall one day changed all that, sealing his fate to be a martial arts superstar.
As Gordon reflects, "One day, as we were filming CHALLENGE OF THE MASTER (1976), Liu Chia-liang Sifu was passing by a reservoir and saw the falling water hitting on a big piece of boulder. The splashing created by the falling water created an enigmatic halo. This inspired Liu Sifu to envision an image of a bald-headed monk fighting in the rain. As you know, Liu Sifu is my 'brother.' For some reasons, this stayed in his mind, and then he created this project with me in mind because I think he thought of me as being a good martial arts student - I am obedient and, on top of that, have a good attitude. I also would often volunteer to assist him teach at the martial arts school. Thus was the birth of Monk San Te in Liu Sifu's film THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN, and due to the sort of individual I am - and maybe a reflection in his eye in regards to Monk San Te - I think this is why he asked me to play the part."
Released in the West as THE MASTER KILLER, it was the first film to go behind the secret closed doors of the Shaolin Temple, to bring to life the legendary 35 training methods (i.e., chambers) a Shaolin disciple must endure to become a Shaolin Priest. Gordon reflects on several of the "chambers" and what he as an actor was put through in order for him to move on to the film's next chamber.
Gordon as Monk San Te in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
"As I recall, the first training scenes shot was the one of jumping over the water pit using the bamboo 'skis' on the water. It was important that it had to be interesting but also convincing, and I took a lot of dips getting across the water; but eventually I did actually do it, like in the film. It took a long time to design and we practiced it a lot. We were concerned about the filming time and cost, so we could only spend two weeks to do that sequence.
"One of the tougher sequences was the head butting all those hanging and swinging bags scenes. I actually got really dizzy hitting my head on those bags because half of them were real and the other half fake, and in the heat of acting and filming, I often forgot which was which, so I just hit everything.
"I actually fainted once while I was doing the hitting-the-bell scene, the long pole with a real weight attached to it. It was probably too hot that day, and I was too tired doing non-stop training and shooting. The entire movie took 80-100 days to complete. I would say 70 percent of the times I had to fight. We woke up at 9 a.m., ate breakfast, and started training at 10 a.m., then shoot all day, every day."
When asked about the most memorable moments during the difficult shoot, Gordon says without hesitation, "The biggest challenge was the 3-sectioned-staff. I had never learnt it before, but now I was in a situation where I not only had to learn it instantly but also had to look like the master who invented this weapon. Most memorable was that I often lost my self-esteem, because I was constantly scolded severely by Li Sifu when I did not perform to his satisfaction. But it was worthwhile. When I attended the first midnight show and saw how the audience had reacted. In those days all film directors and key cast would sit in the first midnight show to see the audience's reaction. It was an indicator of how well the movie would do in terms of box office and word of mouth. Thankfully the audiences went crazy, and I was moved to see how the movie made audiences happy."
His beloved real-life long flowing hair was now a distant memory. After shaving his head and playing the redoubtable Shaolin hero, Monk San Te, Gordon skyrocketed to fame. However, he was quickly pigeon-holed playing similar bald-headed characters, roles that required him to keep his head shaved. To this day his head remains shaved.
He adds, "Funnily, the trend in the '70s was to have long hair, and it was very hip in those days. Usually only monks were bald. So as a result, I wore a wig to go out when I was not shooting. (He used the wig in his next film, CHALLENGE OF THE NINJA.) On the other hand, in today's films, a bald-headed man can be considered stylish. I understand that to audiences Monk San Te equals Gordon Liu, in the same way as Terminator equals Arnold Schwarzenegger. I only realized this after attending overseas screenings. As soon as I appeared, everyone started chanting, 'Center, Center,' and I was thinking that they wanted me to move over to the 'center". What I didn't realize was that they were actually calling me 'San Te, San Te.'"
From Challenge of the Ninja, notice the wig
Due to 36TH CHAMBER'S phenomenal box-office success, a sequel was quickly put together; but it took a different direction, one that Gordon was not too happy with. He points out, "Well, yes, I was disappointed with RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN in a way. But as you know, Liu Sifu had made the comedy SPIRITUAL BOXER (Liu Sifu's directorial debut, and a film that marked the birth of the kung-fu comedy - Chan's SNAKE IN THE EAGLE SHADOW and DRUNKEN MASTER coming the following year), and it did well, was popular, and then others started doing comedy. So I suppose after making 36 CHAMBER and EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN, which were 'hard' kung fu movies, it was time to do another kung fu comedy. So I guess that's the reason why it couldn't really be about Monk San Te. So it was about a young rebel that wanted to learn from him."
Similar to 36TH CHAMBER, Liu Sifu was just as demanding and hard on Gordon. As he reminisces, "I got a big deep cut from the cracks of the dried bamboo and was bleeding non-stop, so I had to be rushed to the hospital. Instead of comforting me, Liu Sifu scolded me. But I was happy when he visited me at the hospital. Scolding is just his way; I know his heart cares about me."
Although arguably the most recognized actor to portray a Shaolin priest in Asia, Gordon shows his nature as a man and martial artist by acknowledging Stateside's most famous Shaolin priest actor, David Carradine. And although he politely alludes to a difference between acting and knowing kung fu, he has a heartfelt joy for people like Carradine who have done so much for martial arts cinema.
"I was impressed to hear David was going to be in KILL BILL. I made it a point when we were on location to pull him aside and tell him how much I admired his TV show KUNG FU. That series was a very important part of people in the West's understanding of kung fu, and Carradine played the role of what I think a Shaolin Priest truly was, to a tee."
Through all my years writing and covering martial arts actors and films, when it comes to Gordon's CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS, fans have often asked about all those needles in Lo Lieh's body, and what's with Gordon acting female and doing the needlework stuff.
After a giggle and a smile, Gordon says, "Well, in the first film with Monk Bai Mei, Wang Yu (not to be confused with Jimmy Wong Yu) played Hong Xi-guan's son Hong Wen-ting; but I think because I was schooled in Hung fist and could deliver that hard kung fu, Liu Sifu wanted me to play Wen-ting in this film. The Hung style is a very 'hard' and 'tough' approach. However, I was often required to apply my kung fu in a soft manner in this movie, like doing ballet; so Liu Sifu came up with the idea of embroidery kung fu, and so being soft was actually very challenging for me. Hui Ying-hong (Liu Sifu's favorite kung fu fighting actress) had to teach me how to use needles to defeat Bai Mei.
"But for you fans out there, they were not real needles stuck all over Lo's body; they were all individually glued on. We had very good make-up artist who would constantly retouch the make up after each take of the scenes."
In his next film, FIGHT CLUB, Gordon revisits his role as Wong Fei-hung from CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS (1976) with one of his most memorable sequences ever, the one-on-one battle against Shaw's all-time best fighting villain actor, Wang Lung-wei.
As Gordon recalls, "Ah, yes, I really enjoyed fighting with him because he uses real power whereas my Hung style also practices power too. So we were fighting hand on hand and leg on leg, real and full power, so you can see the hard contact, and it makes the fight very real. Of course though, we couldn't use real power on our heads. I remember when we were fighting in that very, very narrow and winding venue, it was almost impossible to move, not to mention that we really had to fight! So, the end result was my elbows were all scratched. But my fondest memory was seeing Liu Sifu doing the 3-tiered lion dance by himself. He was just magnificent!"
Heavily influenced by Liu Sifu and still reeling over RETURN OF THE 36TH CHAMBER being a comedy and not a true sequel, Gordon stepped outside of Shaw Brothers and directed his first and only film, SHAOLIN AND WU DUNG, a film he considered to be the true sequel to 36TH CHAMBER. However, reluctant to make waves with the "re-birth" of all those Shaws films, Gordon declined to speak about the film, out of respect for the company that made him a star. After his brief independent sojourn, Gordon returned to Shaws, and after minor parts in MY YOUNG AUNTIE and MASTERS OF DISASTER, he acted alongside Liu Chia-liang and his other "brother," Liu Chia-rong, in perhaps his best final role as the monk gone awry, in one of the best kung fu films of all time, LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA. It's also one of only three films in which Gordon fights Liu Sifu (the others are CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS and 8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER). The film was Liu Sifu's last for Shaws, and it holds one of Hong Kong films' saddest moments - during the shoot the film's star, Alexander Fu Shen, died in a car accident. Gordon reflects on these two important moments.
"In my opinion, Liu Sifu is great, very creative, very instant and spontaneous. He is a perfectionist and often rejects many takes. I remember in one film I did, SHAOLIN MANTIS, one of the takes I had to do 40 times, until I broke up and cried, as it was physically very tough and mentally very frustrating. Actually, I cried and vomited secretly because I did not want to affect other people. I had made an excuse to get out of there and only the assistant director knew about it."
A moment of silence later, he makes the somber reflection: "I remember that I was having dinner at a restaurant in Causeway Bay when I heard that Fu Sheng was killed in a car crash. I really felt very helpless at that time. The sorrow was there for a long time. I did not cry in front of people, but actually in some of the emotional scenes in 8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER, some of my tears were real, as it gave me a good outlet to cry in those instances.
"Actually I still miss him very much and thought about him a lot when I visited the Wong Fei-hung museum in July, the month of his death. When he was already a big star, I was only a beginner; but I got the chance to co-lead the movie with him. Director Liu Chia-liang wanted to create a complimentary pair with me being the tough guy and Fu Sheng being the funny guy. I had really wanted to finish the movie with him. The original ending was for me to save him instead of saving Hui Ying-hung."
In keeping with his true persona, Gordon closes philosophically. "I believe it is most important to respect the sincerity that comes from your heart. If you agree with your heart, you will find peace from your heart."
About Craig Reid :
Written by Craig Reid for KUNGFUMAGAZINE.COM
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