34th HKIFF Interview: Derek Kwok & Clement Cheng (The Gallants)

Out of all the romantic-themed local films screened at this year’s HKIFF, The Gallants certainly feels like a different breed. Working alongside first-time filmmaker Clement Cheng, director Derek Kwok, perhaps best known for his debut directorial work The Pye-Dog, dodges from his usual dark, edgy styled films that revolve around story-lines with child characters, to co-direct a film that is packed with the neat Kung Fu sequences that are a throwback to Hong Kong action cinema of the 70s & 80s. Aided by spot-on casting choices, with The Gallants, Kwok and Cheng don’t reinvent the Kung-Fu genre, they re-invigorate it.

Milky Li Hoi Ching: How did you come up with the idea for this film? And how did the project happen?
Derek Kwok: Several years ago, when I and Clement worked at Teddy Robin’s company, we came up with an idea for a film that was about a group of elderly people, who played music as a band in 60s, reuniting after a friend’s accident. But the project never really worked out because there were no buyers interested. After I finished shooting The Moss, producer Lam Ka-Tung came to me, I talked to him about several ideas. Finally, I mentioned this story again, but I changed it up. Instead about music, it became an idea of a Kung Fu film. Because, at that time, the trend of Hong Kong cinema had again come to this genre, and Clement and I are big fans of the 70s Kung Fu cinema, like Chang Cheh, Ka-Leung Lau films. We also admire Chin Hung Kuei, particularly his film The Teahouse starring Chen Kwun-tai. And we like Leung Siu-lung who famously played the character Chen Zhen. The idea then came to mind that, a story about a teahouse, Chen Kwun-tai and Leung Siu-lung along with a load of Kung Fu actions and gags. Surprisingly, not only producer Lam Ka-Tung liked this idea, the investors, including Andy Lau, thought this could work and gave it go. Then we started writing the script for several months. It was how the project happened.

Clement Cheng: We actually thought about bringing in some action stars from Shaw Brothers era to make a film about 60s, 70s action stars versus 80s action stars on this original idea too. That was until we saw films of Chin Hung Kuei, we thought his films were great, creative and current, so we added in the elements from his films to make The Gallants.   

Ching: Had you thought about bringing in other action stars aside from Leung Siu Lung and Chen Kwun-tai?
Kwok: We had thought about a lot choices when Leung and Chen were definitely the leading men on our mind right from the start. We thought about bringing in some 80s action stars as we mentioned, like Robert Mak Tak-Law, Cynthia Rothrock etc, with Dik Lung and David Chiang making guest appearance. But in the end, you could see there were many actors we could have had on project.

Ching: There is a sudden resurgence of Kung Fu films in Hong Kong recently; though of the same genre, I found that your film is actually very much different.
Kwok: This film is different from any other recent Kung Fu films (particularly ones with “Kung Fu” two words as part of the title). Our film is a youth film trying to inspire, encourage people. When you’re young, you’re sure you’ll have the time and opportunities to be the best. But when you get older, things are different. You’re no longer at your best. How would you fight back to prove yourself? This is a film about that. Think back when, I once read Leung Siu Lung’s interview with a magazine, he said that it was important to do things and protect people, for righteousness when you had the power that’s gained from practicing martial art. We could see what a man he is. Then we saw him back to the film industry but given a lot of dumb roles to play. I felt like I had to make this film for him, let people see what he could really do, it is a film made for him to fight back, to make a “real” comeback.

It’s reflected in the character’s setting as well…the characters aren’t supermen or heroes; they’re ordinary men, perhaps losers in life but with a great set of martial skills. There are no real villains, this has always been my principle when it comes to it; there is no real bad guy in this world. Everyone in my films is being a “bad” guy for a reason. But the society would always define them. People could change from being regarded as a hero to a villain; it is a matter of the ways you look at it.

Cheng: Our films would reflect the way we view this world, nobody is born a bad guy or with a wish of being a bad guy, everybody is put in their own roles and positions for a reason. It is all about how you see things.

Kwok: As for those Kung Fu-titled films, frankly I do not like them, whatever they are trying to tell, I feel like those veteran actors in the films were being disrespectfully used, they have the talents that should have been worthily made more use of. We pick this cast and make this film because we like and admire these actors. This is never intended as a tribute, has no purpose to mock the 70s Hong Kong cinema or remind people of those old days. We never tried to make this film specifically “local” too.

Ching: So would you still say it’s a film with nostalgic theme?
Cheng: There is no denying that the background and the way we filmed it would be filled with nostalgic cinematically feel and we had borrowed some elements from the films of Shaw Brothers era to throw into this film.
And it is true that it is still a story that happens in current Hong Kong, so you can see a lot of things about this place and get some nostalgic vibes from it. But the central theme of the film remains universal, it is about only if you can make every part of yourself become a weapon, then you will be able to protect things and people you treasure. And the spirit of this can be put in anywhere, not just Hong Kong, but the whole world. If you remember, at the end of film, the last lines spoken by the narrator (Tam Bing-Man) are actually inspired by and taken from Rocky Balboa, during a scene where Rocky speaks to his son about never backing down. We love that line, so we put it in. So it is really more than just about Hong Kong.

Ching: Seeing your opening credits and the narrative, like I said, we can see a lot of elements from the 70s & 80s cinema. Have you done any research or watched any films in specific prior to the shooting?
Cheng: No, there was no research done. We grew up watching those films, and the influence is already in our blood and bone. All these silhouette fights had come to mind at the first thought. We both thought we should have the opening credits that way. There’s no specific film serving as a main influence.

Ching: Since you guys hadn’t done any Kung Fu films before this film, was the shooting process and the production hard?
Kwok & Cheng: Every scene was hard. The two most important things needed for this genre of films are money and time, but we lacked them. Fortunately for us, we found a great martial arts choreographer Yuen Tak and a cast of great Kung Fu actors.

Kwok: Speaking of the production, the fighting style of this film was to be more realistic, basic and practical. I’m quite sick of all those flashy action scenes, in which the actor is put high up above a tall building and all those effects of ground shaking, glass breaking. Just like what Master Leung Ka Lau used to do, we wanted only one shot for each action sequence, nothing flashy, just an old styled and practical way of filming. The characters would really feel the pain when hitting the ground; nobody can jump too high. The characters would feel breathless and tired after long fight. No more one man put up against countless opponents but still prevails. Different from action films from previous generation, we tried to make it realistic. For that, we did some research, and asked more Kung Fu actors about that and discussed with Yuen Tak to put those things in.

Ching: How did you two get involved with film industry?
Cheng: Before really getting involved with anything, I had numerous jobs, worked at TV and radio station, I once was a local PA in Canada for some Hollywood film productions, doing stuff like location scouting. I wanted to get into the industry, but there were no real good chances. When I returned to Hong Kong, I went to enroll a course at the HK Film Directors’ Guild. There I met Derek, after we graduated, we worked at Teddy Robin’s company, one day, Liu Kim-Wa saw us writing something and introduced us to Wilson Yip Wai Shun, that’s how we got started.

Kwok: I studied visual arts before; I always wanted to get in the industry and liked films. After studying in design, I worked as a graphic designer for two years, but I kind of disliked the way things worked as a graphic designer at that time, so I went to enroll the course. And the rest like we mentioned, we worked alongside Wilson Yip. We did a lot of making of videos, like there was one for Juliet In Love, music videos and were responsible for art direction of numerous films.

Ching: Which filmmakers or films have inspired and influenced you the most?
Kwok: There are too many. If I have to name one, A Better Tomorrow by John Woo have influenced me greatly. That was the first time I really felt emotionally overwhelmed by a film that much in a cinema. Akira Kurosawa is very influential to me as well; I particularly like his works Stray Dog and Rashomon.

Cheng: For me, I would name these filmmakers – Quentin Tarantino, PT Anderson and Stephen Chow. To say more, I could also mention Akira Kurosawa too, and Clint Eastwood. I like his works so much right after seeing Unforgiven. I never really liked his acting works, but seeing that film really made me a fan of his. Stephen Chow would be the one that influenced me ever since I was really young. There aren’t any directorial works of his I really dislike.

Ching: So, what’s next?
Kwok: I just finished shooting Frozen and its post-production work. It will be coming to the theatre. Then I will start shooting a project titled The Enchanter (a project that won HAF award this year) probably around July and August. The screenplay was originally written by Peng Ho-Cheung. It is about a magician-turned-gambler.

Cheng: I had a film that just premiered; it was titled Merry-Go-Round, a film to celebrate the 140th anniversary of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. This film was co-directed by me and Yan Yan Mak, director of Hu die. The film starred Ella Koon, Lawrence Chou, Teddy Robin, Denise Ho etc.

The Gallants will be released in Hong Kong in the month of June.