NG MUI Si - NING MUI Monastery - Ning Mui Kung Fu Organisation
NG MUI Si - NING MUI Monastery - Ning Mui Kung Fu Organisation
NG MUI Si - NING MUI Monastery - Ning Mui Kung Fu Organisation
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<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Si</strong> - NI<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Monastery</strong><br />
Jet Li - Fearless<br />
Interview<br />
http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/jet_li_fearless.html<br />
MASTER OF KU<strong>NG</strong> FU: Jet Li talks about Fearless, his latest martial arts epic, and his last.<br />
Only a handful of actors have ever reached the sort of legendary status during their lifetime that Jet Li has achieved.<br />
Mainstream American audiences first "discovered" Li in 1998 when cast as the villain in Lethal Weapon 4, he managed<br />
to steal the show. But die-hard fans of Wushu (martial arts) films were already aware of Li, who had been making some<br />
of the best genre films to come out of Hong Kong since the heyday of Shaw Brothers studios in the 1970s.<br />
Li was a child prodigy in the world of martial arts, winning his first championship at the age of 11. By the time he left<br />
the sport at 17, he was an international superstar, having spent five years as the All-Around National Wushu Champion<br />
of China. His first starring role came in the 1982's Shaolin Temple, a huge hit that catapulted Li even further into the<br />
role of international star. Other martial artists like Gordon Liu, Jackie Chan, Lo Lieh, and Jimmy Wang Yu had blazed the<br />
trail on the big screen, appealing to hardcore American fans that caught films at rundown theatres in Chinatown, or on<br />
television. And of course, the biggest, and most recognizable Wushu star was Bruce Lee, who did more to change the<br />
world view of Chinese and Asians than any actor before or after. But with a relatively short time, Li joined the ranks of<br />
the great kung fu flick masters. In the world of Wushu films, where thousands of movies have been produced over the<br />
decades, some of the all-time best - Fist of Legend, Once Upon a Time in China, Tai Chi Master, The Legend of Fong Sai<br />
Yuk, to name a few - have all starred Li. But it his most recent film, the epic period piece Fearless - a brilliant addition<br />
to the martial arts genre directed by Ronny Yu - that stands to be remembered as his greatest work.<br />
Like many of the greatest kung fu films, Fearless draws its inspiration from real life. Set in China during the early part<br />
of the 20th century, the film charts the life of folk hero Huo Yuanjia. The son of a great Wushu master, Yuanjia dreams<br />
of someday being a great fighter himself, despite the wishes of his father that the boy grow up to be a scholar. Going<br />
against the will of his father, Yuanjia trains in secret, and by the time he has reached adulthood, he has become a<br />
legendary champion fighter. With each victory comes more fame, and Yuanjia's ego soon grows out of control. When<br />
one of his students is attacked by another martial arts master, Yuanjia reacts by challenging the man to a match to the<br />
death. Yuanjia's victory is an empty one, and with the blood of his opponent on his hands, a terrible tragedy befalls<br />
him. His spirit broken, he ventures with the hopes that he will simply die. Instead, he comes to find refuge in a remote<br />
village, where he has a spiritual awakening, and after many years in a self-imposed exile, he returns to his home to<br />
atone for his sins. But in the years he has been gone, foreigners have flocked to China and Western exploitation is<br />
running rampant. As a means to break the spirit of the Chinese people, American, European and Japanese businessmen<br />
stage fight tournaments where Chinese martial artists are routinely defeated. But when Yuanjia decides to defend the<br />
honor of his countrymen, easily defeating an American fighter, he quickly becomes the people's hero.<br />
On the surface, Fearless resembles many of the countless martial arts films that have come before it, including some of<br />
Jet Li's most famous movies. But at the same time, the film, based more on Li's personal journey than Huo Yuanjia's<br />
life, is a deeply spiritual and emotional film that transcends many of cliches and conventions of other Wushu films.<br />
Where so many other films are driven by a basic plot that revolves around vengeance - the foremost staple of Hong<br />
Kong cinema - Fearless trades revenge for redemption.<br />
Li, director Ronny Yu and writer Chris Chow go one step further in removing Fearless for its genre brethren by removing<br />
the other staple of martial arts films, the villain. Other martial arts films always have a clearly defined villain - either a<br />
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<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Si</strong> - NI<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Monastery</strong><br />
rival from another Wushu school or an unscrupulous foreigner - but there is no villain in the film. Instead, it is Yuanjia<br />
himself, through is arrogance and self importance, who emerges as the film's antagonist, doing more damage to himself<br />
than any enemy ever could.<br />
Fearless is to the chop sockey film what Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven was to the western. The film redefines the genre,<br />
as opposed to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was a reinterpretation of the genre. Crouching Tiger was an epic<br />
tale of a doomed romance, punctuated by martial arts action. But Fearless is a traditional martial arts film, that takes<br />
the traditions in a new direction. For Jet Li, who has carried on what was started by the greatest Wushu actors of all<br />
time; Fearless is a culmination of a lifetime spent in martial arts and film.<br />
DAVID WALKER: How did you come to make Fearless?<br />
JET LI: This character, Huo Yuanjia, is well known in China. People have made a lot of films about him after he died,<br />
about his students coming back to figure out who killed their master, to get revenge. Bruce Lee made one. I made Fist<br />
of Legend. This story had been in my head many years already, but the motivation to make this movie came in 2003<br />
when I heard terrible news in China. In that year, a quarter million people committed suicide. I was suffering. A lot of<br />
teenagers, they don't know life yet, they just give up. What could I do? I wanted to make a movie telling a story of life.<br />
Even this master who was very strong - everybody knows he's mentally and physically very strong - but he also made<br />
mistakes. He also had a hard time in his life. But don't give up. That's the big motivation for making this film.<br />
Is it true that Fearless is your last martial arts film?<br />
I've made a lot of action films, and when I'm walking down the street a lot of teenagers say, "Jet Li kicks ass!" They are<br />
more focused on the physical part. They are more focused on the violence - using violence against violence. Nobody<br />
talks about what we in Chinese call Wushu. It's taken for two words. The first word is stop. The second is war. Stop<br />
fighting. But right now all action films talk about is fighting. Nobody talks about stopping. Martial arts are a physical<br />
part of these films, but the mental part is more important. That's why I put my personal belief, philosophy and<br />
experiences into the whole story. That's why I say this is my last Wushu movie, because everything I want to say is<br />
already in this film. I will continue to do movies. I just did a movie where a cop fights with mafia gangsters. They have<br />
a fight, but for me, that is not martial arts. That's action - beating each other up. I never know a Chinese punch from a<br />
Japanese kick from an American elbow. What's the difference? It's just humans fighting, to help the story. It's not about<br />
martial arts. This story is perfect to see - through the life journey - what changes you. Why you learn martial arts. How<br />
to use them. Who the enemy is. I believe it is yourself. The enemy is yourself.<br />
Fearless has no real enemy, no real bad guy. The bad guy is Hou Yuanjia himself, his arrogance, his pride.<br />
Exactly. 100% right. Physically, Huo Yuanjia never lost. But he lost by being aggressive, and self-centered. He lost<br />
because of his ego. When you become successful, even today, you have a lot of people around you, making you think<br />
you've become the king of the world. Then you have a big, evil head, and do everything crazy.<br />
Huo Yuanjia was a real man, but much of the movie seems to deal with things like fame and celebrity. How<br />
much of Fearless is based on Huo Yuanjia's real life, and how much is based on Jet Li's life and beliefs?<br />
I kept three original truths of Huo Yuanjia. His name. He started the Ching Wu school. He was the first master in<br />
Chinese history to show people that martial arts should be a sport – training your physical body, training your heart.<br />
Never use martial arts to beat up foreigners, to prove you're the best. We kept this philosophy. And the third is the age<br />
that he died – 42. These three things are true. Everything else is made up through my life journey. When I made the<br />
movie, I was 42. I went through a similar journey. I was young when I became the Wushu champion in China. A lot of<br />
people started to know me and hang around me, until one day I became I big movie star. Then there are more people<br />
around you. Then you become self-centered, and say, "I'm the special one. I'm number one in China." The feeling, the<br />
human feeling is what I made this movie about.<br />
Bruce Lee's career had a tremendous impact on how Chinese people have been portrayed in the rest of the<br />
world, and I know he influenced you quite a bit. But how have things changed since the time of Bruce Lee?<br />
I think now, not just Asian people, but other people of color, have more freedom, their lives are much better than in the<br />
1950s and 60s. This movie shows my personal life experience. Even in China, when I first watched Bruce Lee in Fist of<br />
<strong>Fu</strong>ry, I heard the Japanese say, "All the Chinese are like a sickness." Bruce Lee is the hero who fought back. The<br />
Chinese people stood up and yelled, "Beat them up." That made all Chinese people very proud, and very happy. But in<br />
my heart, I believe if somebody says bad things about you, if you fight with them right away, you are on the same<br />
level. Somebody making me unhappy and me beating them up, that is not a culture. That is not martial arts. If<br />
somebody says, "Jet Li is shit," I need to look at myself. Am I shit? It doesn't matter, they are just making noise. If I<br />
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<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Si</strong> - NI<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Monastery</strong><br />
have made some mistakes, then I need to change. I always need to look back myself. I need to stand back. That is the<br />
strongest, true martial artist. Even today, in China, especially young people, when they hear American people or<br />
Japanese or somebody say negative things about Chinese, they stand up, they try to fight, they start yelling. I think<br />
that's not right. But that's the basic human reaction.<br />
The difference between Fearless and many other films like it is that foreigners - Japanese and Americans -<br />
are not the villains.<br />
I think about history just like a mirror. You think about a lot of foreigners today going to China, and what are they<br />
doing? They are trying to make money. In the past, one hundred years ago, they were also coming just to make<br />
money. But because they made money, and because we're not living in that time, we think "all foreigners are bad, they<br />
come to China and that's bad, because they try to grab everything from China, they hurt Chinese people." Even today,<br />
we welcome a lot of people in China, so it really depends on how do you feel comfortable. Now, because China has<br />
become stronger and stronger, people feel comfortable to do business with foreigners. But 100 years ago, maybe the<br />
business was not fair. I try to tell the world, my belief is that I'm a human being, the most important thing is to find a<br />
way to fight for yourself – don't complain that life is not fair. You hear everybody say, "Life is not fair for me." For<br />
me, the philosophy is that if I did my best, then it's good enough. Like the Olympics - the gold, the champion. There<br />
can be only one. But there are thousands and thousands of people who tried. For me, there are no heroes. Everybody<br />
who does their best is the top guy - is the man - because they tried. You can not compete and say, "If I am the<br />
champion I am a hero, and if I don't I am a loser." Don't give up. You must compete with yourself. Today is better than<br />
yesterday, and continue, continue, continue. That's what I try to say.<br />
You have had the opportunity to work on films in Asia, Europe and the United States. What are the biggest<br />
lessons you have learned in making movies outside of China?<br />
I've learned a lot, because the American movie industry is very strong, it's very professional. But the system is different<br />
in Asia or Europe. In America there are large numbers of people involved in each movie - needs to be approved. In asia<br />
or in Europe, it's like making an independent film. You do something you really believe in and make the movie first, and<br />
then sell the movie. But ten years ago, fifteen years ago, Hong Kong movies and Chinese movies, the quality was not<br />
as good as today. The color, the production value, the music - we didn't care about too much because we had only a<br />
little money and everything should be in the film. But right now we have a bigger market, so we have more money in<br />
China for high quality films. Everything we put in, and everything we learned, we learned from the States. Also, in<br />
telling the stories before, the way the stories were told maybe only Asian people or Chinese could understand what we<br />
were talking about. But now, like with Ronny Yu, we don't talk about history first, we talk about human beings. We<br />
want to make movies about humans, not superheroes. A superhero never makes a mistake. A human makes mistakes.<br />
We wanted to make this character have ups and downs and ups, so people will connect with this character. Even if the<br />
customs are very different, you need love, a woman, a family, warmth to give you the power to find yourself, to<br />
recover, to comeback and fight and work. That kind of human feeling is a natural feeling. And that kind of storytelling,<br />
that way is learned from American film. That's why even though we speak Chinese in Fearless and it has subtitles, I<br />
hope audiences understand what we are talking about.<br />
As a fan of Asian films, I noticed that there was a much more universal feel to Fearless. It did not seem as<br />
steeped in Asian culture as a lot of other films.<br />
Because I think falling in love, every human being has that feeling. Different clothes 100 years ago, and 200 hundred<br />
years later, but it's still the same feeling. The clothes change, cars change, everything changes, but the feeling is the<br />
same. We learn that, we keep that energy, and a lot of people understand the feeling.<br />
Fearless is your last martial arts film, but many years from now, after you have completely retired from<br />
film, what do you want people to say about you and your career?<br />
First of all, I will continue making movies. The movies may have action in them, but it's not about martial arts. It may<br />
be a cop story, maybe a love story, maybe a family story, it may be a sci fi movie, I never know. That is the movie<br />
business.<br />
For myself, because I learned through a Buddhist philosophy and martial arts philosophy, I can not control people's<br />
thinking. Some people like Jet Li, and use a lot of positive words to write about Jet Li. If some people hate Jet Li they<br />
can write negative words about Jet Li. But it doesn't matter. What matters is that you use your heart, your honor and<br />
do your best each and every day, for each movie. I try to fulfill my audience all over the world - different culture<br />
different, different ages, different education. Some people will understand me and some people will not. It doesn't<br />
matter. If they like me, I'm happy. If they hate me, I'm still happy. It's okay. Because I just tell myself that the enemy<br />
is me myself. I did my best, that's all I can do. I can't be Tom Cruise. I can't be somebody else, only Jet Li. At this age,<br />
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<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Si</strong> - NI<strong>NG</strong> <strong>MUI</strong> <strong>Monastery</strong><br />
this is what I believe. Maybe ten years later I will have another belief. People always change. When you are a teenager,<br />
you want a sports car, but when you're in your 40s you want a family car. You will change. People always change their<br />
mind. But every human being, I believe, they really need peace - a happy life. But what is it they want? A lot of people<br />
want to see violence - violent movies, violent fights, violence, violence, violence. That's what they want to see and<br />
hear. But they don't need it. We've got a problem we need to resolve. What do we need, and what do we want? I have<br />
no opinion about how people describe me. I am very open, have a happy life, and I do my best everyday.<br />
- David Walker<br />
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