Yuan Baye’s “status in the world”
Chen Hu was once a martial artist in Yuan Heping’s team because he served as Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz. He has been reported by many media as a kung fu teacher to a group of Hollywood superstars such as Liu Yuling and Lucy Liu. When a reporter from "Global" magazine asked Chen Hu what was the most memorable thing during his time as a martial artist in Hollywood, he thought about it and laughed: "It was a meal that the producer of "The Matrix" invited us to have." The filming of the film was quite tense at that time, but one day the producer announced: "I want to give everyone a surprise. Today we will have Chinese food!" In the evening, the producer went to the local Chinatown to invite a master chef to prepare the cast for the crew. The Chinese martial arts masters cooked a sumptuous Chinese meal. "But that's nothing. After a while, as soon as the door opened, a group of people in Tang suits came in holding pipa and guqin. Then they sat down and started playing Chinese music for us... Just think about that scene. , it’s so fun to have Chinese food with live background music!” In Chen Hu’s view, the reason why the producers carefully arranged such a dinner with a soundtrack was because Hollywood at that time was still very mysterious about Chinese Kung Fu, and Chinese martial arts masters. He also has a high status in the crew, especially Yuan Heping. No matter what he says, everyone will think: It was Yuan Baye who said it, and it must be correct! However, this is not because of how strong Yuan Heping is. On the contrary, as an Oriental, Yuan Heping has a rather humble personality. When "The Matrix" was first filmed in Australia, a local action team joined the crew, and sometimes the two parties would come up with different plans when designing the actions for the next day's scene. Yuan Heping would always give in and say, let’s film according to your opinions, and we’ll have a day off tomorrow. As a result, in the afternoon of the next day, the crew called back: "Mr. Yuan, come here quickly. We have been filming for a day, but we just can't get the desired effect!" This "emergency rescue" thing happened. After several times, Yuan Heping's prestige among the crew was naturally established.
Americans are very good at learning
In the first few years after the success of "The Matrix", Hong Kong Kung Fu movies and Kung Fu Masters received unprecedented attention in Hollywood, and many Hollywood directors were filming During action scenes, some classic Hong Kong kung fu movies will be used directly as teaching materials. Chen Hu still clearly remembers that when Yuan Jiaban was working as a martial arts instructor in "Charlie's Angels", the director took out "The Iron Horse" starring Donnie Yen and Yu Rongguang and showed it to everyone. Sometimes when seeing a wonderful scene, the director will shout: "Yes, yes, this is the action, I want this effect!" So, can Hollywood stars without martial arts skills really produce the effects of Hong Kong Kung Fu movies? Chen Hu explained that in fact it still didn’t work. Although Keanu Reeves, Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz and others would also undergo short-term "devil training" under his guidance before filming, compared with Donnie Yen and others, The gap is still too big. "But it doesn't matter. Take "Charlie's Angels" as an example. As long as the three of them can be half as good as Donnie Yen, the effect will be better than that of Donnie Yen. They are girls, so they are different." Chen Hu said with a smile. Will these superstars show their temper towards the "master"? Chen Hu answered firmly: No, at least the big-name stars he has come into contact with are all very professional, and the status of Chinese martial arts masters in the crew is not low. Americans admire those who have real abilities and are willing to take risks, and give them better treatment than ordinary people. The staff is much taller. In those years, Yuan Heping's Yuan Family Class, Cheng Xiaodong's Cheng Family Class, and Yuan Kui's team all appeared on the crews of Hollywood blockbusters. But unfortunately, in the past two years, except for a few martial arts masters such as Qiu Ming who specializes in serving as stand-ins for Chinese female stars, it has been difficult to see Chinese people in Hollywood. One of the reasons is of course the ebb of the kung fu craze in Hollywood. Secondly, Hollywood's "protectionism" has increased, and it has begun to exclude outsiders in order to protect the job opportunities of local filmmakers. In addition, in Chen Hu's view, there is another very important reason: through cooperation in the past few years, American action directors have learned a lot of skills from Chinese kung fu masters, which is enough to meet the shooting needs of ordinary action movies.
"When I was working as a martial arts instructor in Hollywood, I often reminded my colleagues to save money and not teach Americans all the tricks of the trade just to make a little extra money. Americans are very good at learning. If they all learn it, we should have nothing to eat... Now, it is indeed the case." Chen Hu laughed. It can be seen that Chen Hu does not really care about his job in Hollywood. In his opinion, Chinese Kung Fu is too broad and profound, and American filmmakers can only learn superficially; but what he cares about is that although Chinese martial arts schools are blooming all over the world , Kung Fu movies are coming out one after another, but the situation of real Chinese Kung Fu is not optimistic.
The American Martial Arts School and Bruce Lee’s Dream
Like many Kung Fu stars, Chen Hu, who was born in Sichuan, entered a sports school to study martial arts at a very young age and won many national martial arts championships; But unlike other martial arts stars, he began to feel when he was in sports school: what he was learning did not seem to be the Chinese Kung Fu he had dreamed of before. At this time, he accidentally came into contact with a "Martial Arts Secret Book" - "Qigong Knowledge Revealed", which led him to find the master he had been looking for for a long time: Lu Jinchuan, the master of martial arts of the Tianmen Sect. Following Master Lu, Chen Hu began to learn real Chinese Kung Fu. This also laid the foundation for him to participate in various fighting competitions in the United States. In the late 1990s, Chen Hu was selected for a Sino-US exchange program and came to the United States. In the following years, he won the championship in the National Karate Competition, the National Hwarang Do Competition, the San Francisco International Invitational Competition, the California Taekwondo Competition and other competitions. "Actually, when I came to the United States, I originally wanted to do exchanges and perform martial arts, but after I arrived, I realized that I couldn't survive by performing." Chen Hu said frankly that one of the reasons for participating in so many competitions was "forced by life." Chen Hu was only in his 20s at the time, when he was at his most capable. He participated in all the fighting matches that he could participate in, so that "sometimes when I go there, people say, why are you here again? I go to some smaller matches." The organizer will say, "Stop competing and give us a show." However, it was these competitions that made Chen Hu famous in the American Kung Fu circle and made him the master of many American Kung Fu enthusiasts. , and thus got the opportunity to join the Yuan family class. Among these competitions, what impressed Chen Hu the most was the National Karate Competition. This was the first fighting competition he participated in. And because he was not familiar with the rules, he lost the first competition. After training hard, he won the second time. Get the championship. Speaking of Bruce Lee, Chen Hu's tone was full of reverence. In his opinion, Bruce Lee was a true martial artist and the first person to promote Chinese Kung Fu to the world. "Although there are now Chinese martial arts schools all over the world, they are either routines, that is, martial arts gymnastics; or they are fighting, with boxing on the hands, taekwondo on the feet, and Chinese wrestling. They are far away from the real traditional martial arts. . This is really a pity. "Relatively speaking, some martial arts schools in the United States retain more traditional things than those in mainland China. There are many sects that have not been heard of in the mainland, such as the Eagle Claw Sect and the Mantis Sect. The martial arts school is very impressive, with thousands of disciples, and the rules are very strict. But in Chen Hu’s view, to promote Chinese Kung Fu, it is far from enough to rely on martial arts schools and martial arts masters. Just like Bruce Lee, he was already very famous in the American Kung Fu circle before he made the movie, but how many ordinary people know him? What about him and his Chinese Kung Fu? It was the movie that allowed Bruce Lee to realize his ideal of promoting Chinese Kung Fu. Chen Hu said: "This is also my goal."