Was the SHAOLIN TEMPLE series aka Shaolin cycle some what Liu Chia-Liang's idea?

[Omni Dragon]

☯Firstly Was the SHAOLIN TEMPLE series aka Shaolin cycle some what Liu Chia-Liang's idea?

I mean HEROES TWO the first one made a released & is very Hung Gar as well with the film being about the founder of Hung Gar, Hung Hsi Kuan which is a massive part of his Kung Fu lineage he was of course AC a long with Tong Gai on HEROES TWO & MEN FROM THE MONASTERY & did the AC with his bro for FIVE SHAOLIN MASTERS.

Secondly is it possible that EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN & THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN are part of the SHAOLIN TEMPLE series aka Shaolin cycle? From a characters/legends point of view it's an absolute yes but it would be very hard to go on the basis of characters/legends cos the Fang Shi Yu aka Fong Sai Yuk films seem to go back to at least 1938 but could they be like SHOWDOWN AT THE COTTON MILL & be none Chang Cheh's that are part of the series?☯

[Asmo]

From memory, LKL mentioned to Chang Cheh that Shaolin stories would make good films but Chang said that no lead actors would be willing to shave their heads. I could be wrong but I'm sure I read that somewhere.

[Iron Boat]

I would of liked Executioners From Shaolin more if Cheng Cheh directed it

[teako170]

I heard or read that as well. Can't recall source at the moment.

From memory, LKL mentioned to Chang Cheh that Shaolin stories would make good films but Chang said that no lead actors would be willing to shave their heads. I could be wrong but I'm sure I read that somewhere.

[peringaten]

Lau Kar Leung interview: http://changcheh.0catch.com/lau-int.htm

Main section where LKL discusses questions raised in this thread:

Cahiers: You were hired by the Shaws in the sixties?

Lau K-l: Yes, to work with Chang Cheh.

Cahiers: Shaw's swordplay movies were using mainly special effects but no true kung fu, weren't they?

Lau K-l: With JADE BOW, I mixed it up. I adapted kung fu to special effects. Before Bruce Lee, Shaw, seeing the great success of samurai movies with the Hong Kong audience, asked Chang Cheh to put many elements of those action movies into his own -- the nickname "kung fu movies" didn't exist yet -- while at the same time exalting Chinese heroism. Thus, there was this hero, who while he was holding his guts in one hand, was still fighting anyways! The audience loved these heroes who didn't die! The mood was very Japanese.

Cahiers: Do you think it's possible to mix the two kinds of martial arts -- the Japanese and the Chinese?

Lau K-l: Chang Cheh succeeded. For my part -- I was fight choreographer -- I had to set up the fight scenes according to the director's instructions. I had no say in the matter. Before my estrangement from Chang Cheh, he told me that the hero must never fall dead from a wound, but always had to rise and go on with the fight and that those were the kind of heroes which the audience admired. And as he was pointing out to me why such vitality was perfectly justified, I asked him to demonstrate it to me. He answered: "A disemboweled man, even with his guts out, can still move, can't he? Then he added: "Anyways, the bloodier it gets the better!"

Cahiers: How did the coming of Bruce Lee change all that?

Lau K-l: When Bruce Lee came to Hong Kong, he first contacted Shaws, but they dismissed him because he asked for a condition that was unacceptable: that they relinquish the rights of his movies in the USA. Later, Lo Wei, who appreciated Bruce Lee's value very well, went to find him. From then on, there was a distinction between the kung fu movies (those of Bruce Lee) and the sword-plays (those of Chang Cheh). Later, Chang Cheh departed from Shaws to go to work in Taiwan, because at that time, true sword-plays were dwindling.

Cahiers: But he was always closely associated with Shaws?

Lau K-l: Yes, because the Taiwanese studio for which he worked was only a branch of Shaws. Shaws had earned a tremendous amount of money in Taiwan, but was forbidden to take it out of the country. So, they sent Chang Cheh to spend it by making movies.

Cahiers: Is it true that Chang Cheh came to make more authentic kung fu movies throughout your collaboration?

Lau K-l: At that time, Chang Cheh had two fight choreographers: Tang Chia and me. Tang Chia didn't want to go to Taiwan, so Chang Cheh came to see me, asking me to give him a hand. He told me, "Without you, I won't be able to go through with it." He asked me what to do to rescue martial arts movies. I answered: fight scenes must be truer, like those in Bruce Lee movies. "But how?" he answered back. I told him that we must portray heroes who really existed and revive the kung fu the way they practiced it.

Cahiers: Chang Cheh is from Shanghai?

Lau K-l: Yes, he's not Cantonese, and he's unacquainted with things from there. Chang Cheh asked me what kind of stories would be most suitable to be put on screen. I suggested he use the Shaolin temple stories. His first reaction was to say: "Actors like David Chiang and Ti Lung will never agree to shave their heads."

[The Dragon]

I would of liked Executioners From Shaolin more if Cheng Cheh directed it

I don't know how well modified robes with the Monk's chests hanging out would have gone over with Pops.

[Phoenix]

I might be wrong but I think in Cinema of Vengeance LKL states that he originally suggested Shaws / CC use animal forms to depict kung fu more accurately. Can't recall the exact wording used.

[Omni Dragon]

Lau Kar Leung interview: http://changcheh.0catch.com/lau-int.htm

Main section where LKL discusses questions raised in this thread:

☯Great link peringaten.

You seem knowledgeable on the SHAOLIN TEMPLE series aka Shaolin cycle, I'm going to watch the series somewhat based on the order you said in an other thread.☯

[Iron Boat]

I don't know how well modified robes with the Monk's chests hanging out would have gone over with Pops.

Lol, one thing is for sure, with CC at the helm the ending would of been a bloodbath!

[The Dragon]

Lol, one thing is for sure, with CC at the helm the ending would of been a bloodbath!

For sure!