Kuo Chui

[venomsreviews]

I am back with another thread. I was looking to see if there was any discussions about Kuo Chui but I did not see one. I tried to look under the different names he is known by but still did not see anything! He is another one of my favorite actors and I admire his skills a lot. I always found his skills entrancing because he was so amazing at not only acrobatics but with weapons as well. Like I did with Sun Chien, I thought I would talk about him and hopefully get a discussion started even though there is a lot more known about him in comparison. I am not sure if there is a limit to how much information is technically allowed in a post at once, so I will limit this to some earlier information about him. Although I do have some for Ninja in the Deadly Trap (1982) and his later years. I wrote this out for one of my posts on Instagram about him. Anyway, my sources for this information have been quite a few interviews with Kuo Chui which I have read over the past few years, so I will put links to those.

Kuo Chui was born on October 21st, 1951, which he said was the year of the rabbit. A year before he was sent to the Lu Kwan Peking Opera School, in 1964, he slipped up while operating heavy machinery and lost two of his fingers. He would have been thirteen at the time. Kuo Chui is of ethnic Taiwanese descent, which is why he learned Taiwanese opera, unlike his two best friends, Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng, who studied Peking Opera. The difference is that Taiwanese opera uses the Hokkien dialect rather than Mandarin. The costumes and makeup are somewhat different compared to the Peking Opera, but the basics are the same! Kuo Chui’s sisters and parents were also Taiwanese opera performers. Some of the actors that went there were also Ricky Cheng Tien-Chi, Li Yi-Min, Jack Long, etc. They lived together and often went to the Taipei Bridge to hang out on the weekends. You could find them scouting places where filming was going on so they could collect some money! After five years at the school, he’d learned to do acrobatics and somersaults, so at 19, Kuo Chui ended up leaving the Lu Guang troupe. After leaving the Lu Guang troupe, Kuo Chui became a street performer with some Fu Xing opera students, which also included Chiang Sheng! They had created a Fu Xing circus act, which meant they were performing anywhere they could. However, the team disbanded after a year. He has said that back then, action movies were just martial arts with no true acrobatic techniques, but soon the techniques would be gathered by them.

Soon after Chang Cheh and Kuo Chui met during the filming of Boxer Rebellion, when he came to watch people do their martial arts performances to show off their skills, Chang Cheh enjoyed his performance and decided it was time to pair him with Fu Sheng to see how they would meld. The results were pleasing to Chang Cheh, so it was time to see if Kuo Chui wanted to appear in a movie. Of course, a "yes" was given to the famous director. Ni Kuang was given the task of writing Kuo Chui into the script of Marco Polo (1975), and Kuo Chui has said he was more comfortable with action scenes. He was nervous outside of those scenes and caused many retakes since many got messed up, but he overcame it in the end! He went on to make Chinatown Kid (1977), which also starred Alexander Fu Sheng. The character was beautifully executed and it was honestly one of my favorite roles of his since I liked how different it was from his more heroic characters. It was a change from the roles he would normally get over the present years which was typically the heroic ones!

It should be noted that since Kuo Chui came to Hong Kong with Chang Cheh, it was his decision on the terms of Kuo Chui’s contract. They could only work for him during their time with them. Five Deadly Venoms (1978) was made to introduce the next generation of martial arts stars. He ended up with the part of the Lizard. This movie had everyone hesitant about making it since there were no big stars, but Kuo Chui agrees that it turned out to be a success! You would even see Kuo Chui go on to be a martial arts director in the Venom films and, later, other movies. He often adds that they incorporated all of their skills well since Wei Pai, Sun Chien, and Lo Mang were limited when it came to action. Kuo Chui was trained with guns, knives, sticks, fei cha, and many other weapons, along with being agile. There were no serious injuries since all of them were skilled with bladed weapons, or any in general. During their time at Shaw Brothers, as well as when they were away from it, Kuo Chui continued to have a bond with Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng. He did practically everything with Chiang Sheng after referring to them as brothers. He also referred to Lu Feng as brother when later talking about the filming of Ninja in the Deadly Trap (1982).

Links:

http://www.coolasscinema.com/2016/06/cool-ass-cinema-presents-interview-with.html

https://poisonclanrockstheworld.blogspot.com/1995/10/interview-with-philip-kwok.html

[venomsreviews]

I was reading what Kuo Chui said about the filming of Ninja in the Deadly Trap (1982) since it apparently wasn’t a pleasant experience. He recalls that one of the main issues was that it wasn't worth leaving Shaw Brothers Studios to go to Taiwan. Earlier he said that he hadn't wanted to leave but out of gratitude, he obeyed Chang Cheh. Like I mentioned, the filming was not easy or even smooth. The production kept starting up, stopping for certain reasons, and then it would start back up again. Kuo Chui said there's a very long story behind it because a lot went down while making that film. Even at the start of filming, there was very little resources for them so shooting it took longer than any of them expected. Now this part is really sweet because Kuo Chui said that "us three brothers," referring to himself, Lu Feng, and Chiang Sheng were what made it all bearable. Eventually Pao Hsueh-Li entered the equation since production was falling behind but he only filmed the non-action scenes. He even split into two different teams so they could get it done. It took over two months to complete. Although Kuo Chui doesn't really know how well it did at the box office.

At the time, they could apparently only film movies for Chang Cheh since he decided their contracts with Shaw Brothers. So when Chang Cheh left for Shaw Brothers, Kuo Chui mentioned that they had no option but to say yes. Eventually after Ninja in the Deadly Trap finished filming in Taiwan, he asked Chang Cheh for his release which is when he left to go back to Shaw Brothers. The reason being that he had to survive and support his family. So overall, it sounds like the film had a lot of things go down.

Edited May 3, 2022 by venomsreviews

[venomsreviews]

Here’s another interesting little piece of information. Shaolin Rescuers (1979) is Kuo Chui’s favorite film that he did with the Venoms. He really liked his character as he was like a real person. He also enjoyed being able to show off his skills and doing a lot of comedy in that role!

Kuo Chui also felt that the fight scenes/choreography were varied and challenging, but he was very happy with his performance!

[venomsreviews]

I thought I’d share how Kuo Chui got the role of Mad Dog in Hard Boiled (1992). He was originally only supposed to have a small part in the film. However, Anthony Wong was not very good with firearms, and he was incapable of doing any risky stunts like running through glass or fire. So John Woo shifted all of Anthony Wong’s action to Kuo Chui’s character, Mad Dog! Although he said in a separate interview that Chow Yun-Fat suggested he play Mad Dog.

I would also like to mention that he said John Woo had his ideas for the action sequences. So, Kuo Chui made his ideas come to life and even showed John the stunts himself! If he liked it, then John Woo would approve it after the demonstration, but if he didn’t like it, then he would provide some suggestions. That’s how the two of them worked together as Kuo Chui did any of the stunts that John needed him to.

Kuo Chui thought he was a cool character and I have to say that I agree. He was actually my favorite character in the film!

[venomsreviews]

Here are some of my favorite photos of Kuo Chui with Chu Ko and Lu Feng:

[venomsreviews]

I’m not quite sure who he’s with here:

Kuo Chui and Candy Wen Xue-Er!

Edited May 14, 2022 by venomsreviews

[venomsreviews]

Kuo Chui discussed why you typically see him, Chiang Sheng, and Lu Feng facing off at the end of the Venoms movies. It mainly boils down to the fact that they were opera trained. While Lo Mang and Sun Chien are great at fighting, as Kuo Chui notes, they couldn’t perform the same number of moves per take. Those three were suited to each other when it came to timing as well, due to their training. He complimented Lo Mang and Sun Chien’s acting too, though, saying they were good at it!

[venomsreviews]

[venomsreviews]

I have learned that Kuo Chui really disliked a film he was in called The Cat. He went on to call it terrible in an interview when asked what he had been up to recently. 

I have never seen it, but this has made me rather intrigued. I am curious to know what the movie was like.

[ShawAngela]

7 hours ago, venomsreviews said:

I have learned that Kuo Chui really disliked a film he was in called The Cat. He went on to call it terrible in an interview when asked what he had been up to recently. 

I have never seen it, but this has made me rather intrigued. I am curious to know what the movie was like.

I know of a movie called Evil cat, with Liu Chia Liang. Could it be the same ? Do you know the year of the movie he was talking about in this interview ?

[ShawAngela]

On 5/14/2022 at 9:51 AM, venomsreviews said:

I’m not quite sure who he’s with here:

She looks like Vivian Chow for me.

[ShawAngela]

On 6/14/2022 at 3:16 AM, venomsreviews said:

Ok, I wanted to quote only the first picture, but no way !

Is it his wife ? An actress ? Who is she ?

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

21 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

Ok, I wanted to quote only the first picture, but no way !

Is it his wife ? An actress ? Who is she ?

Michelle Yeoh. Kwok was the AC on The Touch.

[venomsreviews]

2 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

I know of a movie called Evil cat, with Liu Chia Liang. Could it be the same ? Do you know the year of the movie he was talking about in this interview ?

The following is the movie he’s referring to. The interview was from 1995 and the film seems to be from 1992  

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=7601&display_set=eng

Edited June 19, 2022 by venomsreviews

[venomsreviews]

4 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

Ok, I wanted to quote only the first picture, but no way !

Is it his wife ? An actress ? Who is she ?

Actually, according to the text under the magazine and the video of the interview, it is the woman who interviewed him. She was identified as 王君馨. Michelle Yeoh was not mentioned or referred to in terms of the woman in the picture (in reference to the previous reply you received). I looked up the name from the video and found it linked to an actress named Grace Wong, so it could possibly be her. 

It also mentioned 《城寨》, so I did some research. It led me to A Fist Within Four Walls (城寨英雄). Grace Wong is in that so that’s also another reason why I think it is possibly her aside from what’s listed above. That same magazine shows pictures from A Fist Within Four Walls and it was on the same page as the one with Kuo Chui that you inquired about!

Edited June 19, 2022 by venomsreviews

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

1 hour ago, venomsreviews said:

Actually, according to the text under the magazine and the video of the interview, it is the woman who interviewed him. She was identified as 王君馨. Michelle Yeoh was not mentioned or referred to in terms of the woman in the picture (in reference to the previous reply you received). I looked up the name from the video and found it linked to an actress named Grace Wong, so it could possibly be her. 

It also mentioned 《城寨》, so I did some research. It led me to A Fist Within Four Walls (城寨英雄). Grace Wong is in that so that’s also another reason why I think it is possibly her aside from what’s listed above. That same magazine shows pictures from A Fist Within Four Walls and it was on the same page as the one with Kuo Chui that you inquired about!

I stand corrected. Remember seeing that pic in passing before and, I guess wrongfully, assuming it was him and Michelle behind the scenes on The Touch. 

[KUNG FU BOB]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:18 PM, ShawAngela said:

I know of a movie called Evil cat, with Liu Chia Liang. Could it be the same ? Do you know the year of the movie he was talking about in this interview ?

No, it's a different film.

EVIL CAT (1987)

Dir: Dennis Yu Wan-Kwong

A crazy horror-action-comedy written by Wong Jing about an ancient cat demon that possesses various people (Mark Cheng chief among them here) to unleash evil upon the world. Lau Kar-Leung plays the last surviving member of a Taoist priest ancestry that have been charged with keeping this creature in check throughout the centuries.

It's an entertaining film and has a few scares, and I love seeing Lau Sifu in anything. Though it's always a little disappointing when he's in a role that does showcase him unleashing his incredible kung fu skills. Still, I recommend it.

 

THE CAT (1992)

Dir: Lam Nai-Choi

Here's my review of it from letterboxd.com:

Only in the wild and wacky world of Hong Kong could a film like this have been made.

If you don't recognize director Lam Nai-Choi's name, he's the guy that's responsible for THE SEVENTH CURSE, STORY OF RICKY, MEN FROM THE GUTTER, THE PEACOCK KING, EROTIC GHOST STORY, and more. So you're in for some cinematic insanity here.

It's a genre-mixing Wisely tale* (a Chinese character very much like Sherlock Holmes, but that deals more often with fantasy-tinged mysteries) that involves aliens, body-snatching, gruesome murders, a valiant cat, and some human on a mission to... save the world? Or at least a few locals. It's basically absolutely ridiculous madness!

I've shown the words-won't-do-it-justice "cat versus dog scene" to some people who claimed to have "seen it all", and it never fails to get a big, stunned reaction along the lines of "Well, okay... I've never seen THAT before."

* As is THE SEVENTH CURSE .

Philip Kwok choreographed the action and plays a role in it. I can certainly see why he might be embarrassed by having this in his filmography, but for me it's a whole lot of fun.

Thanks to @venomsreviews for creating this thread. I think Mr. Kwok is one of the greatest and deserves more recognition.

 

 

 

[venomsreviews]

On 6/20/2022 at 1:40 PM, KUNG FU BOB said:

THE CAT (1992)

Dir: Lam Nai-Choi

Here's my review of it from letterboxd.com:

Only in the wild and wacky world of Hong Kong could a film like this have been made.

If you don't recognize director Lam Nai-Choi's name, he's the guy that's responsible for THE SEVENTH CURSE, STORY OF RICKY, MEN FROM THE GUTTER, THE PEACOCK KING, EROTIC GHOST STORY, and more. So you're in for some cinematic insanity here.

It's a genre-mixing Wisely tale* (a Chinese character very much like Sherlock Holmes, but that deals more often with fantasy-tinged mysteries) that involves aliens, body-snatching, gruesome murders, a valiant cat, and some human on a mission to... save the world? Or at least a few locals. It's basically absolutely ridiculous madness!

I've shown the words-won't-do-it-justice "cat versus dog scene" to some people who claimed to have "seen it all", and it never fails to get a big, stunned reaction along the lines of "Well, okay... I've never seen THAT before."

* As is THE SEVENTH CURSE .

Philip Kwok choreographed the action and plays a role in it. I can certainly see why he might be embarrassed by having this in his filmography, but for me it's a whole lot of fun.

I didn’t recognize the director at first, but now it certainly explains a lot! I did enjoy The Seventh Curse, so I believe I will definitely have to watch The Cat (1992)! It sounds like a very interesting and unique film. I typically like to try a film at least once, just to experience it before I form an opinion on it.

I thought it was quite interesting that Kuo Chui actually said this movie was terrible. I had seen him mention that movies like Ninja in the Deadly Trap (1982) had a horrible filming process, but never anything about the movie itself, like with The Cat. This was very helpful to read, though, since it explained a lot of things that I was not aware of. It’s good to know someone thought it was a fun movie!

On 6/20/2022 at 1:40 PM, KUNG FU BOB said:

I think Mr. Kwok is one of the greatest and deserves more recognition.

I completely agree. He’s always been one of my favorites. I have been amazed by his skills ever since I first saw him. At the time, just seeing all the things he could do was mind-blowing for me. Even when he does choreography for a movie or a series, it never disappoints me! It's always been interesting to watch videos of him demonstrating the stunts or just the choreography in general, since he seems to have a great way of interacting with others.

[venomsreviews]

These were taken during the filming of Brotherhood of the Wolf! 

Kuo Chui mentioned he loves working abroad since they have superb resources and offer a challenge. Brotherhood of the Wolf was made in Europe, and he felt lucky to be able to work on it.

[venomsreviews]

[ShawAngela]

On 6/25/2022 at 5:46 AM, venomsreviews said:

These were taken during the filming of Brotherhood of the Wolf! 

Kuo Chui mentioned he loves working abroad since they have superb resources and offer a challenge. Brotherhood of the Wolf was made in Europe, and he felt lucky to be able to work on it.

I saw this movie years ago on the French TV, and when I saw his name as the choreographer, I was like "What ?! OUR Kuo Chui from the Shaws ?!" and I couldn't believe it !

[venomsreviews]

I went back and read the other interview I had with Kuo Chui about how Chang Cheh came up with the idea to bring him, Lu Feng, Wei Pai, Sun Chien, Lo Mang, and Chiang Sheng together! He said Chang Cheh knew that his actors like David Chiang and Ti Lung (who had been the main characters in many films) would move on, so there needed to be other brothers to take their place. That's when he decided to introduce the 4th generation of talent. As a result, Chang Cheh and Ni Kuang devised the idea of creating a suspense drama that revolved around the five venoms.

[venomsreviews]

On 7/2/2022 at 4:19 PM, ShawAngela said:

I saw this movie years ago on the French TV, and when I saw his name as the choreographer, I was like "What ?! OUR Kuo Chui from the Shaws ?!" and I couldn't believe it !

I had never heard of the film until I happened to see a video of Kuo Chui, the director, and a few cast members talking about it ! I thought it was so cool that he got to work on the movie. It was a great one, in my opinion. He did such a good job with the choreography as well. I rewatched that video a few days ago.