QT to remake Come drink with me!?

[Guest The Amazing Psychoper]

According to Twitchfilm.net, TWC has anounced that Quentin Tarantino was interested to helm a remake of Come drink with me! Seems Quentin has given up on stealing from everyone and is just going to simply remake the movies... :b

Come drink with me!?! I just don't see the point, nor the interest...

The Amazing Psycho Per :evil

[Guest Linn1]

Avenging Eagle are the two he's been thinking about for a couple of years now. I don't see the point in doing Come Drink With Me. Avenging Eagle would be the better choice, as it has PLENTY of room for cameos. Get Ti Lung to play the leader of the Eagle clan and you're good to go.

[Guest The Running Man]

He's an idiot.

He also wants to remake one of the Zatoichi movies, so he had Harvey buy the rights to it and they shelved it until he decides if he is going to remake it or not.

So now, anyone who wants to see that movie has to bootleg it no matter what.

[Guest Stuntman Jules]

I like Tarantino.

He'll probably just end up making INGLORIOUS BASTARDS next, at least, that's what I hope.

[bobo]

i just hope TARANTINO opens up his vault to dragondynasty and shares some of those rare lost english dub shaws hes been holding onto.

[Guest Chinatown Kid]

I wouldn't mind seeing a remake of Avenging Eagles, I just hope Quentin doesn't cheese it up like he did with the Kill Bill films and make it some kind of campy crap.

[Guest HANZOSTEEL]

This interview covers the 2002 Interview where Cheng Pei Pei is interviewed and at the end she says that

a Remake of Come Drink with me is coming starring her own Daughter "marsha"

October 26, 2002|I confided in the amazingly beautiful Hong Kong action legend Cheng Pei-pei--recently seen as the villainous Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon--that a screening of her classic Shaw Brothers film Come Drink with Me on a grainy bootleg copy as a small child gifted me with both a lifelong love of martial arts films and my first crush. Still lovely and distinguished almost forty years later, Ms. Cheng met me at the Daily Grind coffee shop in the Old Tivoli Brewery, where the Denver Film Society was running the 25th Denver International Film Festival and featuring a new print of Come Drink with Me that was originally struck for this year's Venice Film Festival. Soft-spoken, polite, and exceedingly gracious, I was stricken by her humility and friendliness--old crushes die hard, I guess. I began by asking Ms. Cheng about her training as a dancer.-Walter Chaw

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheng Pei-pei: I was eight when I started ballet and I've always felt dance and martial arts are very similar--the ways in which you stretch your body, use your legs, there's something that's complementary about the disciplines. Some ballet dancers can't do any other kind of dance just like some martial artists are bound by one school, but with my background I was able to make a transition into the martial arts that was very comfortable and natural.

Film Freak Central: Were you aided by your training as an actress?

Oh yes, because I'm an actress I approached it from the perspective not of purity of the form--dance or martial art--but of trying to understand how one informed the other. When [the director of Come Drink with Me] King Hu first spoke with me, he wanted me to be in his film and told me his philosophy of martial arts. He wanted a different kind of rhythm--before, martial arts were portrayed as boom-boom-boom-boom (chops the air with evenly timed strokes). King Hu wanted b-boom...b-boom b-boom--an arrhythmic pattern of gathering strength, contemplative pause, then sudden action. So I listened and fashioned in my mind a jazz improvisation pattern--a very specialized rhythm of dance. What I'm saying is that as an actress, I was able to not be so rigid in my training.

Were you schooled in a great many dance forms?

Jazz, modern, all kinds. That diversity was extremely useful as well, I think, in fostering a mental and philosophical agility. Plus, I was probably too young to know any better. (laughs)

Did you do most of your own stunt work?

Well, King Hu wanted us to do as much as we could because it was so early in the genre then...

Arguably the first example of the modern martial arts film.

(laughs) Well, maybe that's true. It was so early then that we were all feeling our way in terms of what could be done, what looked good, and how to go about it, so King Hu really encouraged us to be in there. It was, then, a process of performance, not like now. I'm not saying it's not performance now, but they've really perfected so many of the techniques that you can get stunt people in there who can do the movements and then you have the technology to make it look like the actor and totally natural at the same time. Honestly, though, the stunts then weren't that dangerous and we had absolute faith in King Hu--he knew exactly what he wanted and we were bolstered by the strength of his vision. After shooting Come Drink with Me, he gathered us together to explain his editing process--how he used each of the twenty-four frames to convey some action or philosophy that might not be visible to the naked eye, but was important for the feeling of the film.

Are you pleased with the new print?

I'm so pleased. There is a scene where the drunken master and the chief henchman are fighting and they pass each other in mid-air--a transition there where, for a split second, they are superimposed over one another against the background. It's very beautiful and I don't think that I ever saw it before in any other print--but I saw it in this one. It's amazing that so long after the movie was made, we are discovering new things about it because people care about preserving this heritage.

You mention the perfections of technique in the martial arts film--do you have moments when you sit back and realize that those techniques are almost due entirely to the period of films in which you were involved in general and Come Drink with Me in particular?

I do, yes, and I feel extremely lucky. I'm just so, so lucky. Come Drink with Me and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are two films that are, in many ways, key films of martial arts movements--one for the East, and one for the West. I would feel so very fortunate just to have one film like that in my life, but to have two is just very humbling.

Many of the scenes in Crouching Tiger--the rooftop chase, the restaurant fight--are taken directly from Come Drink with Me. Did you give any pointers to Zhang Ziyi--an actress at a similar age in a similar situation to you with your breakthrough film--on set?

Not really. On the set, even though I'm much older than Zhang Ziyi, I never felt as though I was qualified to give direction or advice. I tell my own children that when you work, the director is the boss and with Ang Lee, that was so easy to do because he's such an amazingly good and sensitive director. We didn't know each other very well--Zhang Ziyi and I--before the film but of course by the time the shoot was finished, we were very close. She's going to have a wonderful career.

Were you frightened as you were shooting Come Drink with Me that what you were doing was so new that it wouldn't be well received?

I was too young for that--too silly, maybe. Maybe I wasn't that smart, either. (laughs) I never felt scared or that what we were doing was so radical a thing. I had so much trust in King Hu that that was all that mattered. The environment, I'll tell you, around the genre at that time was very similar to the one surrounding martial arts movies in the United States at this time. The difference in China is that we always had the old serial novels--Crouching Tiger is even based on Wang Du Lu's novels, you know--so there was the excitement of seeing some of our favourite books, the ones we had read as children, adapted into film. In the United States there isn't that kind of history so the excitement that western audiences are bringing to martial arts-themed films is so fresh and new. They have different moorings.

Your daughter Marsha is going to star in the remake of Come Drink With Me?

Yes, yes--we haven't started shooting that yet, we're still in the ***** development stage, but I'm so excited!

[Guest VonHumboldtFleischer]

Tarantino's remake of COME DRINK WITH ME sounds like just about the worst idea I've heard since - well, since Tarantino's remake of INGLORIOUS BASTARDS.

Apparently, an advance teaser trailer for Tarantino's COME DRINK WITH ME is already circulating on the internet - it's just footage of Tarantino laughing and dancing before urinating in King Hu's open grave while blood-stained hundred-dollar bills rain from a black sky.

Looks good.

[Guest sevenhooks]

Tarantino's remake of COME DRINK WITH ME sounds like just about the worst idea I've heard

Agreed. Particularly since Come Drink With Me is just about the most overrated Shaw flick I've seen.

Then again, who was it that said: "why do they keep remaking the good movies? they should remake the bad ones until they get them right."

[Guest killer meteor]

It's a strange choice. Come Drink With Me is polite as they get. QT's more suited to the Venoms - though maybe he should try making his own films?

[Guest HAZ74]

Agreed. Particularly since Come Drink With Me is just about the most overrated Shaw flick I've seen.

I feel you on this, P. I liked Golden Swallow better that CDWM & I'm a HUGE King Hu fan.

[Guest EvilMantis]

Tarantino hasn't had an original idea in his life. For me, his movies are unwatchable and dated five minutes after they are released. Perhaps his self-serving new venture into stealing from and remaking kf movies will do something good for the genre, one can only hope.

[Guest teako170]

I've only watched CDTM once so far but I actually enjoyed this one. For 1966, its not bad at all. The restaurant scene played out like a Leone flick.

Here's the original trailer:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxO-lxrezoU

VHF - where'd you see that QT trailer?

[Guest Tosh]

I thought they already remade Come Drink with Me, it was called Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon:lol

After killbill, and the Grindhouse flop (at the boxoffice anyways), QT better get to making something other than his indulgences.

Avenging Eagle could be cool in his hands if (like CK said) he didn't get all campy with it, but who, other than us, would be into it? Obviously not the general public, they'd rather see Wildhogs:x

[Guest teako170]

Had to cut my last post short as the boss walked in.... :x

Anyhow ... nice pic of Marsha and mom. She's a true beauty like her mother. I believe she was in 80 Days w/ Jackie?

As far as QT remaking CDWM... he's already done the lone samurai woman theme. He should try something a bit more gorish like Masked Avengers. Dark - horror - MA action. Right up his alley.

[Guest Atomic Mystery Monster]

This'll probably end up like his announced-but-never-made KILL BILL anime, FRIDAY THE 13TH sequel, Godzilla movie, etc.: He'll get districted by something shiny and move on to something else.

[Guest Stuntman Jules]

I don't think INGLORIOUS BASTARDS is actually going to be a full on remake of the 1977 Spaghetti war film. It's just named after it and the plots are somewhat similar, but it won't be quite an actual remake. I have a funny feeling that will be Tarantino's next film, as he's sure been talking about it for a while.

[Guest Linn1]

and he's said it's not a remake. He just liked the title. He's said that he was going to Europe to promote Grindhouse and was going to finish up the script there.

[Guest Atomic Mystery Monster]

I don't think INGLORIOUS BASTARDS is actually going to be a full on remake of the 1977 Spaghetti war film. It's just named after it and the plots are somewhat similar, but it won't be quite an actual remake. I have a funny feeling that will be Tarantino's next film, as he's sure been talking about it for a while.

If he actually makes this, you just know there's going to be some controversy over the word "bastard" appearing in marquees and whatnot.

[Guest venomchamber]

Wow.

Now I've seen everything.

This is supposed to be a Kung-Fu Fandom forum and here I see you guys are actually bashing the King Hu wu-xia classic COME DRINK WITH ME and Quentin Tarentino.

Go figure.

It seems to me that many of you seem to think the Shaws have been making kung-fu movies since the dawn of time, but I hate to burst your bubble but CDwM was made in 1965, back when Gordon Liu and the venoms were in grade school, and a year before Bruce Lee would play second banana to Van Williams on The Green Hornet here in America.

Now this movie isn't the type of action-packed, blood-soaked shocker many of us (including me) have grown to love, but c'mon give credit where credit is due!

It is a solid film with fine choreography, and outstanding direction & cinematography. I would not say it was overrated in the least. I feel that anyone who sees this film nowadays should realize "hey...they made this waaaaay back in 1965 and it looks this good? I've seen things made 10 years later that don't look even half as good as this does!"

When it was made, there was nothing like it on the screen!

Its a forerunner...a trendsetter...a benchmark...a landmark...a hint of things to come.

This classy little wu-xia film opened the Pandora's box of martial-arts movie evolution! If it weren't for this film's success, the Shaws wouldn't have green-lighted Chang Cheh's Tiger Boy, Magnificent Trio, or One-Armed Swordsman. These films led to Wang Yu's popularity which brought us The Chinese Boxer and started the whole kung-fu movie craze as we know it.

Too much negativity will put potential fans off from seeing this kind of film which to me is required viewing at least once.

Many younger fans today are spoiled and do not appreciate good filmmaking. They just want blood and sex smeared all over the screen and then when we give it to them, they complain, which brings me to...

QT

Now, everybody used to love Quentin's films. What happened?

Quentin is a big martial-arts movie fan pure and simple. He often pays homage to the genre and brings it into the mainstream where they get more positive attention.

He did the unthinkable and cast Gordon Liu and Sonny Chiba in an American motion picture giving them the loooooong overdue exposure they deserve! (If anything, I think he dropped the ball as he should have had those two battle it out a-la Heroes Of The East/Shaolin Challenges Ninja!)

He backs many Hong Kong film releases, and I am sure he is a driving force behind the Dragon Dynasty brand which (hopefully) will be releasing Shaw films later this year with more attention and care than Image has so far.

I liked Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill (Vol. 1 and 2), and Death Proof. I also like Robert Rodriguez work on El Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Planet Terror.

However, I seriously doubt Quentin is going to remake CDwM. What's he gonna do...cast Uma as Golden Swallow?

Nyah...it ain't gonna happen.

His next flick will most llikely be an homage to the big gun-toting action heroes of the 80s with cameo appearances by all those guys, especially Bruce Willis. Maybe Lucy Liu will reprise her O-Ren/"Lady Snowblood" type of character and code-name her 'The Golden Swallow', but that would be about it.

So nobody likes Kill Bill anymore? Is it because he didn't cast Gordon Liu in Grindhouse?

Lastly, many Shaws are currently being remade, but not by QT. However, I'm sure he will present them when they are released internationally. Blood Brothers is next, retitled The Warlords I believe.

So in closing to this blog, it may very well be that Quentin will be presenting a remake of Come Drink With Me, filmed in HK, and not actually helming the project. Only time will tell!

In the meantime, just enjoy all the good things the martial world has to offer! :rollin

[Guest VonHumboldtFleischer]

I don't know if I have quite enough energy to counter all that unbounded enthusiasm, but I'm pretty sure that TIGER BOY etc., weren't produced because of the success of CDWM, but because of the success of the TEMPLE OF THE RED LOTUS trilogy.

[Guest venomchamber]

The Temple Of Red Lotus films were successful in launching Jimmy Wang Yu's acting career and his getting noticed by director Chang Cheuh (Cheh), but Hsu Tseng-Hung is certainly no King Hu!

If that were the case, then Hsu would have become the Shaw's leading action director and there would be no Chang Cheh, because when King Hu left the Shaws, it was Chang Cheh whom the Shaws moved up from script and songwriter to director with the experimental B&W film Tiger Boy, a sort of male version of Come Drink With Me. Chang was directly influenced by King Hu as well as Japanese Samurai films, both of which he pays homage to in his follow-up sequel Golden Swallow in 1968.

Now, there is no doubt whatsoever that the Red Lotus films are also marvellous examples of 60s swordplay films and do indeed play a major role in the martial-arts movie evolution, but are not as memorable to wu-xia fans worldwide as Come Drink With Me is. The Temple Of The Red Lotus series as good as they are, lack the visual impact of King Hu's film. They appear as good as any other wu-xia film made at Shaws during that period including The Knight Of Knights.

IMO, Hsu Tseng-Hung could be called a sixties version of Chu Yuan, which is still a high regard!

[Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

Remakes "ALMOST" always suck. He should contribute his own version of the era if he's gonna try and pay homage to the old school genre of martial arts films. Tarantino will never be able to improve OR out do any of these classic Shaws. It just won't happen.

[Guest peringaten]

I thought Tiger Boy was lensed in 64, released in 66?

[Guest limubai2000]

His next flick will most llikely be an homage to the big gun-toting action heroes of the 80s with cameo appearances by all those guys, especially Bruce Willis. Maybe Lucy Liu will reprise her O-Ren/"Lady Snowblood" type of character and code-name her 'The Golden Swallow', but that would be about it.

I'll take this one on. That may well indeed be his next film, however if you had read the piece in Variety (which I also wrote in on HK AND CULT FILM DVD NEWS/) then you would know that TWC has 5 to 7 years to execute the fund. That means that QT has quite a while before he would be compelled to make CDwM to honor the contract, IF the contract even stipulates that; which we have no way of knowing.

On the issue of QT himself, I think Kill Bill has become his Pandora's Box.