Bey Logan will need little introduction to long-time Impact readers. Currently finishing post-production on his gore-fest sword-fighting female action flick Snowblood (exclusively previewed to this writer in his Hong Kong offices), Mr. Logan has also been the go-to guy for all things martial arts-related since the 1980s, helping launch Impact magazine onto an unsuspecting public in the 1990s.
A virtual encyclopaedia on Hong Kong action cinema, Logan was in fine spirits when we sat down with him - and urged us to plug his rather wonderful web site - www.reeleast.com - which sells all number of fantastic film memorabilia. There... sorted!
First of all, Bey, what can you tell us about your directorial debut with Snowblade?
Snowblade is very much inspired by classic Japanese chanbara movies and the classic films of the Shaw Brothers. Basically I wanted to make a great splatter movie that had the strength of its convictions - so Snowblade has nudity, violence, gore and it doesn't pretend to be a big budget feature. It is just a whole lot of fun and totally furious and wild. I felt that in the past, especially on the films that I have worked, the action has always been in some way restrained. So Godard once said "all you need to make a film is a girl, a gun and a camera" and I have a girl, a sword and a camera [laughs]. It is going to be a wild and fun ride and I think it is film that has been made as a cult movie. Sometimes I think someone makes a movie and they think "this is gonna be the next Enter the Dragon" and it doesn't work and it becomes a cult film almost because it doesn't hit the target. People recommend it in a "it's so shit you have to see it" way. But with Snowblade we wanted to say "...yeah this is meant to be cult".
I like the sound of gratuitous nudity and gore. It's a bit different from something like, say, Naked Weapon which promised a lot but didn't really deliver...
Yeah, yeah - and when you see Snowblood it is everything you hoped that you would see in Naked Weapon but did not see. It has lots of gratuitous stuff. I actually did a press tour with Maggie Q for Naked Weapon but I was the proverbial stick of celery in the corner. Everyone wanted to speak to Maggie and rightly so [laughs].
Prior to Snowblood your most prestigious credit was as a co-writer on The Medallion...
I will tell you a funny story about The Medallion. When you are an independent producer you often find yourself in the same room as these weird and wonderful people that, ordinarily, you would not chum up to but now you have to because you want them to fund your projects. A lot of the time, especially when you make the sort of films I make, these are the sort of people who give you the money. So there this was one guy in this room - a party that I had organised - and he sat down with a DVD copy of The Medallion. Now I thought that he brought this to the party because he knew I was going to be there and he wanted me to sign it.
The Medallion is a mixed blessing for me. Yes, it was a great big success and I wrote it and it was three wonderful years of working with Jackie - but at the same time I am not happy with the film. I had a clear idea of what I wanted it to be and it became something else. So I confronted the guy and I said, "Hey man, thank you for bringing that DVD but I want you to know the films I am currently developing are so much better." And he retorted, "Well you might think that but some of us have other views." That was a sweet thing to say. So I asked if he wanted me to sign it and he said no. I said "Well why did you bring it?" And he said "I wanted people to see some of the great talent that we have working with our new film fund." Now a lot of Americans worked on The Medallion so I wanted to know who he was talking about and he said "We have the writer working with us." Really? That's interesting, right? So it turns out he was talking about this other guy who was involved with The Medallion at the very start of its production process and who has been trying to dine out on the movie. Well, anyway, I had to prove to him I wrote it - which I did: by pointing to the credits on the DVD where it says "written by Bey Logan." I mean my credit on that film is not so much a credit as it is a blame but it is an expensive blame and it is on there. Anyway, there was nowhere to go with the meeting after that [laughs].
What was your experience like with Jackie Chan?
When I worked with Jackie he would have the storyline and the characters mapped out and an idea of what he wanted to do but when he comes on set he might just spontaneously say "let's do this" and it is never clear how that relates to what happened last week. You are trying to make it make sense and it doesn't always work. So, yeah, that was my experience working with him [laughs].
How was your experience with the Dragon Dynasty label?
Dragon Dynasty was incredibly hard to do - especially working on Hong Kong movies. The problem was mainly with the old kung fu films. People at the time didn't anticipate that there would be this new format - DVD or Blu Ray - and that consumers would say "I would like to watch this movie in Chinese with English subtitles rather than see it dubbed." So the foreign distributors would take the movie, cut it, take out the stuff that they didn't think white people would want to see, redub it rename it and bring it out for the video era. They would then hold onto those materials. Then you come onto the DVD age and people want the original versions but some of the elements were very hard to find...
You did some great extra features for some of the releases...
Yeah, I was happy with the location guide that we did for the Blu Ray of The Killer and we did one for Hard Boiled too.
Speaking of Hard Boiled ever seen The Last Blood, the movie they renamed Hard Boiled II in the UK?
We actually illicitly remade that as Shadowguard. It's a B-movie. It would be in Kim Newman's video dungeon section in Empire. But the original is really wacky. I think we should have let that wackiness loose more in our version. We got a lot of bad reviews for Shadowguard - and no one likes to get bad reviews - and I read this one piece that was really critical. I thought "Yeah but you know what? The worst day of my life is better than the best day of your life, pal."
And now you're involved with Cine Asia...
Yeah - and that is really because the UK has long, for some unknown reason, been a place that follows Asian cinema. Korean cinema as well - outside of Korea the UK is the biggest market for it. I have looked at the number Cine Asia does and the Korean movies are some of their biggest sellers. But, on the other hand, the old kung fu movies tend to die a death - and that goes for America and the UK. They tried to do it with the Shaw Brothers stu
ff in America - Dragon Dynasty for example - and it just never worked.
Right, 36th Chamber of Shaolin was a Blu Ray title on Dragon Dynasty...
Yeah, I am a big fan of 36th Chamber - that is one of the best Shaw Brothers' movies.
Any other Shaw recommendations?
I love 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. There's some great obscure ones too - Killer Constable, Bells of Death, Lady Assassin... In the UK, for many years, there were some that you can't get with the original language. It was all English dubbed.
Which is horrible...
But doesn't the dub add to the pleasure to it?
No, I hate the dubbing on these old kung fu films...
Oh I disagree... Some of the Shaw Brothers ones - I still have the bootleg DVDs because I love the English dub. Clan of the White Lotus for instance - that is great stuff in English. The dub is hilarious. You see it in Chinese and it's not the same.
I feel I really should put you on the spot about a few things. So, first up, fave kung-fu flick...
Probably Drunken Master. Maybe Drunken Master II.
Fave Bruce Lee film?
I would say Fist of Fury although I think that Enter the Dragon is underrated as a movie. It is a terrific piece of moviemaking. Bruce never lived to make a film that, on every level, showed off what he could do.
The anti-Japanese sentiments of Fists of Fury are quite full-on...
But get this: the Japanese loved Fists of Fury [laughs]. They loved Ip Man 2 as well - it was a big hit in Japan. But if you do World War 2 films then the Germans are invariably going to come across pretty shitty. Then again when they did Inglorious Basterds they made the lead Nazi so charismatic they probably raised membership of the neo-Nazi party.
Best action actor in the biz?
I think in terms of white guys doing Hong Kong style action Jason Statham is the best.
The Departed or Infernal Affairs?
I thought The Departed was another well made Scorsese thriller. You should never state what you can imply, as the old saying goes, and Asian cinema is the cinema of implication and American cinema is the cinema of statement. That is the reason I thought Infernal Affairs worked better - because it is was implied. Now having worked for an American studio, which is unique for a Hong Kong based filmmaker, I know where that obviousness comes from. I have been in these script conferences where they need to play to someone from Iowa. You cannot imply things.
Has there been a Hollywood action film that you think 'wow, that's really stepped things up?'
Yeah, I thought The Matrix was a real game changer and it worked so well. If you want to see how good it is just look at the sequels [laughs]. Outside of Hollywood I think the reason Crouching Tiger and Hero worked so well to an international audience was because they were so extraordinary. You were never going to have an American movie that looked like them.
Do you have a favourite Category III movie?
I was never really interested in Category III. I think that 80% of the films released in Hong Kong are not ready in any way, shape or form. I wouldn't even have looked for some of these movies. I'm surprised you found them.
Finally, what do you think is the future for kung fu films?
Who knows? But there are still ways to do sci-fi in a new way and there are still ways to do westerns in a new way. So, simple logic tells us, there must still be a way to do kung fu in a new way. Someone just has to find it...
