What does Maria do when she has a day off in Hong Kong following the premiere of ‘Fists of the Dragon’? She hits the streets for a personal project… Hong Kong Shogun.
Australian guerrilla film-maker Maria Tran has come a long way since we first encountered her at the start of her ongoing documentary Quest for Jackie Chan. Since then she’s repeatedly proven herself both in front and behind the camera, with straight dramatic roles, action packed adventures and producing duties including the award-winning short film Hit Girls, ABC Australia’s action comedy series Maximum Choppage (which not only saw her producing but also stunt doubling the main actress), Roger Corman’s Fists of the Dragon and most recently returning to Vietnam for the action thriller Truy Sat/Tracer which saw her starring alongside Vietnam’s premier leading lady Truong Ngoc-anh who produced the movie.
Now… what about our question? What does Maria do when she has a day off in Hong Kong following the premiere of Fists of the Dragon? Answer: she assembles a group of HK action movie-makers to appear in front of the camera for a fun ten minute short that pays a very affectionate homage to the classic Hong Kong action comedies of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Co. from the mid to late 80s… while channeling Stephen Chow Sing-chi at his most Mo Lei Tau (nonsensical fun)!
The premise of of the film sees international Private Eye Charlie (Maria Tran), teaming up with a misguided rookie Tom (Xin Wuku Sarith), to find the criminal mastermind known as The Hong Kong Shogun! But after encountering a series of cases of mistaken identity – that sees them crossing paths with everyone from a cat burglar (Joe Fiorello), Antonio Del Toro (Andrew Dasz) and the Showgirl (Juju Chan), will they finally find the man they are looking for. When they do, will they be ready for the challenge?
It was filmed on location in Kowloon Park, which once served as the stage for many a Joseph Lai and Thomas Tang-produced IFD and Filmmark production, with ninjas and kickboxers frolicking and fighting through the park and its playgrounds. Tran’s cast includes EMC Monkey Xin Wuku Sarith from Fists of the Dragon and Die Fighting, Juju Chan (one of the only good things in Crouching Tiger 2 ) and soon to be seen in Savage Dogs with Scott Adkins, actor/director Joe Fiorello (Love Stalk), Andrew Dasz (Kung Fu Gruppo!), director and action-maestro Antony Szeto from Ghost in the Shell and American Samurai, Nobuaki Shimamoto and … well, me who worked with her on Tracer.
According to Tran, “This was definitely fast and furious, point and shoot style. Skeleton story and no storyboards. This was the first time I got to candidly collaborate with my long time martial arts genre colleagues from abroad in the most unorganized and light hearted way…”.
The film features fight choreography courtesy of Fists of the Dragon and Tracer action director Trung Ly (from the Dong Thanh Alliance) in Sydney.
