Liu Chia Liang - The Master of the real Martial Arts Movie

If Liu Chia Liang had never existed, there would not have been Martial Arts Movies as we know them now. When he, Chang Cheh and Jimmy Wang Yu made the One Armed Swordsman, little did they know they were changing the face of movies as we know them.

He learned kung fu from his father who learned from his own father who was a student of the real Wong Fei Hung.

His Work

Liu Chia Liang made the famous old schoolKung Fu flicks Chang Cheh didn't. Among the most famous and popular are Master Killer and 8 Diagram Pole Fighter.

This is representative of his work with his brother, Liu Chia hui:
Shaolin Vs. Ninja
Enter the 36th Chamber of Shao
Shaolin Master Killer
The Links lead to Amazon.com where you can purchase the movie.

News

May 22, 2003
Fighting spirit: Totally HK on Lau Kar-Leung By Mathew Scott (mathew.scott@scmp.com)

IT PAYS TO keep your guard up when talking to kung fu legend Lau Kar-leung. The 66-year-old actor-turned-director may appear affable on the outside but he readily admits to having violence boiling in his blood. This much becomes apparent 20 minutes into the interview.
Lau, who is also known as Liu Chia-liang, is sitting opposite me in the coffee shop of a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel. And things have been going well. We have been discussing Drunken Monkey - the latest of his films - which, he boasts, is a return to the more traditional style of kung fu movies. None of your computer-generated imagery for Lau.
He has been watching me intently as his words are translated, smiling, fidgeting in his seat, lighting the odd cigarette, and generally taking in his surroundings. Or so I think.
It turns out that, in his mind's eye, Lau has been imagining kicking the bejesus out of me from the very moment we meet. And he makes a point, halfway through answering a question about his martial arts background, of letting me know exactly what has been going on.
"Let me tell you a big secret," he confides. "My mind is very bad. When I see someone come along, I always imagine how to attack that person, and what that person's weaknesses are. I can't control my thinking. You sit in such a relaxed position, your neck is your weakness. I would kick your throat!"
It says much for Lau's charm that I don't feel threatened. Well, at least, not until after my heart has stopped pounding and I've picked my notebook off the floor. Drunken Monkey marks his return to directing after an eight-year absence. After redefining the kung fu genre in a career that had seen him involved in about 400 films, including classics such as 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (1978), Lau took a break to spend more time with his family. He certainly looks good for having the break: he is tanned, his arms still taut and, judging by the delight he takes in entertaining our photographer and the film company publicist, very much in love with life.
It was a meeting with Shaw Brothers producer Lawrence Wong in late 2001 that persuaded him to return to the fold: it would, after all, be the legendary studio's first film in 10 years. "I hadn't been in touch with him for ages, but he asked me to make a comeback," says Lau. "But I said I had become outdated.
"Still, I love making films because it was my first job, I made my first film in 1950. Though I haven't made a film for a long time I never stopped thinking about films. I still have lots of ideas in my head." Lau says he has witnessed enormous change in the way kung fu films are made. The advent on computer technology has obviously meant directors can rely less on the actual skills of their stars, and more on the skills of their teams in the studios. It has, he says, good and bad points.
"Special effects do make the action look better," says Lau. "But they are not real. In 1999, I met some film-makers who used to work with me. They said that these days they only needed to take two shots of me and then they could edit them into an action sequence.
"I thought this was unbelievable. Does it mean that when I'm too old and I can't move, I can still make action films?"
And while things may indeed look better, the veteran director believes it is to the detriment of his art. In fact, he thinks the genre is dying.
"I don't want to annoy people but to make a kung fu film and be a kung fu star, you have to have some kung fu background and not just rely on wires and special effects to show your power."
The changes, he says, have also had an effect on our current collection of martial arts stars. Lau says the fact that stars such as Jet Li and Donnie Yen are now working with directors who don't have a martial arts background has affected their skills on screen. "They need a good action director and to be willing to try new things," he says.
For Drunken Monkey, Lau gathered a formidable cast of kung fu stars, starting with his adopted brother, and fellow master, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, and mainland martial arts champion Wu Jing, who comes from the same stable that produced Li. The story follows two youngsters as they seek out a kung fu master for training, fall for the same girl, and generally learn about life.
"Action films in the past made the audience want to learn kung fu," says Lau. "And because the kung fu was real, you can actually learn the style from there. This is the concept behind Drunken Monkey.
"I don't know how young people will respond to it but this film is a tribute to kung fu, and is for kung fu lovers."
Lau's own kung fu background is impeccable and can be traced back to the Shaolin temple that started the Hung Kuen style during the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911). It is still part of his daily life.
"I don't have a fixed schedule for kung fu practising," he says. "Now I can do it whenever I like, depending on how I feel. But whenever I do it I spend an hour per session. When I want to practise kung fu I can ignore everyone and everything.
"Whether I will continue to make films depends on people's response to this one. If they don't like it, I'll just save the kung fu for myself to enjoy."
Additional reporting by Vivienne Chow
Drunken Monkey opens today.

April 2002
Lau Kar Leung is doing a new film. Indded, NEW!!! There is info on kungfucinema.com, NetandTV.com, if you read chinese, and on colourchina.com!

May 14, 2000
Acclaimed action director Lau Kar-Leung (left) was involved in a traffic accident in the Tai Po district yesterday. Lau was not hurt in the accident. His eldest daughter, the thirteen year-old Lau Man-Yi, suffered a minor neck injury and was taken to hospital as a precaution. She was released shortly after.

Liu Chia Liang - French Interview from 1984.

More on its way!

Author: Black Tauna blktauna @ shawstudios . com Last Updated: 6-11 2002