Andrew Lau
Posted: 19 Dec 2012
Ahead of the release of The Guillotines, director Andrew Lau tells Edmund Lee about revisiting the spirits of Young and Dangerous in a period setting.
Question: what happens if you merge Peter Chan’s aptitude in producing period action epics (Bodyguards and Assassins, Wu Xia) with Andrew Lau’s hot-blooded tales of criminal camaraderie (the Young and Dangerous series)? Answer: this film. Produced by Chan and directed by Lau from a story co-scripted by Aubrey Lam – who was the writer of Chan’s last three directorial efforts, Perhaps Love, The Warlords and Wu Xia – The Guillotines is a 3D reimagination of the Flying Guillotine movies in the 1970s. Conveniently described by Lau as his ‘Qing Dynasty-set Young and Dangerous’, the film charts the bloodbath surrounding the Guillotines, an emperor-sanctioned assassination squad of young warriors who are all skilled with the mythical decapitating weapon of its title. Lau talks to Time Out about his hotly-anticipated martial arts fantasy.
When your film project began, it was rumoured to be a remake of the Flying Guillotine movies. So, in the end, what are the connections between your version of The Guillotines and those earlier films?
The Guillotine movies from the 1970s were very gory and violent. Since I grew up in that era, of course I’ve been influenced by those movies and their action and visual effects. The wushu movies from that time were impressive enough, although, as several decades have already passed, I hope to create a brand-new version of The Guillotines that feels closer to our time. I want it to be hip and cool and, with the 3D format, feel more realistic as a whole. I want to introduce this story to the contemporary audience.
Unlike The Guillotines, the period actioners that you previously shot, such as The Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero, were often based on comics.
It’s indeed my interest to adapt comics into movies. The good thing about it is that a substantial story background is already in place from the start and we only need to make partial amendments to the story structure. It’s also easier to engage the viewers who are already familiar with the comics.
By contrast, The Guillotines is set around a more traditional wuxia world. Has the martial arts tradition always been of interest to you?
I love action movies – and wuxia films in particular. The genre represents one of the most prosperous eras of Hong Kong cinema. Even to this day, the most memorable actors to come out of Hong Kong are still its action stars, such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen. That said, although The Guillotines is packaged as a stylish action movie, it’s quite an emotional movie and revolves around such themes as loyalty, brotherhood and betrayal. The action is there, in fact, to attract the audience. I certainly haven’t held back on the action and explosion scenes: it’s taken us several tonnes of explosives to shoot the latter.
Your recent collaboration with Donnie Yen, Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, is an exemplary piece of action cinema. How would you compare The Guillotines with that film?
The two feel completely different. Donnie Yen was showcasing real kung fu in Legend of the Fist, whereas The Guillotines is not about the realism of the fights. After all, none of the main cast of this movie was trained in kung fu. What I want from them is the looks of kung fu. They don’t need to be actually fighting, as Donnie did with his individual display. The Guillotines is about team spirit and the personal wishes within the collective. In this regard, The Guillotines is a more realistic film [than Legend of the Fist]. It’s not only about the fights.
Tsui Hark’s Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is perhaps the last notable martial arts film to take advantage of the 3D format. What do you think about its technical accomplishment?
I prefer to focus on my own films and not compare with others. After all, you can never make the ‘best’ 3D film because it’s a technology that keeps on advancing. The 3D effects of The Guillotines were [converted from 2D] by the Canadian company Vision Globale. It cost us more than HK$26m and is probably the largest production of the sort at the moment. In mainland China, people even claim that our film is the most expensive 3D film in the history of Chinese language cinema.
Finally, can you tell us a bit about your cameo as the Yongzheng Emperor in The Guillotines?
The role was supposed to be played by an actor. Originally I wanted to ask Liu Ye to play the role but he’s too busy to listen to me! I ended up playing the role myself: it’s quick and easy, consisting of just a few shots. They all said that I look rather like Yongzheng – especially with my eye bags.
The Guillotines 血滴子 opens on Thu Dec 27.
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