Kung Fu Killer

[GeneChing]

I've seen the first screener of this and I must confess, I was entertained.

David Carradine and Daryl Hannah Reunite in Kung Fu Killer

DAVID CARRADINE AND DARYL HANNAH REUNITE IN “KUNG FU KILLER,” A TWO-PART SPIKE “ORIGINAL GUY MOVIE” MINISERIES PREMIERING THIS AUGUST

“Kung Fu Killer” To Premiere In HD Under The “Spike Guy Movies” Umbrella

New York, NY, June 19, 2008 – David Carradine and Daryl Hannah reunite for the first time since their roles on the big screen in “Kill Bill” to star in the two-part original movie miniseries, “Kung Fu Killer” slated to premiere this August on Spike in HD.

Set in late 1920s in China, before Communist rule, “Kung Fu Killer” tells the story of White Crane (Carradine), an orphaned son of Western missionaries who was raised as a Wudang monk to become a spiritual leader and master in martial arts, and his ultimate journey for revenge and justice.

In the first installment, Crane’s peaceful world is shattered when Kahn Xin (Lim Kay Tong) and his mercenaries raid his temple and slay his mentor. In search of his master’s murderers, Crane infiltrates the Shanghai underworld where he encounters Jane Marshall (Hannah), a lounge singer from Brooklyn, who is on a mission of her own – to find her lost brother, who is being held captive by Kahn. Realizing that Kahn’s evil plans are more intricate and widespread than originally thought, Crane teams up with Jane in order to enter Kahn’s inner circle. From there, they tread carefully in order to dismantle Kahn’s destructive plans before assassinating him. Soon, Crane’s battle becomes a moral one, as he finds himself torn between his peaceful Wudang upbringing and the cold-blooded life of an assassin.

The second installment, “Kung Fu Killer II” shifts gears to a more personal drama as Crane returns to help rebuild his shattered temple. However, the peace is short-lived as, back in Shanghai, nightclub singer Jane is kidnapped by Bai Yang, an old classmate and rival of Crane’s who plans to employ her in the sex trade. It is up to Crane and his young protégé Lang (Osric Chau) to save not only Jane, but Lang’s true love Wei.

“Kung Fu Killer” was shot entirely on location in China at the Zhejiang Heng Dian World Studios and the towns of Fong Yang and Heng Dian. The miniseries marked the first time a production of this scale was produced by a Western production company utilizing an almost exclusively Chinese crew. “Kung Fu Killer” also features the singing debut of Daryl Hannah, who sings such period standards as “You Made Me Love You” and “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows,” along with others done with a period-authentic jazz mixed with torch-song style arrangements.

“Kung Fu Killer” is presented as part of Spike TV’s “Spike Guy Movies” umbrella of original movies. Since its launch in January 2008, Spike TV’s original “Spike Guy Movies” average nearly 1.5 million viewers each month.

“Kung Fu Killer” is a production from RHI Entertainment. Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr. serve as executive producers. Shan Tam, Matthew O’Connor and Michael O’Connor are producers. Philip Spink is director. Jacqueline Feather and David Seidler are writers, and the teleplay is by John Mandel. Bill McGoldrick is vice president of development for Spike TV.

RHI Entertainment, LLC develops, produces and distributes new made-for-television movies, miniseries and other television programming worldwide, and is the leading provider of new long-form television content in the U.S. Under the guidance of Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr., RHI has produced and distributed thousands of hours of quality television programming, and RHI’s productions have received more than 100 Emmy Awards. During 2007, RHI developed, produced and distributed 43 new television movies and miniseries to broadcast and cable networks around the world. In addition to the development, production and distribution of new content, RHI owns rights to approximately 1,000 titles, or over 3,500 broadcast hours of long-form television programming, which are licensed to broadcast and cable networks and new media outlets globally.

Spike TV is available in 96.1 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

[doug maverick]

i've been seeing this film on the films on demand on cablvision up here in ny and i have have been sleptic of it. but i'll check it out when it comes on spike.

[GeneChing]

David Carradine in Spike TV’s KUNG FU KILLER

It debuts this Sunday, August 17th. There's a trailer on Spike's site.

[Zenshiite]

Maybe it's just me, but Gene I though Carradine came off as kind of an ass in that interview.

I'll check out the movies though.

[doug maverick]

well from reading his kill bill diary hearing him in interviews and most of all having dinner with him one time a long time ago when he was promoting kill bill and i was working at a comic book convention he was at. i can say he is a **** but so what so are most of hollywood types. but like all those seasoned actors like malcolm mcdowel and a few others the guy tells the best stories and boy do they like to talk they can go on and on. my only issue with david is that in his book he said that he didn't feel yuen woo ping was a master. and i'm like whaaat!!! his deffinition of what a master is, doesn't jive with what i think a master is. he thinks a master is more like his character in kung fu. well we all know that thats bull**** that humans are human and will always be subject to human nature. i think a master is someone who really haskung fu who knows and understands his craft to the fullist and in that respect woo ping is a master in every deffinition. 8th master is arguably the best fight choreagrapher in the world hands down.

[The Willow Sword]

Maybe it's just me, but Gene I though Carradine came off as kind of an ass in that interview.

Actually i kinda thought the opposite. Seems like Gene was kinda grilling David Carradine about the whole caucasian martial artist minstrel show thing. The questions seemed very short and abrupt.

You know i dont have any blinders on when it comes to these entertainers,actors,hollywood people. SO many of us want to put some fantastical stigma on these people and all they really are are entertainers. Sure we've all seen the cheesy DC taichi and qiqong vids. Its marketing, plain and simple, whether it is being done in a decent manner to respect the arts is always up for intereptation and critisism. If carradine comes off like an a$$ maybe its because he is confronted with someone else being an @ss trying to bait him into some useless debate.
I like DC and chatted with him on a radio show several years back when he rolled through town on tour for a play he was doing(forget the play). My questions to him were simple and light hearted, which is what interviews with these kinds of entertainers should be, in my opinion.
He is promoting a series, he is still working at his age, i give him props for that.

Peace,TWS

[GeneChing]

I've always felt the art of interview was to get the subject to reveal something about themselves, so I try my best to keep the questions curt. Just open doors and invite them to walk through. Carradine just ran with many of my questions, which made my job much easier. But I didn't intend to stand in judgment of the man. I'll leave it to you all to judge.

I'll be very interested to hear what you think of the show. Like I said above, I was entertained, but I confess more - Ricky O is one of my closet guilty pleasures. The second installment doesn't have so much of the Ricky O factor, so it fell more flat on me.

[GeneChing]

Tonight on the BLOOMBERG TELEVISION® program "Night Talk," anchor Mike Schneider talks to Kung Fu Killer's David Carradine.

Carradine talks about leaving the Kung Fu television series in the 1970s, "I didn't want to play this little bald Chinese guy for the rest of my life."

He talks about playing “White Crane,” an orphaned son of Western missionaries who was raised as a Wudang monk. “I've always wanted to do…something about this character [the historical character in the new movie], but I never could because Warner Brothers owns the rights. But they don't own the rights to history. Nobody has a copyright on history."

"Night Talk" airs in the U.S., Europe and Asia on Bloomberg TV at 10PM on weeknights and is simulcast on Bloomberg Radio at 10PM. Bloomberg Radio is broadcast on 1130AM in the New York Metropolitan area and is available on XM and Sirius. The Friday night Show re-airs over the weekend Sat at 8:00-9:00pm, 10:00-11:00pm and Mon 12:00am - 1:00am.

"Night Talk" can also be seen on Bloomberg.com (http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/shows.html), is podcast at (http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/pod...ight_talk.html) and also on iTunes under Business News.

That quote sounds just like the one he gave me

This guy actually existed. The story is just based on his life. It's not a real biography of the guy, but that's what we're doing here. It's the only way we could do a character that has such a similar history without discussing it with Warner Brothers, because Warner Brothers does not have a copyright on history. So all we have to do is show them that this guy existed and we can go.

You know, I've always wanted to make my own thing about that character. Lots of people have come to me from Taiwan, places like that, with tons of money, and then you go to Warner Brothers and they say, "Yeah, well, you can't do it." So this time we get to do it. (It's) all because of Robert Halmi Sr. because he's the guy that found the historical character. I knew about him. I had read about him. But when Halmi pitched it to me, I just went “Yeah! Let's do it!”

[doug maverick]

so this comes on tonight 10pm est in nyc. i resisted the urge to just order it on on demand didn't want to waste 4.95 on something that might be crap, but if i like the first one i'll order the second. also gonna check out johnnie to's mad detective and bullet in the head remake blood brothers. **** cable is stepoping its game up with the imports.

[doug maverick]

actually its coming to the last minute. and i gotta agree with gene i was entertained, it was very watchable. one thing i liked is how they edited david carradines fight scene's while i can't say anything about his martial arts i can say that he is a horrible screen fighter which again has no baring on his actual martial arts skills (i've worked with people who had lots of martial arts exp. but didn't know how to do a staged fight and i've worked with people who had almost no exp. and look like masters on screen and stage) they used under cranking and close ups and they fights looked really good. however i thought darryl hannah was so misplaced not to mention that whoever did her make up and lit her should be dragged out and shot cause she looked like a total drag queen. the person who stuck out the most to me and was the best screen fighter in the film was white crane's(carradine) disciple bai who was played by yu beng lim who had a small role in anna in the king, his martial arts and fighting were great. as gene mentioned the action was very reminiscent of riki oh lots of blood and guts. the story was also not bad but the dialogue was riddled with cliche but you could forgive that. also you can forgive most of the chinese cast speaking with american accents. so if you haven't seen it then just wait till tomorrow when they are going to show both parts after the airing of part 2.

[kfman5F]

After the first half hour, I'm tempted to change channels. Carradine once again grows up as a kid in a monastery. Yawn. His kung fu sucked back then and it still sucks. The fight scenes editing is horrible. Anyone ever see his kung fu and tai chi VHS tapes way back? What a joke. If Carradine's character was a Taoist, why does he have a tiger tattooed on his forearm like a Shaolin Grasshopper? Maybe it will get better, but I doubt it. I think I'll watch a good Shaw Bros. movie instead.

[doug maverick]

After the first half hour, I'm tempted to change channels. Carradine once again grows up as a kid in a monastery. Yawn. His kung fu sucked back then and it still sucks. The fight scenes editing is horrible. Anyone ever see his kung fu and tai chi VHS tapes way back? What a joke. If Carradine's character was a Taoist, why does he have a tiger tattooed on his forearm like a Shaolin Grasshopper? Maybe it will get better, but I doubt it. I think I'll watch a good Shaw Bros. movie instead.

i have to totally disagree with you on that. i thought the film was good, i thought davud carradines fights were edited well, think about it for a minute he's not a good screen fighter as an editor or director you have to make th choice of either salvaging what footage you have or cute togather a bad fight. i go for the under cranking and quick cuts it was a good choice on the filmmakers part. and you can't sya that for all the fights as the other fight scenes not involving carradines character were great. as for ther storyline its suppose to be like a more hard core kung fu. i give it a 7 out of 10 over all. which is better then what i expected to give it.

[GeneChing]

Sounds like we're on the same page on this one, Doug. Truth be told, when the interview was first offered to me, I was more into interviewing Daryl than David - some latent Bladerunner/mermaid fantasy on my part, perhaps. But as it approached, I discovered I had more curiosity about talking to David and couldn't think of anything intelligent to ask Daryl, which is just as well, since she wasn't available.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, that was a total bait & switch.

[doug maverick]

i think we're alone on this gene, people can't get passed david carradine and the whole bruce lee thing so there biased, the thing is instead of david just saing look i'm an actor i gotta work i wasn't trying to steal bruce's role i just was trying to book a job. instead he tells that bogus ass story that bruce lee didn't come up with the story and some guy had it in his addict or some **** like that, that sounds so rediculous. anyway i watched it twice as i do everything, once as a normal joe and then again as a filmmaker(really i watch it twice as a filmmaker cause its just no way to turn it off seriously i been acused by more then one chick of directing the relationship) and as a fan i liked it as a filmmaker i had some issues with daryl hannah she just didn't do it for me(and she usually does because like gene i can't get her blade runner character out of my head) i didn't like her acting and again the lighting and make up did her no justice at all, straight up drag queen status. but i liked carridnes character, and his wardobe was dope. its not perfect but its good. i hope to see more of the young kid as it goes on, cause he steal's the show with his kung fu. and that little thing at the end(spoiler) where he kills for the first time you feel it, it take most people all there strengh to actually kill someone and from waht i'm told it changes you forever. and as we all know its like pringles once you pop you can't stop.lol

[RAYNYSC]

It was ok I think it could have been better though but that's just me.