Kevin Chu or Chu Yen-ping (; born December 1950) is a Taiwanese
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...
. Chu once said in an interview that he is "not an artist," but rather "a movie factory that puts out products to match the season", and is compared to Hong Kong director
Wong Jing
Wong Jing ( born 3 May 1955) is a Hong Kong film director, producer, actor, presenter, and screenwriter. A prolific filmmaker with strong instincts for crowd-pleasing and publicity, Wong Jing played a prominent role in Hong Kong cinema du ...
.
Career
Chu studied in
Soochow University, and began to work in a studio of
Central Motion Picture Company next to the school.
In 1980 Chu directed his first film, ''The Clown''. The film is a successful comedy, which boosted the career of Taiwanese comedian Hsu Pu-liao, and began a series of successful and formulaic collaboration between Chu and Hsu. Hsu became known as "Taiwanese Chaplin", and Chu's ''The Funny Couple'' in 1984 with Hsu and child talent "Little Bing-bing" pays heavy homage to Chaplin's ''
City Lights
''City Lights'' is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl ( Virginia Cherrill) an ...
''. Though the collaboration was a big success, Hsu and Little Bing-bing suffered from exploitation and Hsu died in 1985 due to stress and alcoholism. Chu met difficulties until he established his own company and came back in 1987 with ''Bighead Brigade'' (also known as ''Naughty Cadets on Patrol'' in Hong Kong), a farce-comedy series about military drill. Chu also began another series, ''The Kung-fu Kids'', featuring child talents Yen Cheng-kuo, Tsuo Hsiao-hu and Chen Tsung-jung. Both series were successful until the formula got worn out. In 1985 Chu also made ''Seven Foxes'' starring Taiwanese pop singers
Dave Wong,
Tom Chang, and
Samuel Tai, and actress Yip Chuen Chun. The film was shot when these young Taiwanese talents became famous in Hong Kong.
In 1990 Chu directed ''
A Home Too Far'' based on
Bo Yang
Bo Yang (; 7 March 1920 – 29 April 2008), sometimes also erroneously called Bai Yang, was a Chinese historian, novelist, philosopher, poet, and politician based in Taiwan. He is also regarded as a social critic. According to his own memoir, ...
's novel about the Chinese troop taking refuge in
Santikhiri (near
Golden Triangle). The two films were a commercial success and were nominated for
Golden Horse Award. The controversial issues it featured stirred wide discussion. Chu considered this to be his best film. He also directed its sequel in 1993.
Throughout the 1990s Chu made a variety of films ranging from physical comedy, action,
wuxia
( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted fo ...
(swordsman), drama to erotic films.
Slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...
s and body part jokes were staple. Collaboration with Cantonese speaking talents was common and their lines were dubbed with Mandarin. Most notably, Chu worked with the child talents Hao Shao-wen and
Shaolin-trained Shi Xiaolong (
Ashton Chen) in many comedy-kungfu-flicks. Chu's ''Shaolin Popey II: Messy Temple'' in 1994 starring the two was a local success in the face of strong competition from Hong Kong and Hollywood, and Chu was considered as an alternative to art films of "Taiwanese New Wave".
[
There seems to be some confusion about the English titles in this series. The 1994 film is known to Taiwanese as 新烏龍院 (''Xīn Wūlóngyuàn'' in pinyin), and Teng and Heinrich's report (1996) gives the 1994 film an English title, ''Super Mischievous''.
Yet according to IMDB, ''Super Mischievous'' is the English title of the sequel in 1995. Also according to IMDB, in 1994 Chu made two films featuring Hao Shao-wen and Shi Xiaolong:
* The first is 笑林小子 (''Xiàolín Xiǎozi'', while IMDB's "original title" is ''Shao Lin xiao zi'') whose "International (English title)" is "Shaolin Popey".
* The second is the sequel of the first, called 笑林小子2新烏龍院 (''Xiàolín Xiǎozi 2 Xīn Wūlóngyuàn'', while IMDB's "original title" is ''Shao Lin xiao zi II: Xin wu long yuan''), and the "International (English title)" is "Shaolin Popey II: Messy Temple". The film seems to have another Chinese title in Hong Kong and in China, called 無敵反斗星 (Simplified Chinese: 无敌反斗星, Wúdí Fǎndǒxīng).
It should be also noted that most romanization of the Chinese title follows ]Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese f ...
, which is based on Standard Mandarin and neglects the Cantonese pronunciation.
In the 2000s Chu again met difficulties in Taiwanese market, with two of his film breaking the record of lowest ticket sale (less than twenty tickets sold in Taipei City). Some of his films earned well in China. In 2009 Chu ambitiously made ''
The Treasure Hunter'', an action film shot on location in
Gobi Desert
The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world.
Geography
The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast ...
, starring
Jay Chou
Jay Chou ( zh, t=周杰倫, s=周杰伦, poj=Chiu Kia̍t-lûn, p=Zhōu Jiélún, first=t, w=Chou Chieh-lun; born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the " King ...
and
Lin Chi-ling
Lin Chi-ling (born 29 November 1974) is a Taiwanese model, actress, singer and television host.
Early life
Lin Chi-ling was born on 29 November 1974 in Taipei, Taiwan. Lin's father, Lin Fan-nan (), and her mother, Wu Tzu-mei (), are both fro ...
. The film was screened in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong but met serious box office failure.
Selected filmography
(Some films have different English and Chinese titles in Hong Kong.)
* ''
My Geeky Nerdy Buddies'' (2014)
* ''New Perfect Two'' (新天生一對 Xīn Tiānshēng Yīduè, also known as ''The Funny Couple'', 2012)
* "Citizens Without Nationality" (short sequel to ''A Home Too Far II'', collected in the anthology film ''10+10'', 2011)
* ''
Just Call Me Nobody'' (2010) (Da Xiao Jiang Hu)
* ''
The Treasure Hunter'' (2009) (Ci Ling)
* ''
Kung Fu Dunk'' (2008) (Gong fu guan lan)
* ''
How Young'' (2003)
* ''
Expect a Miracle'' (2001)
* "''
Treasure Venture''" (2000) (TV series)
* ''
Lady in Heat'' (1999)
* ''
Forever Friends'' (1996)
* ''
The King of Comics'' (1996)
* ''
The Feeling of Love'' (1996)
* ''
Young Policemen in Love'' (1995)
* ''
Super Mischieves'' (1995)
* ''
Trouble Maker'' (1995)
* ''
Shaolin Poppy'' (1995)
* ''
Angel Hearts'' (1995)
* ''
No Sir'' (1994)
* ''
Grandpa's Love'' (1994)
* ''
Hunting List'' (1994)
* ''
Shaolin Popey'' (1994) (笑林小子)
* ''Shaolin Popey II: Messy Temple'' (1994) (笑林小子2新烏龍院)
* ''
A Home Too Far II'' (1993)
* ''
Slave of the Sword'' (1993)
* ''
Flying Dagger'' (1993) (credited as Kevin Chu)
* ''
Requital'' (1992)
* ''
You xia er'' (1990) (Wandering Heroes)
* ''
A Home Too Far'' (1990)
* ''
Island of Fire'' (1990) (credited as Lawrence Full)
* ''
Seven Wolves'' (1989)
* ''
To Miss with Love'' (1988)
* ''
A Book of Heroes
''A Book of Heroes'' (, released in the Philippines as ''Fight to Win Again'') is a 1986 Taiwanese-Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Kevin Chu, produced by Raymond Wong Pak-ming, and starring Yasuaki Kurata and Yukari Oshima.
Plot
Poli ...
'' (1987)
* ''Bighead Brigade'' (''Naughty Cadets on Patrol'', 1987)
* ''
Young Dragons: Kung Fu Kids'' (1987)
* ''
The Funny Family'' (1986)
* ''
Happy Union'' (1985)
* ''
Seven Foxes'' (1985)
* ''
Phoenix the Raider'' (1985) (as credited as Ulysses Au-Yeung)
* ''
The Funny Couple'' (1984)
* ''
The Demon Fighter'' (1984)
* ''
Seven Black Heroines'' (1983)
* ''
Fantasy Mission Force'' (1982)
* ''
Golden Queen's Commando'' (1982) (as credited as Lawrence Full)
* ''
Pink Force Commando'' (1982)
* ''
Island Warriors'' (1981)
* ''
Victims of the Killer'' (1980)
* ''
The Clown'' (1980)
* ''
The Ghost's Sword'' (1971)
Notes
Reference and further reading
*
*
External links
*
hkcinemagic entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chu, Kevin
1950 births
Taiwanese Buddhists
Taiwanese film directors
Living people
Soochow University (Suzhou) alumni