RIDLEY TSUI High flyer part 2 TM: It just seems strange to me that people would choose banking over movies. RT: Okay, like Jude. If Jude can get enough money from the movie business, I think Jude wouldn't have to teach drama and would spend a lot of his time in the movie industry. TM: You're right, if I could get a job as a scriptwriter, I'd quit my job like that. Now, you started working in the movies as a stuntman, a stunt double. Then you moved on to being a stunt coordinator. At what age? RT: I can remember when I was nineteen I got a stunt coordinator job. (thinks) Yes, when I was nineteen. And then when I was twenty-two, I became a director. TM: A movie director? Not just an action director? RT: Yes, a movie director. TM: There's something I don't quite understand. What's the difference between a stunt coordinator, a fight choreographer and an action director? RT: It's a big difference. Because if you're an action director, you're in charge of the action scene, but you have to let the director approve your choreography. Maybe the director doesn't like it, then you have to change. But maybe the director doesn't know what's good choreography, good punches, good kicks. That's why I prefer to be a director, to be in charge of the whole movie. So everything's in my mind and everything's under control. TM: Do you as a director let others do the action choreography? RT: No. I control the action. I control the whole thing. TM: A lot of times in HK movies I notice it's common to have one director for story and characters and one director for the action. RT: I like to do them both at the same time. JP: It's not the same as in Hollywood, you know. In american movies, they'll often have a second unit director doing the action, someone like Charles Picerni, who'll film things like cars exploding. But the director has the final say, where the camera goes, what happens in the scene. With a lot of HK movies, they'll be shooting the dramatic scenes, and they'll go to the action director and say "the next scene is totally for you". And the action director takes care of everything. The camera, the editing, the lighting, the movement, everything. Some direcors like that, like with Downtown Torpedoes Tung Wei does all the action and he's the main man. Other directors, like Ringo Lam, they will be there and then the action director is just like a stunt coordinator. It'll be "Okay, show me what you like and this is how I will film it". So it's different, but with Ridley, he likes to control the whole thing. TM: Which is good, because often when you get an action director and an overall director doing two different things, you'll get an unbalanced movie. But if you do everything yourself you can keep everything in check and make sure everything is levelled. RT: Yeah, but I think in Hollywood it's very hard to do it like that. Because in Hollywood even though I'm a second unit director, I will have to let the director know what I will shoot before we go to the set. That's Hollywood style. In HK I can take over the cameraman's job, I can just operate a camera, but in Hollywood they don't allow me to do that. TM: How did you cope with this change when you went to Hollywood? RT: The Hollywood condition is very, very good. I got my own trailer, I got a car, first class for the plane. But we have to do a lot of rehearsal before beginning the film, day by day we have to train the actors and actresses. So that's the difference. TM: Harder work, but the conditions make it easier. RT: Actually, it's pretty easy, more so than HK film. Everybody's hard working, everybody knows what they're gonna do, so the system is very, very detailed. No one sleeps on the set, no one is lazy on the set. With a HK movie you can see after lunch, everybody's sleeping (laughs). TM: I've seen that, yes. RT: Yeah, you have to wake them: "hey, get back to work", that kind of thing. You have to yell at them. HK style is like that. TM: That's the advantage of Hollywood, everybody does their job and nothing else. Sometimes I can imagine you'd appreciate some help from someone else, but if everybody does their own job, that means everything is going well. It's the union thing. JP: That's right, but I think when it becomes so organised it becomes like a factory. I believe action directors are artists. They're creating something. But if they're not allowed to be in charge of the camera angle, the camera movement, the lighting, or the editing, there's going to be a problem. You watch Batman, they're fighting martial arts, but you can't see what the hell is going on. Because the cameraman has his vision, the editor has his vision, the stunt coordinator has his vision and the director has his vision. It doesn't work. But with Ridley he's the boss, maybe he's in front of the camera, performing, as well as behind it. Then you get, like you said, a balanced piece of work. And I think that's the feeling that a lot of Hong Kong guys have. TM: Now Jude mentions something which I noticed from watching your films. It's that most all the movies you've directed, you've also starred in. Is that a conscious choice you make? RT: Actually, I didn't like it. I want to concentrate on the director's job. But sometimes, if I hire someone else to play that role, that actor maybe doesn't know how to fight, how to do the stunts, so I want to do it by myself. Save money, save time, I don't have to spend time to teach him how to do it. I don't think I will do it in the future, I'll concentrate on the director's job in the future. ( click here to continue )