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SCMP Reporter

CHOW YUN-FAT: HONG KONG'S PIRATE OF THE CARIBBEAN

'I hate all those gun movies because it's not my deal now,' said Chow Yun-fat. But  it  used to be.

Chow - arguably the most successful Hong Kong star in Hollywood - is   world famous  thanks to all those gun movies.

The most successful ones, such as The Killer, Hard Boiled and A Better Tomorrow, which introduced him to western audiences,  were directed by his friend John Woo.

Woo is  currently shooting a period epic, Battle of Red Cliff.  Chow was originally slated to play the lead, dropped out at the last minute and then reportedly accepted a minor role after a bout of  bad press.

While Chow's  appearance in Red Cliff is yet to be seen, he will soon appear on screen on a pirate ship.

Wearing  ancient armour,  and sporting a strange shaved head/ponytail hairstyle and  a dragon tattoo on his neck, Chow  plays the cunning pirate lord Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

This film is the third instalment of Disney's most profitable franchise in recent years.

The story picks up where the  second  episode left off. It stars Johnny Depp as the eccentric Captain Jack Sparrow, Orlando Bloom as the heroic Will Turner and Keira Knightley as their love interest Elizabeth Swann.

This time,  Will and  Elizabeth  team up with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate attempt to save  Jack.

Meanwhile, the two  ghost ships, The Flying Dutchman and  The Black Pearl, are terrorising the seven seas under the control of the East India Trading Company.

Chow's big scenes come when Will and Elizabeth venture into Singaporean  waters and confront Sao Feng.

Chow  hopes his role in this film will  introduce him to a new generation of audiences.

'I hope people will accept this character  as another dimension to look at in my acting career. Yeah, I hope so,' said Chow.

He added that he could not 'carry the guns all the way like John Wayne', and  that it was time to 'make a move, make a change'.

And the literally 'down-to-earth' action sequences in the new movie  suggest a new direction for the star.

'I thought it was important to stick to  western style [action] because I didn't want the character, all of a sudden, to jump out, in that martial arts film way,' said Chow.

'You know, not flying up to the roof top and coming down through the bamboo tree. That would be odd for this kind of movie.

'I wanted a movie where the fighting sequences stick to the ground,' he said.

And the star  apparently has his feet on the ground in real life, too.

'I turn up and give my services in front of the camera and that's it.

'The rest, I don't care. Live for today,' Chow said.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opens on May 24.



movie buff