A change from Jackie Chan and Jet Li – Beast Cops’ Gordon Chan on how directing the Hong Kong gangs vs police film was not like his previous work

Director Gordon Chan talks about 1998’s Beast Cops and how working with Anthony Wong, Michael Wong and Sam Lee differed from directing Jackie Chan and Jet Li

He reveals how triad members told him stories about dishing out beatings, the time he saw a fight in a club and why he gave Beast Cops the ending it has

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(From left) Sam Lee, Anthony Wong and Michael Wong in a still from Beast Cops, a Mong Kok-set gangs vs police action drama directed by Gordon Chan.

Published: 4:15am, 31 Jul 2022

To be successful in the 1990s, Hong Kong film directors had to balance their creative aspirations with the demands of their producers and audience.

Gordon Chan Kar-seung proved highly adept at this balancing act, working across all genres to make superior commercial hits.

Chan directed Stephen Chow Sing-chi in a trio of slapstick mo lei tau comedies, Jet Li Lianjie in the martial arts film Fist of Legend, and also made two top-notch police films – the drama-focused Final Option, and its action-packed sequel First Option.

Among his best films is Beast Cops, an unusual 1998 drama which focused on a trio of police officers in Mong Kok who were so close to their triad adversaries they became indistinguishable from them.

I wanted to bring some interesting people together, and then give them problems

Gordon Chan

It was a critical success, and won five prizes – including best film, best director and best screenplay – at the 1999 Hong Kong Film Awards.

Anthony Wong Chau-sang, who was named best actor for his role in the film as a cop who is so relaxed while patrolling that when a robbery occurs, he thinks it is a film shoot.