Who is Yuen Woo-ping, the Hong Kong kung fu master behind The Matrix, Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?
Working with greats like Jet Li, John Woo and Jackie Chan, the 75-year-old’s career has been filled with eye-popping action both in Hollywood and Hong Kong, with Yuen’s martial arts choreography on The Matrix trilogy raising the bar for fight scenes forevermore
Primarily an action choreographer, Yuen has worked on some of the biggest films in modern Hollywood history. His work on The Matrix reinvented action cinema; he brought to life Quentin Tarantino’s “roaring rampage of revenge”, Kill Bill; and the sword fights he helped put together for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon brought wuxia to the West. The film remains the only Chinese-language film to have won the Academy Award for best international feature film.
Yuen was born in Guangzhou, China. His father, Simon Yuen Siu-tien, taught him kung fu and was a veteran of Peking opera, a tradition that provided a gateway into films for many stars of this era, including the likes of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
Filmmaking was a family affair for the Yuens. One of 10 children, six of his brothers also went into the film business. The siblings started out working on projects alongside their father, who was an action choreographer and occasional actor. Yuen received instruction on set from his father, but he would also observe what others were doing and keep an eye on how scenes were shot and what directions were given to actors.
Like his contemporary Sammo Hung, after earning his chops as a stuntman and bit part actor, Yuen earned the right to work as an action choreographer himself. While Hung worked with legendary director King Hu, director of A Touch of Zen, Yuen received tutelage from Chor Yuen, director of wuxia hits like Killer Clans as well as the record-breaking comedy The House of 72 Tenants.
Yuen’s big break came in 1978 when he was given the director’s chair for two kung fu flicks, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master, which would finally put their lead actor, Jackie Chan, on the map. The latter film in particular was especially popular. Both Yuen and Chan took a risk in Drunken Master by portraying Cantonese folk hero Wong Fei-hung – the subject of over 100 films – as immature and disobedient, albeit a talented fighter. The gamble paid off, though, and help set the tone for much of Chan’s career with its nascent mix of action and comedy.
It wasn’t until 1988 and the action film Tiger Cage that Yuen entered a hot streak. A modest hit, Yuen followed Tiger Cage by directing In the Line of Duty IV (1989) and Tiger Cage 2 (1990) – two hard-hitting action classics that featured the increasingly impressive skills of Yen alongside gun-toting Cynthia Khan. After working with Chan again as action director on Twin Dragons (1992) and new star Jet Li on Once Upon a Time in China II (1992), Yuen directed one of his biggest hits, Iron Monkey (1993), a personal favourite of his.
By the time he had finished work on Fist of Legend (1994) – Jet Li’s reimagining of Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury – and the Michelle Yeoh fronted Wing Chun (1994), Yuen had established himself as one of the foremost professionals in his field anywhere in the world.