The new action movie Weekend in Taipei hits theatres this coming weekend and we got to sit down and chat with the director George Huang and Sung Kang (The Fast and Furious franchise) about it.
Hi, guys. Great to meet you. My name is Eoin. Thanks for taking the time to chat with me today.
Sung: Hey, Eoin.
George: Hey, Eoin. Love the hat. JCVD.
Sung: I think he should have got nominated for an Oscar.
George: I know. It was so incredible.
Sung: The vulnerability laid out was just amazing… But The Wrestler took it all.
We all know JCVD is the king, though.
George: Yeah.
So, today we’re going to be talking about your new movie, Weekend in Taipei, which is awesome. So, George, how did you work with Luc Besson on creating the script and what was the process for that?
Well, I got a call from Luc Besson like 10 years ago. I thought it was my manager playing a practical joke on me, but it turned out to be the real Luc Besson (laughs). So, that was incredible. Yeah, so 10 years ago, he had read a script that I’d written and really enjoyed it and said, “hey, I’d love to collaborate with you on some other projects”. We’ve been writing together for 10 years and a couple of years ago, he had this idea. He wanted to do a female Transporter movie set in Asia. And so just off of that basic premise, he and I started asking questions back and forth. Okay, well, what is a female transporter transporting? What is she running from? What is she running to? What is it that she’s trying to protect? And out of those questions, we sort of crafted the story of Weekend in Taipei.
I love the look of Kwang with the gray hair stripe. Is that a little nod to Sammo from the Martial Law days?
Sung: Oh, did Sammo have a stripe?
Yeah, in that and a few other roles.
Sung: It’s actually inspired by Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians (laughs).
George: Well, when Sung got to set he had a little grey streak just organically happening on his own and we said “so, okay, let’s heighten that. Let’s make it more dramatic”.
Sung: Sammo, wait, does he have that just like naturally?
No, I don’t know if it was a style. I know he did it in Martial Law, but also in Ip Man 2.
Sung: I played his son in Martial Law; did you know that?
Yeah. I watched the whole show. I loved it.
Sung: I think that was my first paid job. You know how I got that job? I got it in the bathroom. I was working at this restaurant and Stanley Tong, the producer; like I was peeing in the bathroom and he stands next to me and we’re peeing next to each other. And he goes, “hey, are you an actor?” And I was like, “I’m trying to be” And he’s like, “well, I’m a producer for this TV show with Sammo”. And I was like, “Sammo, what?” And he’s like, “do you have a headshot?” And I said, “I do have one in my car”. I was like, “well, what’s this all about? Who are you?” And he goes, “I’m Stanley Tong, producer”. He was having dinner with his girlfriend and his girlfriend was like, “that guy looks like an actor. You should help him out because he looks really stressed at this restaurant”. I was like the worst employee this restaurant ever had. That’s why I was always hiding in the bathroom. I was fired every single day (laughs). She’s like, “he doesn’t belong here. He looks out of place”, which I probably did.
But yeah, that’s how I got that job in Martial Law. Then I went in and then and I didn’t know any martial arts. And Sammo, this is what a true star is like. When I met Sammo, he goes, “you’re playing my son and we have these epic martial arts scenes”. I told Stanley and Sammo, I said, “I do not know any martial arts. I intentionally never studied it because I said “I don’t want to mimic these other martial arts superstars like Bruce Lee; we already have them. I don’t need to do that”.
But I told him, I said, “I appreciate this opportunity, but I do not know martial arts”. And Sammo, for five days, we were at his house and he trained me and we did the choreography. He was like a true mentor. I thought I was going to get fired. I was like, “it’s OK to replace me because I don’t know martial arts”. But, he’s like “we really need the performance and the martial arts stuff. We can hire some doubles”. I think I had like three doubles for different angles. To this day, I run into Sammo once in a while. I’m sorry to go on about Sammo, but he was one of the first. He was one of these true mentors that you have; you’re blessed to meet that kind of person who teaches you how to give back and contribute. There was never a day that I felt there was ego from him. You could tell that he loved what he was doing.
He loved the craft of filmmaking and he was out there to help the younger generation. He really kind of set the tone of how to give back to the younger folks, and because he didn’t need to do that. Every time I see him, he’s always giving me some food (laughs).
I left this house and he would give me some chili sauce or some dumplings. I ran into him at the airport in LAX and he pulls out dried fruit and he gives it to me. I ran into him in Thailand at this hotel when my wife and I were vacationing and he pulls out durian.
George: What? Oh, my God. Stinky durian (laughs).
Sung: A true hero of mine.
Well, we’re out of time. Loved the chat. Best of luck with the film and chat with you again soon.
Sung/George: Oh, thank you so much.
From the creators of TAKEN and THE TRANSPORTER, WEEKEND IN TAIPEI opens November 8.