Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast

On his very first day working on a Hong Kong action film set, Jude Poyer saw someone rushed to hospital when a stunt went badly wrong. Instead of seeing this as a bad omen, Jude - who had relocated to Hong Kong at the age of 18 to follow his dreams of working in martial arts movies - stayed in Hong Kong, where he would be based for the next eight years, working with some of the biggest names in kung fu cinema: people like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Jet Li, Corey Yuen, Tony Ching, Stephen Tung Wei and Vincent Zhao. The decline of Hong Kong cinema saw Jude return home to the United Kingdom, where his credits as a stunt coordinator, action director, fight choreographer and stunt performer now number in the hundreds; from Free Fire to Final Score, Star Wars to Transformers.In more recent years, it has been his work with the Welsh-born director of The Raid, Gareth Evans, which has seen him operate in an entirely new and refreshing context, particularly for UK independent cinema; from the twisted gothic ho

When ex-US Marine and martial arts instructor Chris Collins took his Wing Chun pupils to see the film Ip Man 3 in 2015, he joked that he would be appearing in the next film in the Ip Man series - if another sequel was ever made. Fast-forward several months and Chris is sitting in front of director Wilson Yip, who is offering him a role in the fourth and final instalment of the hit kung fu movie series starring Donnie Yen. Chris, who plays one of the villains in the film, says his rapid rise in the Hong Kong film industry is because of his intense focus and determination to achieve his goals, honed after serving nine years in the US Marine Corps. As a combat specialist, Chris toured the globe learning the fighting arts from some of the world's toughest martial artists, using this knowledge to inform the marine training programme. He still teaches martial arts to this day from his base in Hong Kong and his satellite schools around the world, instructing in mostly boxing, Brazilian jiu jitsu, Filipino weapons sy

As a lifelong fan of Bruce Lee, the chance to play a starring role in HBO's Warrior TV series - based on a story by the late kung fu movie star and executive produced by his daughter, Shannon Lee - was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And he relishes every scene in his role as Young Jun; the entitled, violent, and arrogant heir to Chinatown's Hop Wei gang, a criminal syndicate operating in late 1870s San Francisco at the height of the Tong Wars. Jason Tobin adds heart, nuance and depth to the character through his brotherly friendship with new Hop Wei recruit, Ah Sahm (played by fellow British actor, Andrew Koji). A sexy, heady mix of political drama, racial tension and great fight scenes, the series has been heralded as one of the best TV shows of 2019 by Rolling Stone and has found a devoted audience since first airing on Cinemax in April 2019. Season two is now in post-production with a third season in development, while the first season is available right now on Blu-ray in the USA.Born in Hong Kong, educ

Alexander Fu Sheng would have celebrated his 65th birthday on 20 October 2019. A poster-boy for Shaw Brothers' unique brand of high-octane martial arts action films throughout the 1970s and early 80s, Fu Sheng died tragically young at the age of 28 in a car crash on his way to a night-shoot. Like Bruce Lee before him, his young death immortalised him as another tragic martial arts film star, taken too young at the height of his powers. However, unlike Lee, Fu Sheng is largely unknown outside of his native Hong Kong, with many subsequence kung fu stars taking his place and becoming household names; people like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen and so on. This is partly due to the limited international distribution of many of his films. However, through the excellent work of Chinese distributor, Celestial Pictures, Fu Sheng's movies can now be enjoyed in pristine quality through DVD and streaming services - particularly Netflix and Amazon Prime, where the glory of his many classic kung fu pictures can be enjoyed

When Hollywood stunt performer Heidi Moneymaker was asked to flip a car three times in mid-air while doubling for the actor Saoirse Ronan in the 2013 film, The Host, she approached the job in much the same way she approaches all other aspects of her work: fearlessly.Heidi is the real deal. Operating in the shadows, she is a genuine action hero who has entertained millions around the world in some of Hollywood's most successful films (from the Fast and Furious franchise to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, John Wick, The Hunger Games and too many more to mention). She has doubled the likes of Drew Barrymore, Michelle Rodriguez, Ruby Rose and Julianne Moore, but it is her decade-long partnership with Scarlett Johansson which propelled the former gymnast into the limelight, following her work in helping to shape the movements of Marvel's high-kicking super-spy, Black Widow. As she explains in this episode, she feels intrinsically attached to the character, having brought Black Widow to life in (so far) seven films;

We have been reporting from the Fighting Spirit Film Festival since it started back in 2016. Now in its fourth year, the event has grown to become the UK's largest martial arts movie festival; a two-day celebration which welcomes some of the genre's biggest names and best talent. As well as screening some of the hottest new feature films from around the world, the festival also provides an opportunity for up-and-coming, independent filmmakers to have their movies shown on the big screen. This spirit of collaboration and inclusivity strikes at the heart of what makes the festival such an inspiring event.This episode - recorded live at the 2019 Fighting Spirit Film Festival - features conversations with a number of key people involved in the independent martial arts movie scene, from established stars to talented young actors and filmmakers destined to become the next big thing. On this show, you will hear from the creator of the Fighting Spirit Film Festival, Soo Cole; actor and wushu expert, Leslie Kunz; the

From the age of four, Mindy Kelly has dedicated her life to the martial arts. Since moving to Hollywood, she has made her name as both a stunt performer and coordinator, working on music videos for the likes of Lady Gaga, Childish Gambino, Skrillex and Metallica, to performing for major action movies like Alita: Battle Angel, The Dark Knight Rises and Transformers: Age of Extinction. Now Mindy has now made her feature film debut as a stunt coordinator - not to mention fight choreographer, martial arts trainer and action designer - on the new dark indie comedy from the writer and director of 2014's Faults, Riley Stearns. The Art of Self-Defense - which stars Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots and Alessandro Nivola - is released in theatres in the USA from 12 July via Bleecker Street, and it's really worth checking out. The film is a funny - and at times shocking - look at toxic masculinity which also displays Mindy's knack for creating cool action. Her star is on the rise and it was awesome to be able to spend time

Today we welcome back the martial arts movie star, Scott Adkins, who makes his third appearance on our show. Scott and the director, Jesse V. Johnson, have been responsible for some very impressive work over the last few years, including Savage Dog, Accident Man, The Debt Collector, Triple Threat and their latest, Avengement, which sees Scott provide one of his most intense acting performances. It's a partnership which allows Scott to take on more challenging, character-driven work, and one which shows no signs in slowing down. In this quick catch-up, Scott talks about how his new-found creative freedom in front of and behind the camera has sparked an interest in directing his own films. He discusses the types of movies he would like to make as a director, as well as giving us an update on some of his upcoming movies; one of which is Ip Man 4, which sees Scott working with kung fu movie legends Yuen Woo-ping and Donnie Yen. A huge thank you to Soo Cole and the whole team at the Fighting Spirit Film Festival f

It was while doubling for Milla Jovovich on the set of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in 2015 that Olivia Jackson's life would transform forever. A promising young stunt performer, model and Muay Thai kickboxer from South Africa - whose film credits included Mad Max: Fury Road, Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Olivia narrowly escaped certain death when a motorcycle stunt went horribly wrong during filming in Johannesburg. Following a head-on collision at high-speed with a mechanical mobile film camera, Olivia spent 17 days in a coma. Her injuries were severe and life-threatening; brain swelling, broken bones, a punctured lung and severed crown. Part of her face was 'degloved' in the incident and needed to be completely rebuilt. Damage to the vertebrae in her spine has left her with permanent paralysis on the left side of her face and body, resulting in the need for her left arm to be amputated.In this candid, detailed and at times graphic conversation, Olivia explains how the stunt

After watching Thailand's Ong-Bak and Indonesia's The Raid, the producer, stunt coordinator and fight choreographer Sonny Sison had an epiphany. Where were the Filipino action films promoting their indigenous martial arts styles, like Ong-Bak did with Muay Thai, and The Raid with silat? Determined to do the same for his home country, Sonny left Hollywood and boarded the next plane to Manila, taking over 25 years' worth of industry experience with him to a country still developing as a global player in the movie market. Since relocating, he has been on a self-made mission to promote the Filipino martial arts through his fight choreography. In 2018, he worked with director Erik Matti on the non-stop fight fest, BuyBust, and this year sees the arrival of Maria, a Filipino action film directed by Pedring A. Lopez and starring Cristine Reyes, which is available now on Netflix.In this episode, we discuss his upbringing in the Philippines and Hawaii, where he first discovered his love of martial arts through the mov

When Chuck Norris convinced his martial arts buddy - the 11-time world kickboxing champion, Don "The Dragon" Wilson - to consider a career in the movies, he could never have dreamed how quickly his life would transform. A winning audition for the king of exploitation cinema, Roger Corman, led to a multi-picture deal which would see "The Dragon" become the leading martial arts movie star in the highly lucrative direct-to-video market of the late 1980s and 90s, headlining movies such as the Bloodfist series, Ring of Fire, Red Sun Rising and many others. His closest brush with mainstream stardom arrived in 1995, playing a gang leader in Batman Forever. He's still busier than ever in front of the camera. His latest movie - the action comedy Paying Mr McGetty - sees him play a hitman, and it is available now on DVD.Considered one of the best competitive kickboxers of his generation, Don - now in his mid-60s - may have hung up his competitive gloves long ago, but he can still be found training, teaching and passing

Shannon Lee was only four years old when she lost her father, the international martial arts superstar, Bruce Lee - but her father has continued to have a lasting impact on her life. As the CEO of the Bruce Lee Family Companies and Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the Bruce Lee Foundation - a not-for-profit social enterprise - Shannon has been responsible for upholding the legacy of her father through numerous channels, including podcasts, retail, social media, books, documentaries and TV shows, educating future generations on Bruce Lee's work and philosophy.Alongside Jonathan Tropper (Banshee) and Justin Lin (Fast and Furious), Shannon is an executive producer on the new 10-episode martial arts drama series, Warrior, which has debuted on Cinemax. The show, set during the brutal Tong wars of San Francisco's Chinatown in the latter half of the 19th century, is based on an original concept by Bruce Lee. On this episode - the first in our fourth season - Shannon explains how Bruce Lee's original treatme

Celebrating the best (and worst) that martial arts movies had to offer in 2018, join us for our festive round-up of the year with the action movie expert and author of 'Life of Action', Mike Fury. As well as counting down our top five favourite martial arts movies of the year, we discuss the stories that grabbed the headlines in 2018, read out some listener's comments compiled from across our social media channels, and look ahead to the titles we are most excited about in 2019. We also play clips from some of the awesome guests we have had on the show this year - including Scott Adkins, Cung Le, Amy Johnston, Bob Wall, Diana Lee Inosanto and Jesse V. Johnson - and we play a few outtakes from our blooper reel. And, because it's the holidays, Mike and I exchange a few martial arts-related presents. Thank you Fu followers around the world for all your support in 2018 - we wish you a very merry kung fu Christmas and a happy new year! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Bruce Lee died 45 years ago at the age of 32, his death was shrouded in mystery. To this day, theories still abound as to the circumstances surrounding his passing and the events leading up to it. Writer Matthew Polly has his own theories, along with many other revelations about Lee’s short but incredible life which he has published in a new biography, called 'Bruce Lee: A Life', which is available now wherever you get books. Matthew’s fully comprehensive biography expands on Lee’s privileged upbringing as a child star in Hong Kong, to his formative years in America as a martial arts instructor, and then later as an actor in movies and television. Throughout the book, Lee’s enthusiasm, creativity and determination jumps off the page, rendered in amazing and insightful anecdotes sourced from years of research and over a hundred interviews with Lee’s friends, family and business partners.Matthew Polly’s book is a revealing portrait of one of the 20th century’s most important and iconic figures – not just i

Buffy's stunt double and former Power Ranger, Sophia Crawford, earned her spurs as a stunt performer working in Hong Kong's raw and relentless action movie industry in the early 1990s. She found herself part of an era of exceptional, female-fronted martial arts films, working with the likes of Moon Lee, Sibelle Hui and Yukari Oshima, performing all of her own stunts in conditions that were sometimes less than perfect. It was in Hong Kong where she discovered her love for the martial arts, acting and stunt performing, following her troubled years as a teenager growing up in London as a directionless, rebellious punk rocker, expelled from five schools and eager for adventure. Her journey is one of dogged determination, perseverance, blood, sweat and tears - from Hammersmith to Hong Kong to Hollywood, doubling for the likes of Madonna, Sienna Miller and Renée Zellweger. Now she has accepted a new challenge away from the movie business, having moved to Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband - the stunt coordinator Je

When Jean-Paul Ly moved from Cambodia to London to make it in the movie business, he predicted that within three years, he would be the lead in a martial arts action film. It only took two and a half years until he completed work on Jailbreak (out now on Netflix) – Cambodia’s first martial arts film and a runaway international success. Despite being made on a shoestring budget and facing a number of on-set challenges, Jean-Paul Ly’s hard work as the lead actor as well as one of its main fight directors helped the film to receive rave reviews from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, and win international awards from film festivals including Fantasia, where it beat competition from huge Hollywood productions like Atomic Blonde.Since then, Jean-Paul Ly has been working on a number of exciting new projects, from the UK action comedy Nightshooters (which gets its world premiere at the Raindance Film Festival in London on 6-7 October, and lands on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download from 26 December), to 14 Fists (di

Having now worked with UK martial arts star Scott Adkins a total of six times – including on the films Savage Dog, Accident Man, The Debt Collector, and the soon to be released martial arts movie event of the year, Triple Threat, which also stars Iko Uwais, Michael Jai White, Tony Jaa, Tiger Chen and Michael Bisping – the writer, director and former stunt performer Jesse V. Johnson is right to feel proud of what they have accomplished in a reasonably short space of time. Jesse and Scott continue to produce exceptionally accomplished martial arts action features in an increasingly unsettled world for low-budget filmmaking. But it’s a world Jesse knows only too well.Born in the UK – the nephew of stunt legend Vic Armstrong – Jesse used his earnings as a teenage stunt performer for the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, Total Recall, to relocate to Hollywood, where he balanced stunt work on major studio pictures with directing and writing his own feature films. It hasn’t always been easy, as Jesse explains in t

Today is an 'I Am Vengeance' movie special. WWE star Stu Bennett (aka Wade Barrett) and martial arts movie legend Gary Daniels star in 'I Am Vengeance' (aka 'Vengeance'), which is out now in theatres and on digital download in the US. The film tells the story of ex-serviceman turned mercenary, John Gold, and his quest for revenge following the death of his former army buddy. The UK-made action film is the brainchild of writer and director Ross Boyask and producer John Adams, who both work at Evolutionary Films, an independent production house and distributor which specialises in genre films. On this Vengeance movie special, we discuss the challenges of running a film company in the digital age, and learn more about the making of the movie, and their plans to turn the John Gold story into a franchise. I also sit down with one of the film’s stars, Bryan Larkin, whose psychotic henchman character is one of the highlights of the movie. The Scottish actor and filmmaker discusses his life and career, from directing

Although Bob Wall had no desire to become a film star, he somehow ended up appearing in some of the highest grossing martial arts films of all time. As Chuck Norris’ business partner and Bruce Lee’s training buddy and friend for over a decade, Bob – a world professional karate champion – found himself cast as one of the baddies in Lee's 1972 film, The Way of the Dragon. Bob provided a similar foil to Lee’s on-screen attacks the following year when he was cast as the treacherous villain, O’harra, in the 1973 martial arts classic, Enter the Dragon.In this candid interview, Bob Wall – now aged 78 and speaking to me from his home in California – recalls a young and charismatic Bruce Lee who ruffled feathers amongst the martial arts community and revolutionised the action film genre. Despite a few film appearances since Enter the Dragon (including Robert Clouse’s Game of Death and supporting roles in Chuck Norris films), Bob – who describes himself as a “foul-mouthed Irishman” – mostly retired from the movie busin

UK actor and filmmaker Joey Ansah’s imagination was sparked at an early age through the power of the classic Hong Kong action movie, Dragons Forever, and the Street Fighter video game. The son of a famous Ghanaian fashion designer father and a UK mother, Joey grew up immersed in both British and African culture. His passion was, and still is, the martial arts, becoming a famous online ‘tricker’ and skilled in Capoeira, Taekwondo, Ninjitsu and many other styles. Working as a fight choreographer, extra, stuntman and actor, his big break arrived in what Rolling Stone called “the best fight scene ever filmed”, duking it out with Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007).Since 2010, Joey has been working tirelessly towards bringing his beloved Street Fighter story to TV screens, following a short film (2010’s Street Fighter: Legacy), an epic web series (2015’s exemplary Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist), and an online follow-up (2016’s Street Fighter: Resurrection). In 2018, shortly after this conversation was reco