Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast

Alain Moussi has enjoyed a rapid rise from stuntman to starring roles to leading his own martial arts movie franchise. As Kurt Sloane, he is the poster-boy at the heart of the rebooted Kickboxer franchise – a role made famous by his childhood hero, Jean-Claude Van Damme – which was launched in 2016 with the film Kickboxer: Vengeance. The second instalment, Kickboxer: Retaliation, received rave reviews upon its release in 2018, with The Hollywood Reporter calling it “stylish and enjoyable”, and Forbes calling it an “absolute must-see”. The film is available now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK from Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment. The man behind the franchise is the producer and director, Dimitri Logothetis, and halfway through this chat with Alain, Dimitri unexpectedly joins the conversation to tell us more about the challenges of remaking such a beloved franchise, and his plans to bring back authenticity to martial arts movies in the age of computer-generated superheroes. Alain is a chatty, engaging guest who is

To celebrate the UK DVD and digital download release of Accident Man – a British action comedy based on a comic book by the creator of Judge Dredd – we have two of the world’s biggest martial arts movie stars on today’s show. Listen to my in-depth conversation with one of the most popular female action stars on the planet right now, Amy Johnston, who has gone from being Scarlett Johannsson’s stunt double to leading her own fight flicks with top performances in movies like Lady Bloodfight and Female Fight Squad. Make sure you subscribe to Amy’s YouTube channel to never miss an episode of her new show, called Hero Training. We discuss everything from early inspirations to female fighters, the #MeToo campaign and her excellent performance as the sword-wielding assassin Jane the Ripper in Accident Man.Accident Man is co-written, produced by and stars the hardest working man in martial arts movies, Scott Adkins, and we were very fortune to be able to catch up with Scott ahead of the UK big-screen premiere of his d

Having retired from the world of mixed martial arts, Cung Le is channelling the same grit and determination which made him a champion fighter into his career as an actor in Hollywood and Asia. Over the past decade, the former UFC fighter, Strikeforce Middleweight Champion and highly decorated martial artist has balanced his professional fighting career with appearances in some superb martial arts movies, including Fighting, The Man with the Iron Fists, Bodyguards and Assassins, The Grandmaster and True Legend. Last year, he took on Antonio Banderas in Security and Scott Adkins in Savage Dog. And the movie roles keep rolling in; he will next be seen in Europe Raiders, the third in the Raiders trilogy, alongside Tony Leung and Kris Wu.Cung’s story is an inspiring one. He fled war-torn Vietnam as a child to settle in California, and overcame prejudice at high-school to become a medal-winning wrestling champ. He explains his journey as a multi-disciplined martial artist, culminating in his many appearances for th

Actor, stunt performer, filmmaker, teacher, activist - there's a lot more to Diana Lee Inosanto than just being the daughter of legendary Filipino-American martial artist Dan Inosanto, not to mention the goddaughter of the iconic Bruce Lee. Despite being only seven when the martial arts superstar passed away in 1973, she still has fond memories of "Uncle Bruce" and growing up with the Lee family, with whom she is still very close. She has continued to teach the philosophy and martial arts of her father, and is currently working on bringing his life story to the big screen. She is collaborating with the veteran Hollywood producer Mark Gordon (Saving Private Ryan) to tell the story of Dan Inosanto's secret martial arts training regime with the Dallas Cowboys, regarded as the catalyst for the team winning the Super Bowl in 1978. In this candid conversation, Diana speaks of her interest and appreciation of the martial arts, as well as her journey as an actor and stunt performer. Her credits include Buffy the Vamp

Star of the 1985 Motown-produced cult classic, The Last Dragon, we welcome Taimak to our first podcast of 2018. Taimak Guarriello was only 19 when he made his starring-role debut as the wise kung fu kid 'Bruce' Leroy Green in Berry Gordy's weird and wonderful action fantasy. It's a fun mix of martial arts and music, but the shoot wasn't always smooth, and Taimak explains some of the on-set disputes, rivalries and relationships which fuelled the production. He discusses working with legendary music mogul, Berry Gordy, and his co-stars Julius Carry and Vanity. But we also talk about his tough upbringing in New York and London, where his bohemian parents introduced him to many of the major celebrities of the time, including the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Andy Warhol and David Bowie. He was inspired by Bruce Lee and Shaw Brothers films, and even trained under the legendary 'Black Dragon' himself, Ron Van Clief. Taimak has remained true to the martial arts ever since, and he continues to train all the time as well as

Welcome to the Kung Fu Movie Guide's End of Year Show 2017, featuring the action movie expert and ‘Life of Action’ author Mike Fury. Listen as we reveal our Top 5 martial arts films of the year - and also share our thoughts on the worst film of the year. We also discuss the top martial arts movie news from 2017, and take a moment to remember some of the people who have died this year. We look back at some of the great guests who have appeared on the show, play some never-before-heard outtakes and - because it's a Christmas special - we also exchange a few Christmas presents. It's an action-packed episode and we hope you enjoy it! For more information on Mike Fury, visit mikefury.net. You can also follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Thank you Fu followers around the world for your continued support in 2017. Merry Christmas and a happy new year! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode comes to you live from Fighting Spirit Film Festival 2017, an all-day celebration of martial arts movies which took place in London, UK, on 16 September 2017. You will hear from up-and-coming UK filmmakers whose short films were shown at the event, including: multi-award-winning writer, director, producer, actor, stuntman and martial artist, Beau Fowler, whose short film Express Delivery picked up the award for Best Action Choreography at the festival; Doctor Strange actor Linda Louise Duan, who features in the short films I Am Not the Devil, Shadow Warriors and the Chinese animation, Foxy; the 'kung fu couple', David Cheung and Yolanda Lynes, who discuss their crowdfunded action comedy, The Real Target; the team behind the excellent Hong Kong action movie homage, Kowloon Killers, that's assistant director, Jonah Werth, and director, Leif Johnson, who took home the Audience Choice award at the event; plus the multi-talented Jon Xue Zhang, who is the subject of a mini-documentary called Portrait o

Today we welcome one of martial art cinema's all-time greatest villains to the show. The giant, musclebound German fighter Matthias Hues has spent a career taking on the likes of Dolph Lundgren, Cynthia Rothrock, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Bolo Yeung, Billy Blanks, Lorenzo Lamas and Mark Dacascos. But despite his on-screen persona, Matthias is actually a very sweet-natured person, as revealed in this wide-reaching, in-depth conversation. His story is fascinating. He became a highly successful owner of health clubs in Germany before spontaneously moving to Hollywood at the height of the action movie boom in the 1980s. He worked out at the famous Gold's Gym and was eventually spotted, landing an early breakthrough role replacing Jean-Claude Van Damme in the 1988 sequel, No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder. He then landed the main villain role in the cult Dolph Lundgren movie, Dark Angel (1990 - also known as I Come in Peace).Throughout the video boom of the 1990s, Matthias Hues became the poster-boy for a

Today we celebrate the weird and wonderful world of Bruceploitation cinema with the martial arts action star, director, writer and fellow podcaster, Michael Worth. When he's not making his own movies, Michael has been following his passion for kung fu movies with a number of exciting projects. I catch up with him during the filming of his own Bruceploitation documentary, which looks into the strange sub-genre of films which followed in the wake of Bruce Lee's untimely death in 1973. The 'clones' films made cult stars out of a number of Bruce Lee imitators including Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Leung, and Dragon Lee. Many of these names feature in Michael's documentary, as well as legendary kung fu movie actors, directors and producers like Angela Mao Ying, Godfrey Ho, Lee Tso-nam, Mars, David Chiang, Yasuaki Kurata, and the late Phillip Ko.Michael has also penned an accompanying book, The Bruceploitation Bible: The Film Clones of Bruce Lee; both the book and the film will be released later in 2017. He is also he

Fresh from his award-winning fight choreography duties on a string of Scott Adkins hits - including Boyka: Undisputed, Eliminators, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, and the upcoming Accident Man and Triple Threat - it was a great pleasure to spend time with the Swedish martial arts maestro, Tim Man. A former taekwondo champion, Tim Man learned the hard way by getting knocked around as a stuntman in Thailand, working with the likes of Tony Jaa, Jeeja Yanin, Joe Lewis and Gordon Liu. Although he hates being interviewed, we still enjoy a wide-ranging chat about his life and career; from being an obsessed martial arts movie fan growing up in Malmö, Sweden, to his first leap into the action movie industry following the international success of Ong-Bak. We discuss why he continues to work with the British action star, Scott Adkins, and also his plans going forward in the movie business. This interview was recorded before Tim's success at the 2017 Shanghai International Film Festival, where he picked up the award for Best F

Scott Adkins is one of the world's biggest martial arts movie stars. From humble beginnings as a Van Damme and Bruce Lee obsessed taekwondo practitioner growing up in Birmingham, UK, to starring in some of the best fight movies of the last decade, Scott Adkins has consistently brought a unique charm, athleticism and authenticity to his own special brand of high-kicking action films. His latest film, Boyka: Undisputed 4, sees Scott reprise his most famous role as the Russian ex-con' and MMA expert, Yuri Boyka. You can order the Universal Studios Home Entertainment Blu-ray and DVD release of Boyka: Undisputed 4 right now from Amazon.As well as leading roles in the Undisputed and Ninja franchises, Scott's many other martial arts action films include Hard Target 2, Eliminators, Assassination Games, Wolf Warrior and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. He has worked on huge Hollywood blockbusters like Doctor Strange, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Expendables 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Zero Dark Thirty, and worked

Céline Tran continues to enjoy a remarkably diverse career. She has gone from adult film star to action hero following the release of her first martial arts feature film, Jailbreak - Cambodia's first martial arts film. It was a hit when it was released locally in January 2017, and has now been picked up by The Raid distributors XYZ Films for international release. The film showcases Céline's awesome martial arts skills, which can also be seen in a number of great short films including 2014's Burst - choreographed by France's Cinemaction Stunts, the fight team behind Luc Besson’s Lucy (2014), Spectre (2015) and Jason Bourne (2016) - and 2016’s Bladed Minds, which displays Céline's skills with the Katana sword.We discuss her past as a professional adult film star under the name, Katsuni. She appeared in around 350 films in a career spanning 13 years. We discuss her former career as well as her many other interests. As well as being an actor, she is also a writer of comic books, a DJ, a contortionist, and a pres

Bruce Lee historian and author Steve Kerridge is my guest on this special episode of the show, which is very much a celebration of Bruce Lee's life and work. Steve is the author of the fabulously detailed book, Bruce Lee: Legends of the Dragon, which outlines the making of the film The Way of the Dragon (1972). Along with fellow Bruce Lee expert David Tadman, Steve also produces the regular Bruce Lee Forever poster magazines (available to buy from the Eastern Heroes website). Steve's new book, Bruce Lee: The Authorized Visual History, is an official account of the life of the martial arts star, featuring rare photography and a foreward by Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee. It will be released later in 2017. Steve has also compiled books on Bruce Lee's many appearances in Hong Kong film and celebrity magazines, including the titles, Bruce Lee: Golden Movie News Annual, and Bruce Lee: Four Seas Weekly.As well as knowing pretty much everything there is to know about the late, great kung fu star, Steve is also a

Aspiring filmmakers should definitely tune into this episode of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast, as I talk to two up-and-coming, talented, London-based directors Matthias Hoene and James Nunn, who are both making waves internationally with their own action films. Firstly, I talk to the director Matthias Hoene about his new film, Enter the Warrior's Gate (aka Warrior's Gate), a Chinese-European co-production written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. The time-traveling wuxia fantasy stars Dave Bautista, Uriah Shelton, and the Chinese actors Ni Ni, Mark Chao, Francis Ng and Kara Hui. If you are reading this in the States, you can watch the film right now exclusively on DirecTV.My second guest is James Nunn, who has become a highly sought-after director after being launched onto the UK indie scene with his first directorial effort, the acclaimed thriller Tower Block (2012), co-directed with Ronnie Thompson. He has since collaborated with top UK fighting star Scott Adkins on two films: Green Street 3: Never Bac

It was a pleasure talking to the rising Asian-American movie star JuJu Chan on the latest podcast. JuJu was born in Hong Kong and raised in America where she has enjoyed prominent roles in films like the Netflix-produced Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016) - directed by kung fu movie legend Yuen Woo-ping and starring Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh - and her new film, Jesse Johnson's Savage Dog (2017), starring Scott Adkins, Cung Le and Marko Zaror. JuJu continues to work across the American and Chinese film markets. She has just completed work on Fruit Chan's The Invincible Dragon, which co-stars Max Zhang and the UFC fighter Anderson Silva.We discuss JuJu's multifaceted career, which has seen her graduate from film school in New York to winning beauty pageants around the world, followed by a star-making turn in a popular Hong Kong reality TV show which made her a household name. She has written books, released an album, and continues to train in the martial arts. She has recently become a s

This is an action-packed show with not one, not two, but three up-and-coming UK martial arts stars. Firstly, I catch up with the directors, writers and stars of the new martial arts action flick The Real Target: David Cheung and Yolanda Lynes. After raising funds through their Indiegogo campaign, David and Yolanda are now in production with The Real Target alongside a cast of great UK fighting talent. They took time out of their busy schedule to talk to me about how the film is taking shape, and what they are learning about the production process.Then I have a chat with the great Katrina Durden, the London-born martial arts star who is making waves in the action movie industry following her performance as the Blonde Zealot in 2016's Marvel superhero blockbuster, Doctor Strange. We chat about her experiences making the film alongside some of the UK's premier action talent. She looks set to be working on some exciting projects over the next few years and we look forward to charting her progress in the industry.

What better way to launch the second season of podcasts than with a chat to one of Hollywood's most beloved and prolific stunt co-ordinators, J.J. Perry. Jordan Andrew 'J.J.' Perry has been involved in some of the best action movies of the last 25 years, including Avatar, Iron Man, Star Trek Into Darkness, Django Unchained, Transformers: Age of Extinction and the John Wick films. He trained Gina Carano for Haywire, Tom Hardy for Warrior, Gerard Butler for 300, Milla Jovovich for Ultraviolet and Hugh Jackman for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. His most recent films include work as stunt co-ordinator on Ang Lee's Billy Lynn’s Half Time Walk, The Fate of the Furious - the eighth film in the Fast and Furious franchise - and the Stephen King adaptation, The Dark Tower.In this episode, we talk about J.J.'s ongoing work with Chad Stahelski and David Leitch at the 87eleven stunt team, including his most recent contributions to the extraordinary John Wick series. We also discuss his upbringing in Texas where he first discov

Here's a kung fu movie double bill for the final episode in the first season of Kung Fu Movie Guide podcasts. Join me as I have a quick chat with the legendary Korean-born Hapkido master and former action star Hwang In-shik, famous for his role in the 1972 Bruce Lee classic The Way of the Dragon, and his work with Jackie Chan in The Young Master and Dragon Lord. The person I have to thank for organising the interview is my second guest on the show, Ricky Baker.'Kung Fu Ricky' has dedicated his life to the promotion of Hong Kong and kung fu cinema. His work as part of the Eastern Heroes label alongside film expert Toby Russell has seen him publish books, magazines and documentaries on kung fu cinema, as well as provide Hong Kong movie stars with their first taste of western exposure, hosting events with the likes of Chow Yun-fat, Donnie Yen, Jet Li and Gordon Liu. His work in championing the golden age of Hong Kong cinema continues to this day with the Eastern Heroes shop and website where fans can purchase ra

Here's a real treat for fans of competitive kickboxing and martial arts movies, as I have a conversation with former world champion Jerry "Golden Boy" Trimble. Kentucky-born Trimble took the kickboxing world by storm in the 1980s by winning four consecutive world championships before embarking on a highly successful film career. His debut feature was alongside Jet Li in Tsui Hark's The Master, before taking starring roles in a number of action films produced by the king of exploitation cinema, Roger Corman. In 1995, his acting career took a different turn when he landed a key supporting role as a detective alongside Al Pacino in Michael Mann's classic crime film, Heat.On this podcast, you will hear from Jerry about his time on the set of Heat where he received first-hand acting advice from Al Pacino. Jerry also discusses the origins of his 'Golden Boy' nickname, the pitfalls of fame, the time he fought on screen with Tom Cruise and Drew Barrymore, and also the wisdom he has learnt from a life in the limelight

British actor and former world kickboxing champion Cengiz Dervis is my guest on this episode of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast. This interview took place in the same week Cengiz discovered that he had landed a large role in a new 10-part TV series produced by Marvel's Avengers star Jeremy Renner and The History Channel called Knightfall. Since retiring from the ring, Cengiz has worked behind-the-scenes as a fighting coach, training the likes of Natalie Imbruglia and Rowan Atkinson for the Johnny English films, and also Rosamund Pike for the James Bond film, Die Another Day. He also runs his own production company, Fight Me Productions, for which he writes, directs and produces his own projects.Cengiz was taught martial arts by his uncle from the age of five. He continues to train six times a week, even mastering the legendary Iron Palm (or 'dim mak') technique. Cengiz discusses how a troublesome upbringing in a rough part of London forced him to develop his self-defense skills, and how he channels the same c