big screen beggar

Over at Kaiju Shakedown, Grady posts about the new Yuen Woo Ping film, TRUE LEGEND , the story of martial arts folk hero, Beggar So. This is fitting as the director's father, Yuen Siu Tien who played the character in several movies, the most famous being Jackie Chan's SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW and THE DRUNKEN MASTER.

This time around, in the role of Beggar So, is Zhao Wen-zhou (Vincent Chiu Man Chuk), who appeared as the bad guy in FONG SAI YUK and then replaced Jet Li in the Wong Fei Hong role for UPON A TIME IN CHINA 4 & 5 and dazzled audiences in Tsui Hark's THE BLADE and GREEN SNAKE, only to fade away from the big screen to various television series (including the Tsui Hark produced Wong Fei Hong series and a Singapore Fong Sai Yuk series). Last thing I saw him in was FIST POWER, which, while ridiculous was at least entertaining. It was also one of the last films I saw at the old Golden Harvest Cinema up in the 'burbs of Toronto. Sadly, that cinema is now more.

I have good memories of Chiu Man Chuk (as he introduced himself) when I was able to host him for the Toronto edition of Fantasia back in 1998. He charmed audiences and did loads of press for the two films we screened, THE BLADE and THE BLACKSHEEP AFFAIR. I was showing off my lobbycard set of FONG SAI YUK to him and he was captivated by the shot of himself dressed in the imperial robes for his role as the bad guy, all shimmering in a golden light. He asked if he could have it to give to his mother and I obliged, breaking up the set of 12 cards. Super sweet guy and I was always sad to see him fade away. Fingers crossed for success in his new role. Here are some pics of Chiu Man Chuk and me from 1998.




Check him out in this ad for "Wild Aid". The punchline is so worth it!