Mini Biography
Wong Jing is one of Hong Kong's most prolific, talented and controversial filmmakers and perhaps one of the best filmmakers of all time. His directorial style, at best, manages to combine commercial appeal and artistic aspects in a winning production. His films have not only achieved bankable box office success but have broken ground (on an artistic and financial level), his films were among the biggest box office hits - partly due to possessing an amazing sense of what would play well. In fact, his films are so popular that in the mid to late 90s, Wong's movies accounted for as much as thirty percent of the total box office take in Hong Kong. He has done over a variety of films, which have touched various genres such as comedy, drama, romance, adventure, action (including martial arts) and even erotic. He often combines various genres and his script-writing portfolio is impressive as there is so much scope in terms of plot, historical setting and quality. Even his credentials in the action movie genre are accomplished from films set in Ancient China to a more contemporary/futuristic setting, allowing many stories to be told whether it be a Chinese equivalent to 'Lord of the Rings', a Sci Fi adventure that manages to be an adaptation of the famous computer game 'Street Fighter' or a scathing satire on action films that also manages to pay tribute to films such as Quentin Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs' and Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'Raw Deal'.
Ironically, regardless of his impressive list of credentials, the one genre Wong Jing is perhaps most famous for (in the eyes of Western fans of Hong Kong cinema) is the erotic thriller. It became commonly associated with him due to him being the producer and screenwriter for 'Naked Killer' - an exploitation film well known for combining scenes of action, dark humour, shocking violence, lesbian overtones and lovemaking with its female protagonist. The film concerns the misadventures and exploits of a bisexual female assassin. It was perceived as a twist on the popular assassin genre, made famous by Luc Besson's Nikita. It gave audiences the ultra-violence they had grown accustomed to in such films, but then upped the ante with a high dose of sex. The film was so successful and tremendously popular that it ushered in a wave of Category III (the Hong Kong equivalent of the NC-17 rating a.k.a. Adult rating) "femme fatale" films, most of which were produced, written or directed by Wong himself.
His true niche, however, can be found in the gambling genre, his favourite genre of film, as he is a huge fan of gambling and has created some of the best gambling scenes ever depicted on celluloid - in fact his highest grossing film in Hong Kong theaters (God Of Gamblers 4: The Return) was a gambling action comedy drama starring Chow Yun Fat (of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon fame). The film is still one of Hong Kong's top ten highest grossing films. The film had even made a lot more money than Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2 (which was released in the same year - 1994), which is saying a lot, since Drunken Master 2 is constantly referred to as Jackie's best film (the quality of the fight scenes have rarely been rivalled) and had people cheering and giving standing ovations in cinemas throughout Asia which led many to suggest that Drunken Master 2 is the pinnacle of his decorated and illustrious career. But that didn't stop Wong Jing from delivering a large crowd-pleaser. It was due to making gambling movies, that he had earned another prestigious title - for his film 'Conman in Vegas', he became the first director to shoot inside the famous 'Caesar's Palace Casino' based in Las Vegas. Funnily enough, his directorial debut was a gambling film. A multi-layered caper set in the early part of the 20th century, which is a prequel to the popular Hong Kong TV mini-series 'The Shell Game' (which Wong himself wrote, with his father Wong Tin Lam handling the directing duties).
Which brings us to Wong Jing's roots, Wong was born in 1955 in Hong Kong and got his start in the entertainment industry early, since his father Wong Tin Lam was a TV drama director and a renowned film producer/director in film from the 1950s and throughout the 80s. It seemed inevitable that he would follow in his father's footsteps, but first Wong attended the Chinese University of Hong Kong, majoring in Chinese Literature. He was becoming disenchanted with college and was more interested in media art so he asked his father for permission to study film in England, but his father said "just observe and you will learn the craft" and that is what he proceeded to do so he became a screenwriter by writing scripts for TV. In fact, he skipped class a lot to the extent that some of his professors said that they never saw him at all during the four years it took to earn his degree. He later said that the degree was worthless to him. Wong believed that he learned more about making movies and (perhaps more importantly) making money by cutting classes and hanging around studios, where he would get work as a director's assistant (basically a glorified errand boy) and writing scripts for his father's shows.
For a long time, a devout fan of classical Cantonese cinema, Wong impressed many of the old-timers around the studios with his knowledge of movie trivia. Combined with his high work ethic and the ability to change scripts on the fly (a necessary skill in the fast-paced world of Hong Kong's entertainment industry), Wong had found his niche. By 1978 he made his entrance into the world of movies with his script 'Cunning Tendency' before directing 'Challenge of the Gamesters' in 1981. Both films were made for the Shaw Brothers' film studio and were big hits but it wasn't until the late 80s where he began to show his commercial genius with 'Casino Raiders' which was a smash hit that actually began the gambling craze that Wong was to capitalize on with the extremely popular God of Gamblers films. The one thing that Jing likes about making this genre of film is being able to direct the gambling duels at the end. Besides possessing a genuine interest in gambling, his main motivation for making gambling movies was because Wong saw there was a large audience for gambling films. This revelation was found after working on two films with his father, 'King of Gamblers' (1980) and 'Return of King of Gamblers' (1981).
Wong Jing is also a highly influential filmmaker. Hong Kong's most popular and highest grossing actor - Stephen Chow - had become what he is today due to Wong. Stephen Chow has often been described as the Cantonese equivalent to Jim Carrey. He had starred in a film, which was a parody of 'God of Gamblers' entitled 'All for the Winner' which became the highest grossing film in Hong Kong and made Stephen a huge star in the process (virtually overnight). Wong went out of his way to not only adapt this new star in his own franchise but to add more comedy to the proceedings. This resulted in making an even more groundbreaking success with 'God of Gamblers 2'. However, it would be Wong Jing's filmmaking style that would provide the template for Stephen's own films, which would later result in bigger success. The basic template he provided for Stephen (which was solidified in the third installment of the God of Gamblers series) would enable him to utilize manic pacing and excessive genre-mixing, along with having Stephen play a slightly dim-witted yet talented character who, by getting caught up in strange situations, would find redemption and resolution through love. Normally his love interest would be a woman with a strange vibe towards her. For instance, in some of his own films, the love interest would be someone with an abnormal physical feature (i.e. acne, buck teeth, etc.).
In regards to his influence, there came a point when nearly one third of the films coming out of Hong Kong yearly had Wong's touch on them in some way, either as a screenwriter, producer, director or actor. The script Wong Jing helped to write for the early 80s traditional Kung Fu film 'Dreadnaught' (directed by Yuen Woo Ping - martial arts choreographer of The Matrix trilogy) had proven to be the inspiration for one scene in the Hollywood blockbuster 'Batman Forever' which had Chris O'Donnell doing laundry chores with the aid of his martial arts skills. Wong Jing's 'New Legend of Shaolin' had proven to be one of the main influences for Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' via the use of a female duo of thieves dressed in black (one young & one old - the latter who also proves to be an expert in poison darts) who try to steal a valuable object before confronting someone who's trying to stop them.
Like many other auteurs of cinema such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and John Woo; Wong Jing has a very particular directorial style with his own personal trademarks. Besides making a slew of films based on computer games, his directorial style consists of the way he tells a story as opposed to just usage of genre. He likes to trick the audience into thinking the film is over when it's not as a way of strengthening their attention and making things less predictable e.g. the endings of two of his films (i.e. City Hunter and Return to a Better Tomorrow) feature shots where the camera is being pulled further into the distance away from the action into an aerial shot (a shot which is accomplished either through crane-like machinery or a helicopter) before concluding with an additional scene. Another Wong Jing trademark is the vertigo shot (a shot that is accomplished by zooming the lens forward whilst physically moving the camera backwards). The way he uses it is either during a revelation of a plot point or a startled reaction from one of the main characters. He has used this shot in God of Gamblers 3: Back to Shanghai, God of Gamblers 4: The Return, Royal Tramp, City Hunter, Kung Fu Cult Master, Return to a Better Tomorrow and High Risk.
Like fellow directors Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith, Wong Jing's films have plenty of pop culture references from a subtle reference to The Beatles to the famous 70s TV series 'The Six Million Dollar Man'. Another trademark of Wong Jing's is to lampoon (as opposed to just referencing) other Chinese filmmakers such as Tsui Hark, John Woo and Wong Kar Wai. Jing's 'Last Hero in China' is a parody of Hark's 'Once Upon a Time in China' series - films which dealt with the 19th century Chinese hero, Wong Fei Hung. John Woo has been well known for making action films that deal with male bonding, so Jing had lampooned John Woo's macho male bonding in 'Boys Are Easy' with a sequence that parodies Woo's 'A Better Tomorrow'. Arthouse favourite Wong Kar Wai is mocked in Jing's 'Those Were the Days' via a character called 'Wong Jing Wai'.
Unlike his fellow contemporaries, Jing chooses not to make films in Hollywood as he feels that most other American films directed by Hong Kong directors fail to live up to standards considering the amount of money and time that go into these films. Also, he feels that he won't gain the same amount of control as he would in his Hong Kong productions - not to mention the same level of artistic success.
Perhaps that is the key to Wong's continued success - while many directors craft overly 'arty' films or overly 'commercial' movies, Wong Jing's films hit a nice middle ground. Yes, there is a good deal of bloodshed and talk of sexual-related things such as bodily functions, but the films themselves are technically sound and well-written. In fact, it is quite a testament to Wong's talent that his first film, made over 20 years ago, can stand up to (and surpass) much of today's output. Those wanting to get a bit of a HK film industry lesson while having fun doing it would be well-advised to check out 'Challenge of the Gamesters'.
Mini Biography By:
Neil Koch and Joseph Kuby
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