Though he’s appeared in such hugely successful films as Kill Bill, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kung Fu Hustle, you probably wouldn’t recognize Tiger Chen on the street unless you’re a martial arts addict. Between choreographing kick-ass fight scenes and rolling with the punches as a stunt double, he put the killer in Uma Thurman’s kicks and the ka-pow in the fists of Charlie’s Angels stars Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore.
But it was his work on the Wachowskis’ seminal Matrix trilogy that was the defining moment of his career, not only because it was his first introduction to the big-screen world, but because it was where he began to develop a friendship with ‘The One’ himself, Keanu Reeves. Over a decade down the line and Chen is set to play the lead role in Reeves’ much-anticipated directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi.
“We have known each other for many years and know each other very well,” says Chen, speaking about his experience with Reeves on the Man of Tai Chi set. “I think he is the best man to direct the first movie that I take a starring role. He is an excellent actor and he is a perfectionist, who has the highest demands for everything he does.
“As a new actor, I am stressed out a lot. But Keanu knows that I am a person who can work under great pressure and that more pressure can inspire more power from me. I also learned a lot from him, not only in performance, but also in how to be a man.”
Chen plays a skilled tai chi practitioner who becomes involved in a deadly underground fighting ring, with Reeves as the villainous, bloodthirsty boss who runs the operation. While the film promises plenty of bone-crunching battles and spilled blood, Chen has had his fair share of bruised flesh in real life too.
“Having been a stuntman for a few years, I have broken my shoulder and ankles several times,” he says. “Now I have scars all over my body, but as a man working in this business, pain is my best friend.”
A master of several Chinese martial arts forms, including the use of swords (daoshu), cudgels (gunshu) and the nine-section– whip (jiujiebian), Chen’s passion for fighting stems from movies he watched as a little boy.
“I came to love kung fu when I first watched Jet Li’s movie Shaolin Temple,” he recalls, “and my dream was to become a kung fu master like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.”
Beginning his studies at the age of 8, the Sichuan native moved to the United States 12 years later, where he occasionally washed dishes in restaurants to make ends meet. One day, he caught the attention of Yuen Woo-ping, a veteran Hong Kong fight choreographer who was looking to hire assistants to work on The Matrix. Ever since, Chen has collaborated with Yuen on numerous projects – Yuen is also advising on the action sequences for Man of Tai Chi.
For all those inspired by the flashy back flips and dramatic gymnastic displays, Chen has bad news for you: there’s a big gap between actual kung fu and film kung fu.
“If we show the real kung fu on the big screen, maybe only a few people will enjoy it,” he opines. “As the old saying goes, ‘A true punch doesn’t look good, while a good-looking punch doesn’t actually beat anyone up!’ In the movies, we must make kung fu artistic in order to enhance the visual effect.”
Nevertheless, the 39-year-old hopes that the showy on-screen fighting will inspire some to learn traditional martial arts methods – something he says many trainees in China today eschew in favor of more impressive spectacles, meaning that authentic techniques are in decline. His overarching goal is to promote quintessential Chinese fighting skills to people around the world and imitate the success of the legendary Bruce Lee.
“He is definitely my idol!” says Chen. “I consider him as a genius of martial arts. Through his great efforts, he became the only person who could integrate Chinese and Western martial arts so perfectly. Furthermore, his thinking was advanced too.
“For example, mixed martial arts, which are quite popular today, had already appeared in his movies many years before... And he also learned from the traditional philosophy of the Taoists, which was unique in the Western world of his time.
“In conclusion, he is an unprecedented master, and I’d like to follow in his footsteps and try my best to become a true innovator.”
// Man of Tai Chi is in cinemas from July 5.
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