Line #25 Creator/StephenChow


1	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stephen-chow-_3673.jpg]]
2	->''"One very important element for me to make a movie is: it has to be unique and different from any other."''
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4	An influential Hong Kong comedian, actor and film director, best known in the west for ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'' and ''Film/KungFuHustle'', Stephen Chow Sing-Chi (born 22 June 1962 in Hong Kong) is famous for his {{slapstick}} {{martial arts movie}}s. He also has something of a reputation for taking unknowns as his romantic lead, collectively called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_girls Sing girls]]", all of whom go on to have successful careers in their own right.
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6	His first public appearance was as a host for TVB Jade children's program ''430 Space Shuttle'' from July 1983 to circa. March 1987[[note]]Other famous hosts of the show include Creator/TonyLeungChiuWai (1982-1983) and Ekin Cheng of ''Film/YoungAndDangerous'' fame (1987-1989).[[/note]].
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8	As an actor, he has been known to be the lead actor in all of his movies [[note]]As noted below, ''Film/CJ7'' is, as of 2023, his last movie as the male lead.[[/note]], as well as some lead roles in films such as the ''Film/GodOfGamblers'' sequels and ''Film/AChineseOdyssey''.
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10	He was also a producer for ''Film/DragonballEvolution'', but beyond that he had not given any sort of creative influence to the film, even if it probably needed it.
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12	His [[Film/JourneyToTheWestConqueringTheDemons take]] on ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' has him changing things up a bit by sticking to the directorship. Before he became a full time director, he collaborated frequently with Wong Jing[[note]]Films where Wong Jing is the director are denoted by an "*" below[[/note]] and Lee Lik Chi.
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14	Most of Stephen's movies have segments which pay homage to Creator/BruceLee; Stephen was a big fan of his.
15	----
16	!!He has directed, written and/or starred in:
17	[[index]]
18	* ''Film/FinalJustice1988'' (co-starring Creator/DannyLee. First film which won an award for Stephen[[note]]Best Supporting Actor at the 25th Golden Horse Awards in 1988[[/note]].)
19	%%''Film/ABetterTomorrow'': RetroactiveRecognition for the then 23-year-old Stephen, who plays one of the Taiwanese mob leader's thugs, and is the second mook killed by Mark in the restaurant shootout. (This was blanked out as Chan Chi-Fai, who took part in that particular scene, confirmed in an interview that Stephen did not take part in the filming of ''A Better Tomorrow''. But, it is true that Stephen liked the film and frequently paid homage to it in his films.%%
20	* ''Series/TheJusticeOfLife'' (TVB TV series, co-starring Creator/AlexMan. Lee Lik Chi was one of the directors involved in the series.)
21	* ''Series/TheFinalCombat'' (TVB TV series. A memetic quote from his character, "Let's sit down, have some tea and a bun, and talk slowly", is regarded as the TropeMaker of his ''mo lei tau'' style. This series was also his first collaboration with Ng Man-tat, and where he met Jacqueline Law, the only girlfriend he ever publicly admitted to dating. Lee Lik Chi was one of the directors involved in the series.)
22	* ''Film/MyHero'' (widely considered his big break in showbiz. Known for a [=CMoF=] involving [[HollywoodToneDeaf really bad karaoke]] that gained memetic spread at the time)
23	* ''Final/DragonFight'' (only film collaboration with Creator/JetLi)
24	* ''Film/AllForTheWinner'' (originally a ''Film/GodOfGamblers''* parody, later gets [[CanonImmigrant promoted to canon]] when he appears in ''God of Gamblers III''; Stephen had also appeared in ''God Of Gamblers II''. ''Winner'' and ''Gamblers II'' were Sharla Cheung's first collaborations with Stephen.)
25	* ''Film/FistOfFury1991'' (an AffectionateParody of Creator/BruceLee's ''Film/FistOfFury'', of course. There's even an ActingForTwo moment in an IntercontinuityCrossover with ''All for the Winner''. It had a sequel: ''Fist of Fury 1991 II''. Another one of the few films in the 1990s where Ng Man-tat ''didn't'' collaborate with Stephen[[note]]Man-tat had a cameo in the first film and was absent in the second one.[[/note]].)
26	* ''Film/TheMadMonk'' (co-starring Creator/MaggieCheung and Creator/AnthonyWong. This film allegedly so offended Creator/DannyLee that he refused to speak to Stephen after its release.[[note]]The titular mad monk of the film was a historical character by the name of Lee Xu Yuen (Li Xiu Yuan in Hanyu Pinyin). In the movie, a vile curse was directed at Xu Yuen, and Danny took it as a slight by Stephen against him. Shing Fui On, a protege of Danny's, also had animosity towards Stephen because of this film.[[/note]])
27	* ''Film/FightBackToSchool'' ([[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard in a high school]]. It had two sequels: ''Fight Back to School II'' (Athena Chu's debut as a film actress) and ''Fight Back to School III''*)
28	* ''Film/JustHeroes'': As a {{Deuteragonist}}. He didn't make it past the hour mark.
29	* ''[[Film/AllsWellEndsWell All's Well, Ends Well]]'' (co-starring Creator/LeslieCheung and Maggie Cheung) and ''All's Well, Ends Well '97'' (Leslie had a cameo for this film)
30	* ''Film/TrickyBrains''*
31	* ''Film/JusticeMyFoot!'' (The first of many Qing Dynasty period films by Chow, this one sees him take the role of ancient lawyer Song Shijie, taking on his many crises of character in the court with the usual RuleOfFunny thrown in. Won him his first Best Leading Actor award[[note]]37th Asia Pacific Film Festival in 1992[[/note]])
32	* ''Film/TheRoyalTramp''* and ''Royal Tramp II''* (based off the classic literature ''Literature/TheDeerAndTheCauldron''. Master Creator/JinYong himself approved of Stephen playing the role of Wei Xiaobao ''and'' Creator/BrigitteLin herself agreed to appear in ''II'' due to Stephen; both thespians later praised each other's performance in the film, and the film remained their only on-screen collaboration.)
33	* ''Film/KingOfBeggars''
34	* ''Film/FlirtingScholar'' (One of the few films in the 1990s where Ng Man-tat ''didn't'' collaborate with Stephen. Directed by Lee Lik Chi) %%(AffectionateParody of the classic romance of Tang Bohu and Qiuxiang. Known for testing the waters for epic duels by pitting martial arts legends Cheng Peipei and Gordon Liu against each other.)%%
35	* ''Film/LoveOnDelivery'' (directed by Lee Lik Chi)
36	* ''Film/HailTheJudge''* (Looking like a FollowTheLeader of the resurgence of interest in the historical judge Justice Bao thanks to a Chinese LongRunner TV series, this is actually a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Justice My Foot'')
37	* ''Film/FromBeijingWithLove'' (an AffectionateParody of ''Film/JamesBond''; Stephen was co-director with Lee Lik-chi, who had a cameo as the death-row prisoner who was executed by a bazooka.)
38	* ''Film/AChineseOdyssey'' (based off ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. Karen Mok's first collaboration with Stephen. "Zixia Fairy" in the second movie was regarded as Athena Chu's best known role)
39	* ''Film/SixtyMillionDollarMan'' (Wong Jing was the film's producer)
40	* ''Film/ForbiddenCityCop'' (SpiritualSuccessor to ''From Beijing'' above. While not the director, Lee Lik-chi had a cameo as the court official with extremely thick nose hair.)
41	* ''Film/GodOfCookery'' (Stephen was co-director with Lee Lik-chi.)
42	* ''Film/KingOfComedy'' (last film he made in Hong Kong; his subsequent films were all mainland China productions. Also Cecilia Cheung's first film. Stephen was co-director with Lee Lik-chi. A SpiritualSuccessor, ''New King of Comedy'', was released in 2019.)
43	* ''Film/{{Gorgeous}}'' (cameo role as a policeman. In return, Creator/JackieChan had a cameo in ''King of Comedy''; the two films were the only collaborations between the two.)
44	* ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'' (last film collaboration with Ng Man-tat)
45	* ''Film/KungFuHustle''
46	* ''Film/CJ7'' (As of 2023, the last film where he played the male lead)
47	* ''Film/JourneyToTheWestConqueringTheDemons''
48	** ''Film/JourneyToTheWestTheDemonsStrikeBack''
49	* ''Film/TheMermaid''
50	[[/index]]
51	!!His work provides examples of:
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53	* AffectionateParody: Much of his earlier stuff. For instance ''Film/FlirtingScholar'' parodies the classic romance of Tang Bohu and Qiuxiang. But ''Film/AChineseOdyssey'' comes dangerously close to PragmaticAdaptation.
54	* AuthorTract:
55	** ''The Royal Tramp'' ends with Wai Siu Bo (played by Chow) pointing out that Manchurian rule has not exactly scourged China and the LaResistance may not even be necessary, deliberately paralleling the impending handover of Hong Kong from UK to China in '97.
56	** ''King of Beggars'' has the newly-crowned king of beggars Soh (played by Chow) lampshading the fact that the poor have become the majority, and the problem of poverty can only be solved by those with the power, [[DidYouJustFlipoffCthulhu all to the Emperor's face.]] [[HilariousInHindsight And all this was WAY before the #Occupy movement.]]
57	** The one in ''Forbidden City Cop'' has stirred up controversy due to being a FlipFlopOfGod in comparison to the ''Royal Tramp'' one above, but the real point is the same as the ''King of Beggars'' one - real power belongs to the people.
58	* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Sticks to traditional good vs evil stories.
59	* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: This sums up his start in showbiz in a nutshell, having practiced Jeet Kune Do before starting out as an actual extra.
60	* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Multiple of his films involve a Buddhist powerup to finish the climactic battle. Notably ''Film/AChineseOdyssey'', ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'' and ''Film/KungFuHustle''.
61	* GenreShift: From shlocky B-movies thanks to director Wong Ching to full-blown blockbuster material from ''A Chinese Odyssey'' onwards. The knee-slapper moments have remained intact, though.
62	* MoodWhiplash: Chow's films are known to suddenly veer from slapstick comedy to melodramatic tragedy and back.
63	* NonSequitur: This is one way to describe his comedy style.
64	* PrimaDonnaDirector: As an independent director (with his own company), his laser focus on perfection at film making, at the expense of almost everything else, have made some swore never to work with him again. In particular, Creator/SammoHung was fired by him during the production of ''Film/KungFuHustle''. Even during the early days, while filming ''Sixty Million Dollar Man'', Ng Man-tat himself once refused to continue shooting, after having numbed his mouth due to shooting a tooth-brushing scene 50+ times.
65	* ProductionPosse: The second best known hallmark of Chow's work. All the recurring actors in his movies can be divided into three categories - longtime friends (eg. Ng Man Tat, Sandra Ng and (before her retirement) Sharla Cheung[[note]]Sharla was a rather unique example of a "Sing girl", in that (a)she was relatively established when she first collaborated with Stephen in ''All For the Winner'' and ''God of Gamblers II'' (both released in 1990), (b)she remained fast friends with Stephen for decades and (c)was ''not'' rumored to be his girlfriend despite having many collaborations with him. As a side note, Sharla's boyfriend at the time was rumored to be Jimmy Heung, brother of Charles Heung; both brothers had triad links as their father Heung Chin founded the Sun Yee On Triad.[[/note]]), [[MsFanservice hot young things getting a bump in popularity while falling victim to rumors of being his newest dalliance]], and classic big names going through a CareerResurrection.
66	* ReactionShot: Commonly used to emphasize jokes or subverted expectations.
67	* RuleOfFunny: Widely considered the TropeCodifier of the ''mo lei tau'' style comedy (which translates to something in the vein of "nonsensical comedy") for Hong Kong cinema.
68	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Very much on the Idealistic end.
69	* SlobsVersusSnobs: One theme of Chow's movies included the conflict between the working class and the upper-class, which sympathizes with the former. Though the lead character of ''Film/GodOfCookery'' and ''Film/KingOfBeggars'' came from wealthy strata, they only learn humility as they spend more with the lower classes after their fall from grace.
70	* UniversalGroupReaction: Nothing emphasizes a joke or subverted expectations better than a crowd of people reacting with surprise. A crowd reacting rather than an individual emphasize the subverted expectations rather than character development.
71	* WagTheDirector: Once he had established himself, Stephen did this in almost every movie he appeared in. The credits may list someone else as director, but make no mistake: Stephen would firmly stamp his style all over the movie. To cite one example, ''The Mad Monk'' director Creator/JohnnieTo was largely sidelined during filming, so much so that he never worked with Stephen again on another film.

Context Creator / StephenChow