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COVER STORY:
Brain Drain: |
ASIA | January 26, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 3 |
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Chow, who to fans and reporters is gracious to a fault--or, rather, to perfection--waves away any talk of an on-camera dustup. He will concede that he finds Sorvino a "very interesting character" and that he is astounded by her way of preparing for the scene. "She screams a lot on the set," he says. "She said that screaming is a kind of preparation for the role. It is very interesting to see how she does that preparation. In the future," he adds drily, "maybe I can do the same." Welcome to Hollywood, Yun-fat. A lot is riding on his trip: the almost unique opportunity for an Asian actor to become a mainstream Hollywood star. And since Hollywood films rule the box office in virtually every territory where they are freely shown, the release of The Replacement Killers (this week in Hong Kong and Feb. 6 in the U.S.) means that the world's most powerful image-makers have put their stamp of approval on the face of a new hero. A suave, sullen facet--unarguably compelling, unmistakably Chinese. Chow has not come alone. Michelle Yeoh, Jackie Chan and Jet Li are among the Hong Kong stars who have followed the earlier Asian invasion of John Woo and other Hong Kong directors. But Chow has the most at stake. He is not shuttling across the Pacific, hedging his bets by continuing to shoot films back home. Hollywood is not a hobby; it's the next decisive step in a brilliant career. The Replacement Killers, which Chow describes as "a John Woo action film remake," is a bit less than brilliant, but it gets the job done. And it makes its star happy. "I am a lucky guy," says this longtime fan of Hollywood cinema. "There is one and only best American movie in your life. And now I am in it." He could stay there for keeps because the time is right, say the Hollywood executives who have promoted Chow's career. "Look at the landscape," says Teddy Zee, a former executive at Columbia Pictures, which is distributing the film. "Steven Seagal has seen better days. Jean-Claude Van Damme is on the downside. And it's even getting harder for guys like Arnold and Stallone. We've had the same stable of action players for 10 years or more. With the age of movie-goers and a more sophisticated audience, there's a demand for something fresh. Yun-fat is it." If the odds are even that he'll succeed in Hollywood, that's because Chow has made it this far on his terms. He took his time--three years--between Peace Hotel and this movie, putting himself at ease in a new land, waiting for the right film. But Chow has always been his own man. He was unusual among Hong Kong stars in that he didn't bother anglicizing his name. No Jackie, Stephen, Leslie or Jet. Take him as pure Chinese, with a moniker that sounds to Americans like a calorific pork dish at a Cantonese eatery. To see it on U.S. movie marquees is a small but significant victory for Asian pride.
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