CraveOnline: Since you've experimented with visual effects, could you have done CJ7 before, practically?
Stephen Chow: I did work a little bit with CG in Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle so I did have that experience, but this is something really quite different. The level to which we use the CG, I don't think anywhere in Asia there's been a film where there's a whole character like this that was completely CG created with such a level of interaction with the other actors. In Hollywood you have some of this, but for Asia this was really a first. So my previous experience on those other films did help, but it was still a huge challenge. Sometimes we were just going dizzy just by all the problems associated with this. There were all these conundrums we had to deal with that could be very frustrating but in the end we made it through.
CraveOnline: Where did the parental ideals sneak into the film? Why were they important?
Stephen Chow: I think a lot of this really comes from my own background, my parents. Growing up, over a long period of time, many, many years, you'd hear them, "Don't do this, don't do that, don't do this, don't do this." As a kid, you're saying, "I've got it, I've got it, I know, I know, I know." It kind of eventually becomes ingrained in you and it becomes a part of your value system. So a big part of that really comes from my own experience.
CraveOnline: As a producer on Dragonball Z, how involved are you? Will you have a cameo? Is it shooting like a Hong Kong film?
Stephen Chow: I won't have a cameo in the film. My contribution is mainly in the screenwriting department, giving them input and suggestions in the screenplay and other aspects. It is a Hollywood film but they are shooting rather quickly, so I very much admire their work ethic and how quickly they're doing this. So there are some aspects of the kind of Hong Kong work ethic they've taken, but it's really a Hollywood production.
CraveOnline: Are you developing Kung Fu Hustle 2?
Stephen Chow: A sequel is something that I have been considering for some time and it's still on the table, but lately there's been a kind of shift away from making it a literal sequel from the first movie and just a kind of new film in this series that will explore a new story, new ideas and that will give us more freedom.
CraveOnline: What sort of stories could also exist in that world?
Stephen Chow: Some of the things we're thinking of are one, it's probably not going to be a classical costume drama. It'll probably be a modern picture and more and more, I'm tempted to set it in contemporary America. That's possibly going to be the setting.