craveonline

Stephen Chow just got famous for Kung Fu Hustle, a special effects comedy extravaganza that caught on in the worldwide market. He's actually been making movies like that for decades, even before the advent of CGI. His latest film is his first major departure. CJ7 is a children's film about a father (Chow) who finds a toy for his son at the dump. The toy is actually an alien creature who's magical powers wreak havoc at school. Though he speaks some English, Chow chose to speak through a translator for this interview.

---

CraveOnline: Could you speak English with us?

Stephen Chow: I think my English is bad. It's slightly better than your Chinese. I'll try but in order not to cause any confusion, maybe I will go to Mandarin sometimes. If I can handle it, I'll try to speak in English but if I cannot than go to Mandarin. Do you mind?

CraveOnline: What made you cast a little girl as your son?

Stephen Chow: At first, I really didn't think of her in terms of this role. I saw this girl with long hair there kind of looking at me. There's something a little strange that struck me but she was very quiet and it was only later that we started having them do specific tests and various actions to test them out that I really started seeing that there is really something special here where she was appropriate for the role.

CraveOnline: Would it have changed the story dramatically to just make her a girl?

Stephen Chow: I think that it would be different. It's kind of hard to say exactly how  but there are certain personality differences between boys and girls that would have larger effects on the film. Maybe one example would be the toy, CJ7. That's the kind of toy that I suspect boys would be more likely to play with and enjoy. If it had been a girl, it's a little hard for me to say.

CraveOnline: You know martial arts comedy, but how well did you know children's movies?

Stephen Chow: Indeed my experience with that kind of martial arts and kung fu genre is much richer and I've made a lot of films in those areas. Relatively speaking, children's movies is something I'm a little less familiar with. I did once serve as the host of a children's television show many years ago and that's an experience I think really helped with this role. And also there's the influence of such films as Spielberg's ET which really had a strong impact on me and all of that I think helped.

CraveOnline: Has Steven Spielberg seen it?

Stephen Chow: I don't know.

CraveOnline: What was the inspiration for the CG creature?

Stephen Chow: Actually, the model for the alien, CJ7 was my own dog. I had a dog I raised for many years. He was a Pekingese with big eyes and a flat face, very cute. The dog passed away but this dog was really the model that we kind of designed the alien after. That really was the original inspiration.

CraveOnline: Hitting your child could be considered child abuse. Why did you include that in the film?

Stephen Chow: If I remember correctly, there's really only one scene in the film where I hit her or him. But I do have this childhood experience where when I was a kid, I remember a memory where I wanted this toy really bad and my parents didn't have the resources to buy it for me. I kind of had a fit and was very upset and I started crying and they got upset and they hit me. At the time, I probably would feel they were exploiting me or doing something that was a little illegal and I thought this was really a terrible, terrible thing. But now when I reflect on that, I really realize that in that moment when they hit me, their hearts were probably in more pain than I was and it really was difficult for them to do that, but it was for my own good that they were trying to teach me this life lesson. So it was really from that perspective, looking back on my own experience that I wanted to put that key scene in the film because it really says something about my own past and upbringing.

CraveOnline: What was harder, working with the kid or working with the CGI?

Stephen Chow: Working with Dicky in the film, one thing that you really need is patience. That's something that you really have to have when you're working with child actors. And also have the time to really spend with them working various things out because they do require more time than, say, professional actors who are very seasoned. That's something that I think my previous experience as host of a children's show really helped and came in as a very positive experience. As for CG and working with this invisible dog, that's something that I also have experience with, say in Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, we had a lot of CG so that wasn't really a big problem.