The Wings Behind CHARLIE'S ANGELS: Fight Director Yuen Cheung Yen

The secret behind the Year 2000's Surprise Success.

By Craig Reid     January 04, 2001

The world didn't have any reason to expect that a film version of Charlie's Angels would be worth the celluloid it was filmed on, but with a gross of $122-million in the U.S. and over another $100-million worldwide, the film certainly did something right. What was the mysterious element that elevated a campy television show into a blockbuster feature film? In an underground Shanghai restaurant on the outskirts of LA's Chinatown, there exists the secret behind Charlie's Angels success. Well, sort of. In actuality, I'm having supper with Hong Kong action director Yuen Cheung Yen (a.k.a. Yuen Xiang Ren) at one of his favorite LA hangouts. Yuen is the man not only responsible for training the trio of Angles but for creating the action sequences that essentially makes the film what it is: fun.

Born in Guang Zhou, Canton, Yuen at age eight started training with his famous father, the actor and fight choreographer Yuen Siu Tin, whom Westerners will most likely recognize as the old, gray haired teacher in Jackie Chan's SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW (1978) and DRUNKEN MASTER (1978). 'I started working on films since I was a kid because my father was also in involved in film. He'd take me to his sets and I ended up being a stunt double for all these child actors. As I got older, I'd still be a stunt double but moved up the ladder eventually becoming a fight choreographer, action director and then a director.'

Yuen was often cast as an off-the-wall Taoist priest or kung-fu master in crazy movies like DRUNKEN TAI CHI (1984), MIRACLE FIGHTERS (1982) and TAI CHI MASTER (1993). Yet he's more notably known for his outrageously creative action directing in Fant-Asia films such as FIERY DRAGON (1994), DRAGON INN (1992), the ladder fight finale in ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA (1991), and the over-the-top IRON MONKEY (1993), one scene of which CHARLIE'S ANGELS mirrorsshot for shot and gag for gagat the end of the film, when Drew Barrymore fights 4 stunt men.

Acknowledging my observation, Yuen honestly quips, 'It's my job and I do the best I can. This film offered me no challenge, considering that since I was a kid, I've worked on over 20 films a year, but it has been an interesting experience coming over to Hollywood, where maybe people can learn things from me and for sure I've learned things here.' (This is a familiar situation for all the Hong Kong action directors asked to work their magic in Hollywood: they're expected to do what they've done umpteen times before. The result is action you've never seen beforeif you've never seen a Hong Kong film.)

Yuen, who was familiar with the original CHARLIE'S ANGELS TV series, worked on the film for a total of eight months. It all started out with some apprehension revolving around the training of the actresses. Barrymore was distracted by personal matters; Lucy Liu wasn't there for the first month, and Cameron Diaz had recently quit smoking. Every day in L.A.'s Park Plaza hotel, from 8:00am to 5:00pm, for several months, Yuen patiently put the ANGELS through their training to successfully transform them into a bunch of action stars.

When asked to describe his approach to fight choreography, Yuen nonchalantly giggles, 'My method is very simple. First, I observe the foundation, ability and quality of the actor and see what they have to offer. That can range from people who know a lot or nothing at all. What can be tough is convincing the actors of the importance of having to train and getting them inspired and wanting to train. Some are no problem, but others you have to constantly say things like, 'Don't worry; don't feel bad; take your time.' So the basic fundamental things is to keep the actor involved. If he or she is not interested, no matter how hard they train, it's not going to work and it's completely useless. With this film, what's good is that they all practiced together, and that can really help not only the interest, but the competitive spirit keeps them trying harder; then you lead them into the real training mode. I mean, if you start and they have no interest, how can you continue teaching them?'

So how did Yuen get involved in the film and what really went in to training the Angels? 'The director called my company in Hong Kong,' Yuen reminisces, 'The talks went smooth, so we came to LA to discuss the script, which led to the eventual training of the actresses and the actor [Crispin Glover]. It was very difficult for them because they've never done this sort of training or action before. I had my reservations and doubts about their abilities and thought they'd never achieve what I asked of them and what they needed to do. But after about a month of training, I felt they were doing okay, and eventually they were able to achieve about eighty percent of what we were hoping they could accomplish. They were actually pretty good. But you know one of the big differences between filming in Hong Kong and America, besides the budget, is that in Hong Kong there is no training period before a film; the actors just show up and fight.

'To determine what each lady had to learn and what I wanted them to do, I first looked at their character's personality in the film and took it from there. Drew's character was more jumpy and airy, so she practiced more 'dan tiao' techniques [i.e., springy kinds of movements], so her fights looked a bit more vicious. Cameron's stuff is more realistic, down to earth and solid looking, so she had to be more flexible. And for Lucy, her movement had to be beautiful looking. Now although she has never practiced martial arts, her background in dancing helped in getting that better look. After all their martial art training, we trained them in getting used to doing wirework. The director told me what kind of fights he wanted and what was supposed to happen; we'd design the fight, practice it, show him, and he'd say no problem and we'd film it. He trusted my judgment and gave me control of what I wanted to create for the action.'

Although Angels' actresses and director have acknowledged that Yuen's contribution is vital to the success of the film, Yuen's Hong Kong crew and some of the Hong Kong stuntmen used in the film didn't receive screen credit, and even Yuen's name was easily missed. But to be fair, it's worse in the Hong Kong film industry, where guys will film 18-hours a day and repeatedly perform dangerous stunts without getting credit or complaining.

Speaking with Yuen, one gets a sense of incredible calm in the way he approaches his discussion on film. As he suggested before, to him it's really just a job, and it's hard to fathom if he's having fun. Here is a man who has done over 1100 films throughout his life and probably had no choice about following his father's footsteps into film. Yet he's as gracious as he is accommodating. Supper over, he insists on picking up the tab. When I close by asking if he has any personal philosophy, he contemplates, 'I ask this question myself. Everyday I just eat and sleep. To me, I think it's just about being natural in life. I mean, if you have an idea or goal in life, it's not realistic. I'm not the kind that believes that you can do or achieve anything you want to if you set your mind to it. Just be natural, develop naturally, and achieve naturally.'