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ROMEO MUST DIE-- Jet-setting for a mission
After
being noticed for his agility and fights in Lethal Weapon 4, Hong Kong
actor Jet Li makes an impactful debut as a leading man in an English-language
Hollywood flick, which combines romance with mind-boggling action...
Joel Silver, producer of the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated blockbuster
The Matrix, is back with a new kind of action movie. The title Romeo Must
Die might make you conclude that it is a romantic caper (what with the
name of the eternal romantic Romeo attached to it) but the film, besides
having romance as its backdrop, is filled with rapid-fire martial arts
action, and rivetting visual effects.
The story goes thus. Asian and African-American gangs are vying for control
of Oakland’s waterfront. But when the first casualty is the Asian
warlord’s son Po, the gang war takes on more dangerous overtones.
News of the murder gets back to Po’s big brother Han (Jet Li), an
ex-cop imprisoned in a Hong Kong jail. And it’s only a matter of
time before Han makes his way to American shores. He does whatever it
takes, breaks out of jail, even loses his identity, just to get to the
States and find out why his brother was killed.
Han’s quest leads to nothing except more questions. In the process
he also becomes a target, not only of the African-American camp, but also
to faceless assassins, whose firepower reaches far beyond the working-class
waterfront.
Hong Kong superstar Jet Li, who played a key role in the smash hit Lethal
Weapon 4, and starred in breakthrough action films Once Upon A Time In
China and Black Mask, makes his English-language starring debut in this
film. Also to make her feature film debut is recording artist Aaliyah.
She plays Trish O’Day, who doesn’t want to be a part of her
father’s gang-war, and joins forces with Han to stop it.
Producer Silver decided on taking Li since “he is one of the biggest
box-office stars in Asia, he has a huge following.” Says Silver,
“He’s not only second-to-none as a martial artist, as we saw
in Lethal Weapon 4, but he also has enormous screen presence.”
Adds executive producer Dan Cracchiolo, “Romeo Must Die was exactly
the movie we wanted to make with Jet. We liked the conflict of cultures
and the lack of boundaries from the main character’s point of view.”
Li, on his part, describes Romeo Must Die as “essentially Romeo and
Juliet.” Says the actor, “In this case, the two warring families
are an African-American family and a Chinese family. In my past films,
we are always first concerned with getting a good, interesting story.
That makes the fight scenes more compelling. This film has a solid story
and the action sequences come very naturally.”
The film boasts of fast-paced martial arts against the backdrop of Oakland’s
colorful, urban hip-hop scene. “This story takes place in a city
that has a wonderful kind of musical feeling and hip-hop aesthetic,”
says Silver, “It’s also a story that brings together the East
and the West, with hip-hop and Kung-fu thrown together into a colourful,
unpredictable mix. Aaliyah’s music is really sophisticated and has
a wonderful feel to it. Then, with Jet, we have the chance to do some
really incredible martial arts sequences in a fresh, interesting way.”
Singer Aaliyah agreed to the film since the character of Trish was apt
for her to make a transition from being a music and video artist, to becoming
an actress. She describes Trish as someone who “has an attitude pretty
much all the time and who is in control of her life.”
Andrzej Bartkowiak was the unanimous choice of both Silver and Cracchiolo
to direct the film. Andrzej created the visuals on Lethal Weapon 4. “I
was very impressed with his visual style and his understanding of the
action medium,” says Silver, “He really contributed a great
deal to that movie and I felt that there was a director in him yearning
to get out.”
Before the shooting commenced, Li and his martial arts team spent weeks
choreographing and developing intense and intricate fight scenes. The
action scenes bear the stamp of both, Li and master choreographer and
veteran Hong Kong film director, Corey Yuen. “Jet and Corey bring
an unbelievably energetic and athletic fight process to this film that
comes out of the Eastern film style,” opines Silver, “Their
fighting and wire-work techniques give the audience a whole new way of
seeing the fight experience. I was first able to explore wire-work during
The Matrix and I think it’s something that people have never seen
before in the West. It literally changed the way we look at action pictures.”
Romeo Must Die has eight engrossing fight scenes. “We wanted to make
each one different, with a variety of moves and styles for the various
characters involved,” says Li, “In different situations, you
need different kinds of martial arts.”
Li and Yuen, who have collaborated on six previous films in Asia, share
a passion for staging fights that are an integral part of the story. “I
usually base the action on the characters,” says Yuen, “For
different characters, I create a different kind of action.”
The film features numerous heart-stopping stunts, including a two-person,
296-foot fall. Stunt-performers Melissa Stubbs and Ernie Jackson set a
Vancouver industry record when they dropped from the roof of an office
tower on the waterfront - twice - to film the plunge. They also threw
themselves through a pair of sixth floor break-away windows, free-falling
a more modest 62 feet into a pile of cardboard boxes.
Producer Silver, and his cast and crew have come up with what they call
“a new kind of action film,” one that ably combines Silver’s
signature action style with the Hong Kong film medium.
SK
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