Music N' More

Monday, June 1, 2026

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

This is one of the more famous films Chow Yun-fat has starred in. Originally, Jet Li was supposed to have the main role, but there personal reasons and a scheduling conflict and he couldn't do it. So the role went to Chow Yun-fat instead

Summary

-When a young Chinese warriors steals a sword from a famous sword maker, she escapes and falls in love with a mysterious man and together they embark on a romantic adventure

Cast

-Chow Yun-fat: Li Mu Bai

-Michelle Yeoh: Yu Shu Lien

-Ziyi Zhang: Jen

-Chang Chen: Lo

-Sihung Lung: Sir Te

-Pei-Pei Chang: Jade Fox

-Li Li: May

-Suying Huang: Auntie Wu

Did You Know?

-Michelle Yeoh spent a year prior to filming this movie so she could learn to fluently speak Mandarin

-The actors in this film did all of their own stunts. Any wires holding them up were removed digitally

-The title of the film refers to a Chinese mythology quote referencing "hiding your strength from others"

-When Ang Lee approached Michelle Yeoh, he told her this would be like the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, only with martial arts

-During filming, Michelle Yeoh had torn her ACL and had to be flown to the United States to have it repaired. She returned to filming at different times to film the non-action scenes until her knee had recovered

-The swords and other weapons were made in Taiwan. Ironically, Taiwan is the country Ang Lee was born in and the swordsmith who made the weapons was actually Lee's neighbor in Tainan, Taiwan

-During an interview with TIME Magazine, Chow Yun-fat described speaking in Mandarin as "It's awful". He had to do 28 takes of shooting on just the first day alone because he had great difficulty speaking Mandarin

-All four of the main stars of the film spoke Mandarin with different accents. Chow Yun-fat spoke it with a Cantonese accent, because Cantonese is his primary language. Michelle Yeoh spoke it with a Malaysian / English accent, Ziyi Zhang spoke it with a Beijing accent and Chang Chen spoke it with a Taiwanese accent

-In the opening scene showing Ziyi Zhang, the embroidered dress she wore took two months to make. It required four highly skilled embroiderers

-The action choreographer on this film is Yuen Woo-ping, who is responsible for choreographing the fight scenes and is also responsible for the choreography in the 1999 film The Matrix and its follow-ups

-While it appears that Ziyi Zhang's character is highly skilled in performing martial arts, in real life she had never undergone any formal studies of martial arts. She used dance techniques to learn her moves as if they were a dance instead of a fight

-As part of her training, Ziyi Zhang also learned calligraphy

-Chow Yun-fat was shown a mockup of what he would look like with a shaved head before he agreed to cut his hair down to the scalp

-The scenes filmed in the Gobi Desert were interrupted by rain constantly

-Jet Li was originally offered the role of Li Mu Bai, but had made a strict promise to his wife Nina Li Chi that he would be with her through the pregnancy of their first child

-This is the first martial arts film for Chow Yun-fat

-Director Ang Lee found the intensity and stress of this movie to be so high he had once again resumed smoking

-Michelle Yeoh didn't speak Mandarin at all. Chow Yun-fat speaks it, but his primary language is Cantonese. Yeoh had to have help from Mandarin-speaking crew members phonetically. Her Malaysian accent can be heard throughout the film. Native Mandarin speakers thought Chow Yun-fat's accent was overdone and strained

-Jet Li was offered the role of Li Mu Bai, but instead he chose to appear in the 2000 film Romeo Must Die instead. Hong Kong singer / actor Leon Lai was offered the role, but turned it down. Finally it was offered to Chow Yun-fat, who accepted it

-Ironically, the film was released in the year 2000, which, in Chinese astrology, is the Year of the Dragon

-For the English language dub, there was extra care taken to ensure that the voice actors' roles and wording matched the original lip movements almost exactly

Sunday, May 31, 2026

The One (2001)

A sci-fi film starring Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham

Summary

-Set in a world of Multiverses, where everyone has a version of themselves, two Multiverse agents track down a rogue criminal killing alternate versions of himself, to become stronger. The only thing stopping him from becoming "The One" is a humble LASD office

Cast

-Jet Li: Gabe / Yulaw / Lawless

-Carla Gugino: T.K. / Massie Walsh

-Delroy: Roedecker / Attendant

-Jason Statham: Funsch

-James Morrison: Aldrich / A World Inmate #1

-Dylan Bruno: Yates

-Richard Steinmetz: D'Antoni

-Harriet Sansom Harris: Nurse Besson

Did You Know?

-In the scenes where Jet Li appeared to be fighting himself, this was done with a stuntman with a similar physical build to him. The stuntman's face was painted green with CGI dots so Jet Li's face could digitally replace it later

-Jet Li uses two particular styles of kung fu here. For Yulaw, the "evil" one, he uses what is called Xingyi Quan, or "Mind-Form-Fist". It's seen as a very linear style meant for offense. Gabe is seen using what is called Bagua Zhang, or "Eight Trigrams Palm". This is known for open palm fighting, with circular footwork. Both styles are considered two of the three main styles of Chinese kung fu, with the third being Taiji Quan (Tai Chi)

-The 2001 TV program Scrubs is filmed at the North Hollywood Medical Center - the same "University Medical Center" featured in this movie, where Gabe is going to get his MRI

-In the film's initial shootout, the guns used by the LAPD in the Anubis Universe were M4A1 carbine assault rifles equipped with an M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System. At the time, the M26 was a relatively new experimental shotgun being developed by the United States Army by C-More Systems. It was not available to the public. These were prototype weapons being used and were loaned to the film set by the C-More Systems company. It was done under a promotional agreement that required them to be returned to the company after production was completed

-Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was initially supposed to have the main role, but he had made plans to star as The Scorpion King in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns. At the time, this film was listed as Untitled Sci-Fi Project. When Jet Li came in, it was retitled The One

-When Yulaw is driving around in a car he had stolen, he is fiddling with the radio, trying to find music. The 4th song he comes to is "Sinner" by Drowning Pool. When the film was released in Asia, it was changed to Linkin Park's "Forgotten"

-Jason Statham and Jet Li would appear together once again in films such as 2007's War, 2010's The Expendables, 2012's The Expendables 2 and 2014's The Expendables 3. Jet Li would play a character called Yin Yang

-Both Jet Li and Carlo Gugino had movies come out the same year before signing on to do this one. Carla Gugino starred in Spy Kids while Jet Li starred in Kiss of the Dragon

-When Delroy Lindo's gas station attendant character calls the police, after reporting violence, he describes the appearance of one of them as "a Chinese man". All he would know is that the person in question was of eastern Asian appearance. The attendant was trying to guess whether the man was Chinese or Japanese and assuming that he was Chinese, as the larger population instead of a general description

The Corruptor (1999)

This is one of my favorite films

Summary

-An Asian NYPD detective is trying to stop drug trafficking and corruption by immigrant Chinese Triads with the help of his partner, but things get difficult when the Triads attempt to bribe the policemen off the case

Cast

-Chow Yun-fat: Nick Chen

-Mark Wahlberg: Danny Wallace

-Ric Young: Henry Lee

-Paul Ben-Victor: Schabaker

-Jon Kit Lee: Jack

-Andrew Pang: Willy Ung

-Elizabeth Lindsey: Louise Deng

-Brian Cox: Sean Wallace

-Byron Mann: Bobby Vu

-Kim Chan: Benny Wong

-Marie Matiko: May

Did You Know?

-Kim Chan plays a character named "Uncle" Benny Wong in two films: this film and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

-Originally, in the scene where Det. Nick Chen (Chow Yun-fat) walked in on Henry Lee being fed grapes by May, the scene called for May to be performing oral sex on him. Chow Yun-fat stated he would not continue his relationship with May after seeing this. The scene was changed to a more friendly scene of grape feeding instead

-Originally Ethan Hawke was supposed to play the role of Danny Wallace, played by Mark Wahlberg. Unfortunately, production had ended to accommodate Chow Yun-fat's production schedule

-Initially, in the scene where Det. Nick Chen finds out Danny Wallace is working with Internal Affairs investigating him, the scene called for Chen to go into the bathroom and knock a hand dryer off the wall and smash a mirror. It was changed to Chen doing a sort of deep breathing instead because the previous idea was deemed an American response and, since Chinese culture is so heavily present in the film, deep breathing was more appropriate

Saturday, May 30, 2026

May Birthdays

It's May! Time to say Happy Birthday!

Blaze Bayley

-Birth Name: Bayley Alexander Cooke

-DOB: 5/29/1963

-Where: Birmingham, England

-He has the dates of birth and death of his wife Deborah tattooed on his arm

Yuki Tsunoda

-DOB: 5/11/2000

-Where: Samigahara, Kanagawa, Japan

-He was a reserve driver for Red Bull Racing

Tim McGraw

-Birth Name: Samuel Timothy McGraw

-DOB: 5/1/1967

-Where: Delhi, Louisiana

-"Live Like You Were Dying" was written about his father, baseball player Tug McGraw, who passed away on Jan. 5, 2004

Zhou Guanyu

-DOB: 5/30/1999

-Where: Shanghai, China

-He is considered to be the only Chinese driver competing in Formula 1

Chow Yun-fat

-DOB: 5/18/1955

-Where: Lamma Island, Hong Kong, China

-The role that was considered his "breakout" was in the 1986 film A Better Tomorrow because director John Woo said he didn't look like an action star

Mike Myers

-Birth Name: Michael John Myers

-DOB: 5/25/1963

-Where: Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

-The day he graduated from high school was the same day he was hired for the Second City comedy club. He had his last exam at 9am, his audition at noon and was hired at 3pm

Cher

-Birth Name: Cheryl Sarkisian

-DOB: 5/20/1946

-Where: El Centro, California

-Her role as Loretta in the 1987 film Moonstruck was offered to actress Sally Field originally, but she turned it down

Eric Singer

-Birth Name: Eric Doyle Mensinger

-DOB: 5/12/1958

-Where: Cleveland, Ohio

-He has played drums for many musicians, including Black Sabbath, Lita Ford and Alice Cooper

Phil Campbell

-Birth Name: Philip Anthony Campbell

-DOB: 5/7/1961

-Where: Pontypridd, Wales, United Kingdom

-DOD: 3/13/2026

-Where: Pontypridd, Wales, United Kingdom

-He played guitar with Motorhead from 1984 until 2015, when bassist / vocalist Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister passed away

Mike Dirnt

-Birth Name: Michael Ryan Pritchard

-DOB: 5/4/1972

-Where: Berkeley, California

-He's the co-founder, bassist, backing / occasional lead vocalist of punk rock band Green Day

Pierce Brosnan

-Birth Name: Pierce Brendan Brosnan

-DOB: 5/16/1953

-Where: Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland

-He has a scar on the right side of his face, above his top lip. He got it from getting hit by a stunt man on the set of 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies

Adele

-Birth Name: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins

-DOB: 5/5/1988

-Where: Tottenham, London, England

-Her song "Skyfall" was sung in a deeper voice because of her being pregnant at the time. Her hormones made her voice deeper

Billy Joel

-Birth Name: William Martin Joel

-DOB: 5/9/1949

-Where: The Bronx, New York

-His nickname is "The Piano Man"

Rami Malek

-Birth Name: Rami Said Malek

-DOB: 5/12/1981

-Where: Los Angeles, California

-He is the only the second American-born actor to play a villain in a James Bond film after Robert Davi, who starred in the 1989 film License to Kill

Clint Eastwood

-Birth Name: Clinton Eastwood Jr

-DOB: 5/31/1930

-Where: San Francisco, California

-He was offered the role of James Bond for the 1973 film Live and Let Die. He was flattered by it, but felt that the role should go to an English actor. It did. It went to Roger Moore

George Clooney

-Birth Name: George Timothy Clooney

-DOB: 5/6/1961

-Where: Lexington, Kentucky

-His mother Nina was a beauty pageant queen while his father Nick was a news anchorman and television host, also brother of legendary singer Rosemary Clooney