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How British-Chinese filmmaker Chee Keong Cheung aims to build the Blumhouse of action

Inspired by John Woo and Chow Yun-fat, Chee Keong Cheung talks about his Action Xtreme studio and upcoming film Bad Day at the Office

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Filmmaker Chee Keong Cheung on the set of one of his films. Cheung founded the UK’s first action-oriented film studio, Action Xtreme, while his new feature, Bad Day at the Office, will have its world premiere on August 13 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
James Mottram

For Chee Keong Cheung, a cinematic education came not from the local cinemas of his native Lancaster in England’s northwest, but from the neon-lit streets of Hong Kong.

“I was probably a bit young to be watching them, but the John Woo films were a big inspiration. The Killer, A Better Tomorrow … had a real effect on me,” he tells the South China Morning Post over a video call.
Films from the so-called “Heroic Bloodshed” era of Hong Kong action cinema, of which Woo was a key figure, lit a fire in Cheung. The filmmaker often dresses in a black suit, white shirt and tie, just like one of Woo’s assassins. He remains a fan of the director and film star Chow Yun-fat.

“What I was really drawn to was just the style and how cool these films were, but also … this level of nobility. There’s this code that these characters live by … and they are also characters at a crossroads. It wasn’t just action, action, action. With my background, being British-Chinese and growing up in the UK, seeing the two perspectives … that shaped my thought process.”

A still from Chee Keong Cheung’s zombie-action film Redcon-1 (2018).
A still from Chee Keong Cheung’s zombie-action film Redcon-1 (2018).

In his youth, Cheung roped in his friends to make short films – thrillers, heist films – often using his parents’ restaurant as a location.

“As a child, I tried but I didn’t necessarily get the best grades,” he says. “I was not top [of] my class. With film, it was a creative outlet.”

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