Chong Bing Quo Chronicle

Bing Bing! Those were the words that were lingering in my ears on my plane ride back from Shanghai’s Pudong  International Airport. It was a chosen name given to me by the Hong Kong crew while shooting the tv-mini series “The White Crane Chronicles” at the World Movie Studios in Hengdian, China. Cutting to the chase my character’s name in this show is Chong Bing Quo also known as Bingo.

This project was a unique one for me as I have never worked with such an international crew from Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Canada and the U.S. What was even more special was finding out I was going to be working opposite the Legendary Kwai Chang from the iconic tv show “Kung Fu” and 2 time Golden Globe nominee David Carradine and Darryl Hannah (Splash, Wall Street & Steel Magnolias). Ironically, these two worked on Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.

At first it was bitter sweet, to find out that I will be in the middle of nowhere in China for 2 whole months away from my wife and Playstation. I have heard about the horror stories while working in Hengdian, China. Mainly, about the conditions, accommodations and the food. On the flipside of things, it’s always a blessing to work on any project on location.  I can first remember arriving at Pudong International and meeting my driver who would take me on a 5 hour drive into a this unknown land called Hengdian. After the speedy bumpy ride we finally approached this small town, it was night fall, dim street lamps, very quiet and no McDonald’s nor Starbucks. I knew that I was going to be doomed. Although, I did have prior living experience in China  such as Shanxi, Shaoxing, Sichuan, Laoning, Maotai Shandong and Beijing while hosting  “Get Drunk In China” So it couldn’t be that bad. As you can tell, I was creating my own fear before the big party was to start and that… was the shoot.

I was greeted by our Production Manager Christine from L.A. who is not Chinese and speaks Mandarin as a Beijinger. Very impressive. I can recall her screaming for the “fuyen” to bring me a spare key that it startled the other guests who then opened their doors to see what was going on. Since I was one of the first cast members to arrive I had choice of the better rooms in our Villa. Awesome!  The other cast member was a young chap from Vancouver, Osric Chau a Wu-Shu Champion who I took under my wing as my Young Jedi. I can recall the times when I was the young actor and asking questions and listening to the veteran thespians about their life experiences in the business. Wow! How times have zipped past me.

Weeks before my arrival, our director Phillip Spink sent me an email to write a bio on my character Bingo in which we would sit down and go over it.  In fact, he asked this from all the actors. I have to admit I felt pressured by this task as I like to keep my character private. In the end, it was a fun meeting of creative collaboration. He loved the idea I modeled Bingo’s character after the late-great Gary Cooper who was in the all time classic “The Virginian.” I felt since Bingo is this big time Shanghai club owner who knew everyone’s business and got everyone’s business because he was well liked. Bingo would have this other side of being a wanna-be rough and tumble cowboy from Shanghai.

A strong silent type who would appeal to all women from the Far East and as far as the West. I saw him as a man with dreams of moving to Hollywood to someday run a posh club and having patrons such as his hero Gary Cooper and one day getting married to a Hollywood starlet.

 I accepted the fact that this place was going to be home for the next 2 months, therefore, I bought myself a bicycle so I can tour the town at least 5 times over in less than 2 hours and for fetching my food. I have to say that the food wasn’t bad. There were two western eateries that served the infamous Blue Mountain coffee and a Taiwanese fast food place that served the not so-bad xiao long bao. The restaurants were better than I thought. In Hengdian, it seems like the locals eat lots of veggies such as the eggplant  that can be cooked 101 ways literally while  pork and chicken were the staple meats. The western eatery Bonnie Coffee would serve beef steaks but I got a bit suspicious when I was eating that dish and looked out the window and saw a water buffalo being herded off the street. Hmm?

During my first 3 days, it was wardrobe fitting, make-up tests, horseback riding and fight choreography training. My favorite was riding horseback western saddleback style but now when I think of it I got chaffed on my rear from my saddle. I couldn’t sit down for a few days and still had to horse train. Luckily, the Wardrobe Department who custom made my suits also made me special boxers fitted with leather to “protect my ass.” Whew! I also loved the fight training until I realized the stunt girls were far more agile and flexible than I. What to expect? Man’s ego taking the helm. In fact, all the stunt team were the best in China who worked on projects such as Hero. I always knew stunt people have a few loose screws in their heads to accomplish their amazing feats for example the wire work on high rocky cliffs to another. Anyway, these are the folks that can make you look good when needed.

Here is the exciting part. The day David Carradine arrived in Hengdian.

We had a small get together at Bonnie Coffee. I wasn’t sure what to expect of him aside from me watching him on tv as I was growing up. This was the start of a fun working relationship. David is a living legend in my mind. Not only is he is an actor, he is musician, painter, writer, director, husband and a father. This is a man who loves to tell stories and talk about his life in Hollywood, the ups and downs. We often spoke of the rough periods in his personal life and career or shall I say I listened most of the time. Its dawning on me that I coming back into full circle as being that young actor that I was some time ago…

The two quotes that I remember from Carradine are: “If you can’t be a poet… then be a poem” and the other was about auditioning because he said he hated the audition process. Personally I love the audition process.  “You might as well have fun in the audition as that might be the last time you perform that role”

I can go on and on about my conversation with Mr. Kill Bill but I know if I did it this would turn into a novel, after all this was 2 months of working together. Although, I can say working with an actor like him you can learn a few tricks of the trade which is always worth it.

There were a lot of things I walked away with from working on this project. Friendship, especially with several local actors from Singapore who also worked on “The White Crane Chronicles.” We all became one big family (Osric, Rosalyn, Anya Wu, Yu Beng, Christian Lee and Kay Tong) during the 2 month shoot and the best part was dinner time on and off the set. The Producers: Robet Halmi Sr., Matthew O'Connor & Shan Tam (She kept everybody's spirits up because she is high-spirited), Iris, Jo, Sunny, Joyce, Xiao Le and the rest of the WC Team are great to work with. Casting by the awesome - Poping AuYeung :-). That will be a forever memory as Hengdian finally became a home for all of us. 

Oh, I cannot forget to mention getting HOTTIE HANDLED by the gorgeous Li- Tong during one our scenes.

Sincerely,

Jimmy T