Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast

By Ben Johnson

Exclusive, in-depth interviews with actors, stunt performers, directors, choreographers and writers discussing their careers and passion for martial arts cinema. Hosted by Ben Johnson, the creator of ... more

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How many episodes does Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 108 episodes available.

Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast episodes:

October 17, 2016 Episode 08 - Cengiz Dervis
British actor and former world kickboxing champion Cengiz Dervis is my guest on this episode of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast. This interview took place in the same week Cengiz discovered that he had landed a large role in a new 10-part TV series produced by Marvel's Avengers star Jeremy Renner and The History Channel called Knightfall. Since retiring from the ring, Cengiz has worked behind-the-scenes as a fighting coach, training the likes of Natalie Imbruglia and Rowan Atkinson for the Johnny English films, and also Rosamund Pike for the James Bond film, Die Another Day. He also runs his own production company, Fight Me Productions, for which he writes, directs and produces his own projects.Cengiz was taught martial arts by his uncle from the age of five. He continues to train six times a week, even mastering the legendary Iron Palm (or 'dim mak') technique. Cengiz discusses how a troublesome upbringing in a rough part of London forced him to develop his self-defense skills, and how he channels the same commitment he displayed in the ring into his acting work. Cengiz has worked with Scott Adkins and Joey Ansah on Green Street 3: Never Back Down, and Ansah's subsequent work with Alain Moussi in the Street Fighter: Resurrection TV mini-series. We are predicting great things for Cengiz, so be sure to keep up to date with all his latest news via his website, cengizdervis.com. Big thanks to George Dennis for his continuing technical support. Also, a quick warning: there is a bit of bad language on this one.
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57min
October 03, 2016 Episode 07 - Don Niam
We have one of action cinema's most beloved baddies on the show today: it's the one and only Stingray from the low-budget 1994 Godfrey Ho head-kicker Undefeatable, played by all-round super nice guy Don Niam. Don talks about his experience making the film which has now become a cult classic, not to mention a viral YouTube sensation. The final fight scene between Don and John Miller has been viewed over 11 million times. On this podcast, he talks about what it was like working with the film's co-star, Cynthia Rothrock, and the prolific Hong Kong exploitation filmmaker Godfrey Ho, as well as living with future Mortal Kombat star Robin Shou. He is also still trying to figure out why so many people like the film, and even stop him in the street to tell him.We discuss the highs and lows of Don's journey from teaching kung fu in Akron, Ohio, to relocating to Hollywood in a bid to make it as an actor. Don has led a colourful life and worked in numerous professions including owning a strip club and working as a bodyguard for a Saudi princess. Now 62, he lives in Las Vegas where he works as a personal trainer. He is also teaching kung fu again and working on a treatment for a new film project, so we may see Don Niam on our screens again. Keep up to date with Don Niam by visiting his website, donniam.com.
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1h 3min
September 05, 2016 Episode 06 - Richard Geddes
We are discussing Asian cinema with film expert Richard Geddes on this episode of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast. Richard works for the independent UK DVD label Terracotta Distribution, which was borne out of the Terracotta Far East Film Festival, launched in 2008. Through the film festival and its associated on-demand and DVD service, Terracotta aims to promote and distribute the latest titles from the various territories across the Far East, including countries like China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and more. In 2014, Richard helped to launch a dedicated 'old school' martial arts imprint, called the Classic Kung Fu Collection. Five titles have now been released on the label, including the Chang Cheh films Shanghai 13 (1984) and The Nine Demons (1984), Godfrey Ho's The Dragon's Snake Fist (1981), Chen Ming-hua's The King of Fists and Dollars (1979), and William Cheung Kei's Hero of Shaolin (1984).During our chat, we talk about the difficulties facing independent DVD labels in the modern age, where online streaming services and torrent sites have had a huge effect on the sales of physical media. We also share our mutual respect and affection for the Eastern Heroes video label, run by kung fu film enthusiasts Ricky Baker and Toby Russell (who was our guest on the first episode of the KFMG Podcast). We also discuss the rise of the Chinese film industry, which is set to overtake the US as the world's largest movie market by 2017. Terracotta Distribution also run a number of imprints including an indie label called Sharp Teeth Films and the Asian horror label, Terror Cotta.
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52min
August 22, 2016 Episode 05 - Fighting Spirit Film Festival 2016
Here's something a little bit different from our usual podcast format, as I sit and talk to some of the best emerging talent on the UK martial arts movie scene, courtesy of the first Fighting Spirit Film Festival. The inaugural event took place on 16 July 2016 at The O2 Cineworld, London, and included a selection of UK martial arts shorts and mini-documentaries highlighting some of the country's best up-and-coming talent.On this podcast, you will hear from the co-founder of the Fighting Spirit Film Festival, Soo Cole, who discusses her passion for martial arts movies (which started after watching The Karate Kid) and also her motivation in launching the festival. I then have a few quick conversations with the following people: Chris Chung, the director of the award-winning short film Handuken; the stars of the short film The Real Target, Yolanda Lynes and David Cheung; the director of the visually stunning Tengu – Birdmen of the Mountains, Samuel Smith; and the UK action star Daniel O'Neill. Daniel has just returned to the UK after working for 17 years in Hong Kong and Thailand, where he has worked with the likes of Scott Adkins, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa. If you like what you hear, then be sure to go online and check out their work. Many of these great filmmakers and actors will be working on feature-length projects over the coming months, and we will make sure to keep you posted on all of their progress.
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1h 13min
August 08, 2016 Episode 04 - Leo Au Yeung
We have Ip Man fight choreographer and kung fu expert Leo Au Yeung on the show today. Leo is a Hong Kong-born Wing Chun expert who teaches in London. From an early age, he was taught the close-combat Wing Chun style by Ip Chun - the son of legendary kung fu master, Ip Man, who would go on to teach a young Bruce Lee. We talk about Ip Chun's teaching methods as well as his now iconic father. In 2008, Leo was asked to be involved in a film which would depict the early life of Ip Man. The subsequent movie, Ip Man, starred Donnie Yen in the lead role with action supervised by Sammo Hung and was a huge international hit.In 2010, Leo was asked to be involved in another Ip Man movie, The Legend is Born: Ip Man, a prequel to the original 2008 film. Ip Chun appears in the film as Leung Bik - Ip Man's master - and features in a Wing Chun sequence choreographed by Leo. Leo also choreographed and appeared in the 2013 film, Ip Man: The Final Fight, with Anthony Wong in the title role. With so many Ip Man movies, Leo and I have a discussion about how he feels the films portray not just the man, but also the style he practiced.
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53min
July 25, 2016 Episode 03 - Meredith Lewis
For episode three of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast, I have a nice chat with the Australian blogger Meredith Lewis, who runs the rather excellent kung fu movie blog, Dangerous Meredith's Fu Thoughts. I spent time with Meredith over Google Hangouts just before a talk she was doing at a Melbourne festival on the topic of Monkey - the popular Japanese TV show from the 1970s, known to international audiences as Monkey Magic. She afforded me a bit of time during her research to talk about the show's origins, which is based on a 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West, and tells the story of the mythological figure Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King.There are many films, animations and stories featuring the Monkey King, and countless variations on the Journey to the West story, and we discuss some of our favourite adaptions in this podcast. Meredith is also an ex-dancer and choreographer, so we discuss our favourite action directors and performers - people like Yuen Woo-ping and Lau Kar-leung, who as well as being martial arts masters, were also able to capture great sequences of intricate movement, much like a musical or dance number. We also discuss the role of women in martial arts films, particularly in wuxia literature and cinema, and we look at why we have both turned to blogging as a way of sharing our mutual passion for the genre.
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56min
July 11, 2016 Episode 02 - Mike Fury
Mike Fury is an author, journalist, choreographer and action movie expert. He is also a great guest to have on the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast. He is the author of Life of Action, a must-have publication for any fan of action movies, featuring interviews with key industry people like the actors Dolph Lundgren, Donnie Yen, Andy Lau and Cynthia Rothrock, and filmmakers like Tsui Hark, J.J. Perry, and the team behind John Wick, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. It's a really good book and you should get a copy right now from Mike's website, www.mikefury.net.Mike talks to us about the possibility of turning Life of Action into a documentary, something which sounds incredibly exciting. We also discuss his key influences growing up, from Van Damme to Mortal Kombat. We learn about the tricks of the trade in the world of fight choreography following Mike's experiences working on a number of productions, and also delve into his reluctant acting experiences, our mutual love for Scott Adkins, our mutual confusion over the Street Fighter film, and his all-time favourite fight scenes.
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53min
June 27, 2016 Episode 01 - Toby Russell
It was awesome to meet with the great Toby Russell for the very first episode of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast, as Toby is pretty much the perfect guest to have on our debut show. A writer, director, actor and producer, Toby is the son of legendary British filmmaker Ken Russell and is probably the most knowledgeable person in the world on the subject of kung fu movies. We talk to Toby about his first experiences on a movie set - working with The Who on his father's film, 'Tommy' (1975) - and discuss Ken Russell's attempts to make his own kung fu movie. We discuss his youth in London, during which he convinced Sebastian Faulks to take his class to watch 'Snuff Bottle Connection', being told off by Tsui Hark, hanging out with Jackie Chan, and why ninja star Alexander Lo thinks kung fu movies are stupid. We also try and work out whether his new film, 'White Tiger' (aka 'Death Fighter'), will ever be released.

LINKS
Toby Russell on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0751481/
Eastern Heroes shop: https://easternheroes.com/
Eastern Heroes on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EasternHeroes/
'Snuff Bottle Connection' review on Kung Fu Movie Guide: https://kungfumovieguide.com/snuff-bottle-connection/

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1h 12min

FAQs about Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast:

How many episodes does Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 108 episodes available.

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