Hong Kong's New Action Vanguard: JuJu Chan Szeto
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“I broke a lot of things at home when I was a kid,” JuJu Chan Szeto remembers, laughing. But such is the reality of a hyperactive child trying to emulate moves Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan would jump-kick on to screen – only Chan Szeto is careening from dining table to coffee table and back again. Enrolment into the martial arts became her parents’ solution, and Chan Szeto, no surprise, excelled.

Despite her podium-championing expertise, it wasn’t until a director’s advice – to throw everything away and focus on martial arts – did Chan Szeto realise this action-star path was one that was right for her. And that director, of course, was Antony Szeto, the man who would become her husband.

From starring in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny alongside Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen to Netflix’s Wu Assassins to its sequel, Fistful of Vengeance, released earlier this year, Chan Szeto, who’s been kicking, screaming and doing her own fight scenes on screens near you, is also currently working on her directorial debut.


How did you discover a talent for stunt-work?

Let me first say, I’ve only done stunts for my own characters. I have never done stunts for or doubled someone else. So I don’t consider myself a stuntwoman. I think professional stunt people are amazing and are very under-appreciated by the wider audience. Having said that, I do my own fights. Though I had done martial arts (judo, karate and Chinese kung fu) from when I was 10, it was more a hobby for me, like ballet and swimming. But when I decided to pursue a career in action I began training every day, up to eight hours at a time. Knowing the importance of aesthetics in action films, kicking always looked cool in movies, so I started focusing in taekwondo. I received my black belt in under two years and from there I got selected into the Hong Kong ITF Taekwondo team where I started winning medals in international competitions. Then I went on to train, compete and win in Muay Thai championships. I think it was from there that I realised I was pretty good at it.

How did you get into stunt-work as a career?

I was always kind of a hyperactive kid when I was young. I still remember when I was watching action films with my dad at home, I’d love to copy the actors’ moves. When Jackie Chan was jumping from building to building, I would jump from dining table to coffee table – I broke a lot of things at home when I was a kid. Back then, we all knew most of the action were done by men. Even for action actresses, most of them had a stuntman to double them. So for me I’d never thought of stunt-work as a possible career. However, I was very interested in performing. From as far back as I can remember I enjoyed singing, dancing, doing martial arts and performing. But no one in my family or circle of friends had any experience in show biz, so I didn’t think seriously about getting into it until much later. Once I finished my first degree, where I majored in computer science and math, I then decided to launch myself into entertainment. I did this by enrolling into a Master’s degree in NYU Tisch’s film school, and competing in beauty pageants. This gave me the training and exposure that eventually led me back to Hong Kong to lead in a web series, and my career in entertainment began. The action side came later.

What’s the most dangerous stunt you’ve ever done?

I guess what could be considered dangerous was when I jumped two floors from a ledge and landed in boxes. I have also done a lot of wire work that had me dangling very high up, too. Action film production nowadays put safety at a very high level, so as an actress, I would not be allowed to do anything too dangerous in a film. I do my own fights, but if I were to be thrown off a very high building, crash a car or put on fire, then the production would insist on a double.

What’s one stunt you’d never try?

Anything to do with fire.

Your most memorable stunt?

I have three. In Jiu Jitsu, when I was fighting about 10 soldiers with my nunchucks – kicking, jumping and tumbling. Although you don’t see it in the film, it was a two-minute fight shot in a single, long take. I wish it wasn’t edited in the final film as I thought the original one-take was a fantastic shot.

The kitchen fight in Wu Assassins, episode three. It was also shot in one long take when I was fighting with the Jenny stunt double, Megan Hui, who’s a fantastic stuntwoman. I really loved that fight, I jumped from the slippery floor onto the high kitchen countertop, using the surrounding things to fight with my opponent, and with all its little moments.

The light-rail car fight in The Invincible Dragon. It was such a pleasure working with Max Zhang and famous Hong Kong action director, Steven Tung, putting this very huge fight together. We shot it for 10 days and even rotated the entire 1:1 light-rail train three times, while filming the fight inside. It turned out to be one of the signature fights of the film.

What’s the coolest stunt you’ve ever seen performed by someone else?

There are a couple of stunts that I always remember, both from Jackie Chan. The first is the mall fight in Police Story, when he jumped down a pole full of lights, then breaking through a glass house in a shopping mall. The other is in Project A when he fell from a clock tower, through a couple of canopies, then hitting the ground. I understand he did that stunt three time, landing on his head on one of them. Spectacular! This is the type of stunts that no one would be allowed to do nowadays.

Is there anyone that really inspire you in your line of work?

For me, my main influences were Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan. I think that’s why I do many types of martial arts. Before them, Hong Kong films were always about “Chinese kung fu” being better. But if you look at Donnie Yen, his martial arts is very mixed. Jackie Chan was more about acrobatics and comedy, which I would certainly like to explore for myself. I loved the fact that Jackie was making American films too. I was also specifically influenced by Michelle Yeoh’s career path. I love what she’s done in bringing women to the forefront of action, not so much in Chinese cinema, which has a tradition of female action stars, but for how she made it into Hollywood. Before her, Bond girls were either love interests or a nemesis. I love that she brought to screen what was in essence a female Bond from China. And she’s managed to carry on working in the industry as a woman of action! I hope that I’ll be able to do that. And of course I have to give a nod to Bruce Lee, who inspired me to pick up nunchucks as my weapon since I was a kid, and who without him probably none of us would be where we are today.

Stunt work is understandably very taxing on the body. How do you keep your body and mind well?

Probably a little too much Netflix. But watching good shows do both relax and inspire me. I also love doing long hikes. It’s one of my big pleasures, and why I love living in both in LA and HK.

Best advice you’ve received?

It was while I had a chance to work with Antony Szeto on one of his action films that he discovered I had a martial arts background (I was a lead in our first Roger Corman film), and it was him who told me to throw everything away and put my entire focus on martial arts, and the rest will work itself out. So I started upping my martial arts training, and training intensively in taekwondo, Muay Thai and weapons. From there I started competing and getting awards, and it was then that the film industry noticed me, and I started getting directors interested in me for my action skillset while also being able to act. That’s how I started getting more and more roles in action films.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to face in the industry?

I do my own fights and action in films. I have to say I am always challenged by and need to prove myself to the stunt department. I have two things counting against me. One, I’m an actor, not a stunt person. Stunt coordinators generally don’t trust actors with action. And two, of course, is me being a woman. You’d be lucky to find more than two stuntwomen in some of the biggest action films, and female stunt coordinators are extremely rare anywhere. In the end, it’s about earning the respect of the people you work with. With all the jobs I’ve worked on, by the end of the shoot I’ve ended up working very closely and well with the stunt teams.

It’s very easy to be dismissed by some people when I want to take charge of my own action, but if I don’t push them myself, they’d just put in a stuntwomen (or a small stuntman) to do an actress’s fights. And immediately, it looks generic. If you look at Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen and, of course, Bruce Lee, they all took charge of their own fights, and they all have a signature look to them. I see the need to do that for myself. I certainly hope that by doing this, other stunt teams will be more open to listening to other women when they have opinions about the action, whether it be for fighting, horse riding, driving or any other skill-related film role.

Meet Hong Kong’s New Action Vanguard’s other stunt performers and action actors here

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