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The Hong Kong stuntman reviving classic kung fu

Philip Ng, star of new movie Stuntman, reflects on Hong Kong’s golden action film era when Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan reigned – and why it’s back

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Philip Ng Wan-lung is a Hong Kong-born American actor, martial artist and action choreographer. Photo: Jocelyn Tam
On a recent sunny Kowloon afternoon, stuntman-actor Philip Ng Wan-lung is busy commuting between Hong Kong cinemas with directors and twin brothers Albert and Herbert Leung, meeting audiences fresh from screenings of their new film, Stuntman.
Philip Ng featured on the poster of the film Stuntman (2024). Photo: Edko Films
Philip Ng featured on the poster of the film Stuntman (2024). Photo: Edko Films

“I play an action actor a little bit over the hill who needs a new movie to bounce back,” says Ng. “He runs into his old mentor and this whole drama ensues.”

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Set squarely in the sets of 1980s and 90s Hong Kong action films, Stuntman is a homage to the heroes who brought the most creative, insane and often illegally shot scenes to a geocultural movement that remains distinctly “Hong Kong”.

Philip Ng portrays a former stuntman-turned-action star in Stuntman. Photo: Edko Films
Philip Ng portrays a former stuntman-turned-action star in Stuntman. Photo: Edko Films

Looking to recapture those halcyon days, Ng portrays Wai, a former stuntman turned action star who must team up with overbearing veteran stunt choreographer Sam, played by Stephen Tung Wai, himself a sifu, with a half-century of experience in the danger game.

The stunts in the film are as freewheeling and death-defying as those from back in the day – although not shot guerilla-style – and meant the stuntmen were cast to play, basically, themselves.

“I think it’s funny the directors cast me as that character, because some people say it’s like me playing an arrogant version of myself”, says Ng, following the Hung Hom screening (to which the trio’s car was driven safely and within local speed limits). “But that’s not me. I just took on blueprints of different people that I’ve met in the industry.”

Philip Ng grew up watching action films. Photo: Edko Films
Philip Ng grew up watching action films. Photo: Edko Films
And it’s an industry that’s having a bit of a renaissance. What was the city’s premier creative export in the days of Bruce Lee and the Shaw Brothers, transitioned in the early 80s to more comedic kung fu, with stars such as Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-bo and Yuen Biao. In the 90s, Jet Li was the stand-out global martial arts star and, in the 2000s, other countries made their own such movies, including Thailand’s Ong Bak (2003) and The Raid (2011) from Indonesia, with more brutal fighting.
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