Kung Fu Hustle Wins Big

At 42^nd Golden Horse Awards

By Rich Drees 

Actor/Director Stephen Chow on the set of Kung Fu Hustle.

     November 14, 2005- Kung Fu Hustle, the action-comedy from Hong Kong director/comedian Stephen Chow about gangsters who mistakenly try to take over a poor neighborhood teeming with martial arts masters, swept this year’s Golden Horse Awards, capturing five awards including the statues for Best Director and Best Film at the ceremony held in Keelung, Taiwan this Sunday evening.

     The Golden Horse awards are considered the Chinese-language film industry’s version of the Academy Awards and are awarded during the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.

     The Taiwanese film Three Times nabbed three awards- Best Actress for star Shu Qi, Best Taiwanese film and Best Taiwanese Film Professional for director Hou Hsiao-hsien. Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou won for Best New Performer for his appearance as a race car driver in the crime thriller Initial D, while his castmate Anthony Wong won the Best Supporting Actor award. Hong Kong actor Aaron Kwok took home the Best Actor award for Divergence in which he played a troubled policeman obsessed with his missing wife.

     Kung Fu Hustle’s Yuen Qui won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a shrewish landlord hiding from her past as a legendary kung fu master. Qui had retired from acting after starring in several martial arts films during the 1970s and early 80s, but returned to star in Hustle at Chow’s insistence. Hustle also won the awards for Best Make Up and Costume Design and Best Visual Effects. Kung Fu Hustle is currently the highest grossing local film in Hong King box-office history, having shattered the record held by director Chow’s previous film Shaolin Soccer.

     Surprisingly, though nominated in 11 categories, the thriller Election, from Last Year’s Golden Horse Best Director winner Johnnie To, failed to win in any of the major awards, only taking home trophies for Best Sound Effects and Best Original Screenplay.

     Other winners at the awards include Lee Cin-cin for Best Original Score for the film Blue Cha-cha and James Ho who won for Best Original Song. Ke Hsiang-ting was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his six decade career as an actor.

     The complete list of winners is as follows-

·          Best Feature Film- Kung Fu Hustle, dir. Stephen Chow

·          Best Director- Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle

·          Best Leading Actor- Aaron Kwok, Divergence

·          Best Leading Actress- Shu Qi, Three Times

·          Best Supporting Actor- Anthony Wong, Initial D

·          Best Supporting Actress- Yuen Qiu, Kung Fu Hustle

·          Best New Performer- Jay Chou, Initial D

·          Best Original Screenplay- Election, Yau Nai-hoi & Yip Tin-shing

·          Best Screenplay Adaption- A World Without Thieves, Feng Xiaogang, Wang Gang, Lin Lisheng & Zhang Jialu

·          Best Cinematography- Divergence, Anthony Pun

·          Best Film Editing- Divergence, Yau Chu-wai

·          Best Sound Effects- Election, May Mok & Charlie Lo

·          Best Art Direction- The Shoe Fairy, Wang Yi-fei

·          Best Make-up & Costume Design- Kung Fu Hustle, Shirley Chan

·          Best Action Choreography- Seven Swords, Lau Kar-leung, Stephen Tung & Xiong Xinxin

·          Best Visual Effects- Kung Fu Hustle, Frankie Chung, Don Ma, Tam Kai-kwan & Franco Hung

·          Best Original Film Score- Blue Cha-Cha, Cin Cin Lee

·          Best Original Film Song- Jump! Boys, James Ho

·          Best Documentary- Jump! Boys, dir. Lin Yu-hsien

·          Best Short Film- How's Life, dir. Yao Chih-wei

·          Best Animation- Fire Ball, dir. Wang Toon

·          Audience Award- Saving Face, dir. Alice Wu

·          Best Taiwan Film of the Year- Three Times, dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien

·          Taiwan Film Professional of the Year- Hou Hsiao-hsien

·          Lifetime Achievement Award- Hsiang-ting

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