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| At The Ballet | A Star Is Born | A Star is Reborn | A Tiger Tames The World | The Price of Fame | Vital Statistics | The Latest News | The Price Of Fame As any cook will tell you, you can't make an omlet without breaking a few eggs. And if you intend to do all or at least MOST of your own stunts in action films, you've got to expect a few bumps and bruises along the way. Given the career she's had to date, you can imagine the injuries both received and avoided, during Miss Yeoh's many films. Keep in mind first though, she was trained in the ballet. For those who aren't really familiar with that sort of life, it is one where pain is part of the everyday experience. On stage, in film, they would never betray the hurt they feel. That old saying, "the show must go on" is more than just a clever cliche. For anyone who's ever been in the live, performing arts, it's a way of life. I could, at this time, digress into stories from my own past, my own days both on stage and off but you're not hear to read about me. You're here to read about Miss Yeoh. I can tell you this though, from my own, personal experience, athletes are wimps compared to the endurance of dancers. I've known many in my life and I have always admired their ability not only to perform with pain, but to perform flawlessly and with no outward signs. Remember also that it was an injury that was the initial catalyst for her career. The back injury she suffered in college set her on a path much different from what she expected. Looking at her work now, one can only mourn the loss to the world of dance and yes, to quote another cliche, their loss is most certainly our gain.
She got off to an early start with a dislocated shoulder in 1986 and suffered some burns while shooting Royal Warriors. During the filming of Magnificent Warriors, a miscalculated kick during a fight scene hit her with such force that an artery in her leg ruptured.
At the beginning of the year, while shooting the final action sequence in the film Holy Weapon, she re-injured her spine. And if you saw the rather gruesome death she had in The Executioners, let it be know that she wasn't entirely acting. The scene itself is rather brutal and the main reason why I'm not very fond of the film. I always figured her character deserved a more dignified death, but there I go again, wandering off subject. In her final moments, her character, badly beaten and battered, is lifted over the head of the main villain (who doesn't suffer ENOUGH if you ask me). It's a simple move, probably one she'd done hundreds of times during her days at the ballet and in other films. This time, however, something went terribly wrong. The actor lifting her in the air accidentally pressed against her injured spine setting off some minor convulsions and even causing her to vomit. Such is the price paid in the name of the arts. Wing Chun offered two more notable injuries. She dislocated her elbow during the filming of one fight scene and later, fell from a horse resulting in yet another aggrivation of her already injured spine.
Of course, like the rest of us, she sufferes the occasional injury all on her own, without any help from a rigorous shooting schedule or choreographed fights. In 1994 while on an Alpine skiing holiday, she tore ligaments in her right knee so severe it required surgery. From that she still has a screw to keep things in place. She later received a matching one in her left knee while filming Crouching Tiger. Ironically her worst injury came while filming the story of a stunt woman -- Ah Kam. During a rather routine stunt, Miss Yeoh fell 18 feet, landing in a poor position that almost cost her her life. Instead, she sustained some deep muscle bruising and a cracked rib but the injuries were severe enough to keep her in the hospital for three weeks.
A professional to the end, it is a shame there aren't more like her in the film industry, which makes her almost heroic acts sparkle all the more. |
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In
order to better understand the sort of things going on during the
filming a fight scene, I suggest a good start would be any of the
numerous blooper reels at the end of Jackie Chan's films. You can
see there, clearly, how tightly choreographed the scenes are, both
the fights and the stunts, and you can see how often even the most
carefully planned events can go wrong. I remember the first film of
Miss Yeoh's that I ever saw, Supercop. She jumps a dirt bike off a
grassy ramp onto a moving train. In the film, it looks spectacular
but as we see during the credits, she took more than one attempt to
get that right. That same reel also shows how, when falling off the
back of a moving truck (planned) she also fell off the edge of the
car Jackie Chan was driving in the chase scene (unplanned). It's tough
work and seeing the things that can go wrong should make one appreciate
things when they go right.
I'm
not intimately knowledgable of all the injuries Miss Yeoh has sustained
during the course of her career. I know they are many, painful, and
that through it all she's been nothing short of a trooper -- her dancer's
spirit shining through in all it's glory. I do, however, know of those
mentioned on other sites or that she's talked about in interviews
and I will tell you about them here.
1993
was an especially difficult year. Remember, she'd shot MANY films
that year, many action scenes, many stunts and so it stands to reason
that she'd suffer more damage. Being the strong woman that she is,
with overlapping shooting schedules and little time to recover, she
persevered through it all even when prudance would dictate rest.
It
was the filming of Wonder Seven that really shows just how
persistant and devoted to her craft Miss Yeoh is (or how crazy she
is in persuit of making films, it's a matter of perspective). When
she returned to Hong Kong after filming Wing Chun, Ching Sin-Tung
was waiting for her to film Wonder Seven. She didn't want to
upset the shooting schedule, knowing how difficult it is to being
with and so she went right to work. Once again she injured her spine,
this time jumping into water. The doctor she saw was actually surprised
she was even able to stand given her pre-existing injuries and the
accompanying pain. She was finally ordered to stay in the hospital
for a week.
Which
brings us, at last, to her most recently released film, the Oscar
winning Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. As previously mentioned she
injured her left knee but she also suffered the types of injuries
only a perfectionist could stand. One scene originally written in
the film called for her to run DOWN a wall (assisted with cables of
course). And so they tried, repeatedly, but the physics of the shoot
simply weren't possible. Time and again she fell against that wall
and time and again she got right back up and wanted another shot at
it. In the end, it was re-written but everyone on staff agreed she
would have kept trying it until it was done had they asked.
