Hey folks, Harry here... Some of you may remember my reports from China earlier this year and the stories from the set of KILL BILL. Well, the crew has long left these locations to set up shop in Los Angeles, Barstow and Mexico later this year, however some of the long standing sets from the BEIJING FILM STUDIOS remain, though no longer dressed quite the way they were when David Carradine was whupping the ass of Michael Jai White and his cadre of future gushing cadavers.
On my trip, I described the Production card that was in the windshield of whatever bus, car, van... no matter the vehicle, it had the following sign...
Next, here is the sign symbolizing the locale for the spilling of much blood, sweat and even tears over the course of training to fight in KILL BILL. Uma, Chiba, David, Michael, Master Yuen and his fight team, Lucy, Hanna... You know them... and they know what this sign means... it means a shudder down their spine at the agony about to be endured, the lessons to be taught and the meaning of commitment in filmmaking.
Right when you enter the gates of the Beijing Film Studios backlot, you'll see this next photo. This was a location left unused (at least while I was on set) CORRECTION!!! This is actually the reverse... sorry with all the set dressing gone, it is very confusing. That doorway on the far right side, that's where Uma watches the whole fight from. Right where all that debris in the foreground is... that was covered in bodies and gore.
Around another 20-40 feet after you pass the above picture, you'd find this striking location. Again... this was not used in the film. However, on the days I was on this set, there were fruits and vegetables of all sorts on the sides of the street. There would be men with carts loaded with bamboo and whatnot that were 'background' performers. Life was very bustling in these two unused areas.
Ok, in the below shot, we're very close to where the action began. As the shot began, David Carradine (BILL) and Uma Thurman (THE BRIDE) round that corner where I've placed the number '1'. That is also the same spot where the chinese gentleman dropped a number of watermelons on numerous takes when he doubletakes in regards to the fight he sees before him. On all following pics, that location is continued to be labeled '1'!
Ok, well ignore the '1' in this next pic, because I was obviously on crack when I labeled the following picture. HOWEVER, a little to the left of that '1' is where BILL and THE BRIDE part, so he can take care of the bastards he plans on taking care of. '2' is where the first bad guy get the knife to the forehead! Absolutely killer first hit!
OK... now this next shot is the actual mastershot to give you a fair look at the location. I just wish that Reint had shot a reverse aiming back from that farthest number 3., so you could get the other angle at this location. However, we don't have that shot. Once again #1 represents the spot where... on one day maybe a dozen or so watermelons broke apart. I believe that stain is still the stain of watermelons. The whole set was filled with the fragrant odor of watermelon... mmmmm.... watermelon....
#2. is where BILL stands and fights the first 3 bad guys that come up to him. #4 is where THE BRIDE goes to watch the fight... Lastly - That far #3 is where Michael Jai White stood and watched it all... that is also where he dies.. NOW... what was different on the day of shooting. First off... I hardly never saw those buildings or that tree. Across the rooftops were long bamboo branches on the top of which were layered these loose woven basket top - like things that provided shadow and atmosphere to the set. ALSO running over the top of that, ALLLLL The way to the very back of this set was silk... Just gobs of silk, bundles of silk, more silk than on Normandy it felt like. I mean, just lots of worm hours ya know? On the sides of the street were booths with wares for sale. Spices, peppers, mushrooms, fruits, goards, nuts, seeds... all sorts of things. Very cool set.
If you missed those reports from earlier this year, here they are: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6 and finally Chapter 7! And now for the report on the location for KILL BILL as it is now in China. After the magic and the circus of film production has picked up its wares. Enjoy...
“Supér Cool Man Chu, a visit to the Beijing Film Studios and set of “Kill Bill””
I was on holiday in Beijing and decided to try and visit the set of “Kill Bill”. So me, my mom, my dad and my brother took a cab to the Beijing Film Studios. From the outside, it sort of looks like a military complex: a large, communist-style gate with guards on either side. We weren’t sure if the studio was even open to the public. But to one side of the gate was a small ticket office and we bought four tickets, having no idea what we were in for.
It turned out to be a sort of poor man’s Universal Studios, where we treated to several weird and amusing attractions, including:
- A blue-screen magic carpet ride over Beijing, which didn’t really work when I did it ‘cause I was wearing blue jeans, so I ended up having no legs.
- A sound-effects demonstration: a Chinese girl explained how sounds were made for films. She had a wind machine, a big piece of board to simulate thunder and those things you use to declog your toilet were used as footsteps or horse-trampling. She then used all of her soundmaking tools to create sound for a piece of film they played with the sound turned of. This was really weird, because the film they showed was a famous Dutch slasher flick starring a very well known Dutch actress. Very strange to see something from your own country halfway around the world, where you least expect it.
- A shooting gallery: we were all given plastic Uzis and had to go into a large cave, full of narrow passages and spiraling staircases; it was something right out of ”Temple Of Doom”, if “TOD” had been made by Troma. We were supposed to shoot at some targets, but I never really saw any, so I just ended up wandering around the cave for 10 minutes.
All the while, I was asking our guide when we could see the set of “Kill Bill”, and he kept saying “Next, next”. So when we finally arrived at the actual backlot, I was very happy. But as it turned out, there were more attractions in store for us:
- Flying on wire, all “Crouching Tiger”-style:
On the set that was used for Ang Lee’s “CTHD”, I was put in a rig and ‘flown’ alongside a piece of the “Great Wall”. They even gave me a big wooden sword to hold. I felt just like Chow Yun-Fat.
- Little girls doing acrobatics:
Very impressive. One of them balanced a small coffeetable on one toe!
And then, finally, we arrived at the part of the backlot that was used for “Kill Bill”, the street where David Carradine gives Michael Jai White a royal ass-whupping, also the place where Harry got MJW’s blood all over him. I took some pictures. On some of them, you can see tall buildings behind the set. These are occupied by people who work for the studio, so you can imagine that the whole studio complex is huge.
The set probably doesn’t look as cool as when Harry visited it, because then it was all dressed up, now it looks kinda drab. But still, you get an idea of what it looks like. Harry, you can probably explain more precisely what was shot here and where exactly, and what it looked like when you were there.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see the cool sets inside, including Sonny Chiba’s sushi place and The House Of Blue Leaves, because these had been cleared out already (shooting had wrapped there about a month before). I did get to take some cool print-outs that were hanging behind the windows of the production office that say “Kill Bill Film Crew” in English and Chinese (actually, in Chinese, it only says Kill Bill, otherwise there’d be too many characters), a really cool print that was hanging across from the office, pointing towards the crew restaurant AND one that pointed towards the “KILL BILL TRAINING CENTRE”!!! The Shrine Of Master Yuen Woo-Ping, and possibly Sonny Chiba! Too cool for school! I included a scan of this one as well. And I also got a cool laminated card that was used by crew members to put behind the windshield of their cars on the parking lot: “SUPÉR COOL MAN CHU” (see scan). The four Chinese characters at the top (the ones in orange) mean “KILL BILL”. The first two mean “kill”, the second two “Bill”. Here’s hoping Quentin uses these for the title sequence, showing us the title in Chinese as well as English, just like a cool Hong Kong flick!
Hope you enjoyed my report and the pictures, ‘til next time. Greetings from Amsterdam,
Reint Schölvinck
