Behind the scenes of Kung Spoon



		Behind the scenes of Kung Spoon
		The Kung Spoon series is easily one of my favourite Questionable Films productions. From the complete lack of plot to the surprisingly well-choreographed fights, Kung Spoon manages to represent everything I've considered important in a martial-arts spoof - lots of entertaining action sequences, some memorable catch-phrases, and some decent jokes. Let's take a closer look behind the scenes of the series.

		Origins There is no great mystery surrounding how the series came into fruition - at Westbrook new year 2005, I really wanted to make a new film. Given that the Matrix spoof series had been dead for the last two years, I decided to take the only thing I really enjoyed about that series - the fighting - and make an entire film out of it. Forget about a realistic story or a developed plot, I just wanted to make something that gave us an excuse to have kick-ass fights, and to say some funny lines along the way. There's no big story around the name of the series either - the use of spoons has become something of a running joke in QF movies, so we took 'Kung Fu' and - get this! - replaced the Fu with Spoon. Amazing! What makes the series different? One of things I really love about the Kung Spoon series is that it's fully aware of the problems that usually plague other martial-arts spoofs made by equally amateur movie-makers. For one, they ALWAYS seem to focus on awful, corny dialogue rather than fighting. Secondly, there always seems to be a joke that parodies the way most Chinese action films get awfully dubbed when shown to an English-speaking audience. Trust me, this is joke is not funny and it never was - I don't care if you think having a guy move his mouth around loads and then say one English word is the most classic joke in the world, it really isn't. And finally (and this is the kicker) most martial-arts spoofs have terrible, embarrassingly-choreographed fights in them. With the exception of the very first fight in both Kung Spoon 1 and 2, I'm pretty proud of how the Kung Spoon series has dealt with fights - they're fast, they're entertaining, and there's a fair deal of danger involved. I'm not saying people need to break bones or anything when filming a fight scene, but you've got to throw proper punches and kicks at each other or the whole thing just looks like a big staged play-fight. I mean yeah, that's essentially what it is, but the audience doesn't have to know that!

		Injuries and out-takes We actually managed to avoid many injuries in KS2 and KS:BA, which is probably a good thing seeing as how I almost broke my neck during KS1. Basically, in the scene where Alex and myself 'double team' outside, the original idea was that Alex and me would link arms and do some crazy kicks. Ever played Streets of Rage? Yeah, it would have been something along those lines. Anyway, I badly explained what I wanted to do to Alex, and he ended up thinking I wanted him to roll me backwards over his back. This is exactly what Alex attempted to do when we practised the shot - however, I had no idea what he was doing and tried to counteract the roll. Not knowing what was going on, Alex let go of me when I was half-way through the roll, and I ended up falling about 2 feet onto concrete, on my head. Oh well, I guess this was some form of pre-emptive justice for the following scene, where I accidentally clawed Luke across the face and drew blood. Sorry Luke! Then of course we have the classic injury where Tom had his head smacked into a wall. Tom was meant to get his hand in front of his head to soften the impact, but he failed. I've decided to make a little video clip of this for your own personal amusement.

		And then we have the out-takes. Everyone's messed up lines, myself included, but the out-takes prize (if there is one) has to go to Adam. Not only could Adam not stop laughing during the banana shot in KS2, he also had enormous difficulty saying the simple line 'I used a map' during KS:BA. I'm not complaining though - the out-takes he's produced have been hilarious - see below.

		References There are a number of lines and sequences in the KS series that pay homage to some of my favourite martial-arts films. The most notable include the plot of KS2 being a mix of Ong-Bak and Iron Monkey, what with an idol being stolen from a small village that brings prosperity to the people, and then the two heroes initially mistaking each other for villains but then joining forces. The village in KS2 (Nong Pradu) also has exactly the same name as Ting's village in Ong-Bak. The 'a man should shed blood, not tears' line is both an old Chinese saying and also a line in Iron Monkey - when I heard it for the first time I knew I had to include it in a KS film. Incidentally, for the English dub of Iron Monkey, the line has been changed to 'be a man... grow up!' which is frankly pathetic in comparison. Other references are less obvious, such as the 'door trick' in KS2 which is completely ripping-off a scene from the original Transporter movie. Interestingly, there was actually a whole fight scene that was cut from KS2 due to time issues, but it was based heavily on the axe fight in The Transporter, only with more enemies. Finally, there are a couple of nods to the original Kung Spoon in KS2 - Alex says he can hear 'something dangerous!' once we reach the headquarters, which mirrors his first line in KS1. Slightly more obviously, the booming 'DOUBLE TEAM!' line delivered by the two heroes just before the last fight is exactly the same thing I shout during KS1's first battle. Interesting facts With the exception of Ballistic Assault, the Kung Spoon series has been entirely filmed during Westbrook new year holidays, meaning we only had 6 days to do each film. Remarkably, KS1 was filmed entirely in one day, and KS2 - despite being planned entirely before the holiday - was finished with about an hour to go before we were scheduled to show it. This doesn't include the editing, which was hastily done in the dining room (and then made significantly better once I'd taken it home). As for Ballistic Assault, this was filmed in one evening at my house entirely by myself and Adam, and then edited in a day. Given how we hadn't planned on doing a new KS movie and also given how many people consider this the best entry in the KS series, I think it turned out exceptionally well. Oh and also, the room which is referred to as 'my room' isn't actually my room. On the more technical side of things, people have also asked about the guns used in Ballistic Assault - they're all BB guns, and Adam's arsenal include a Smith & Wesson Model 52 and a Franchi SPAS-12, and my arsenal includes an IMI Desert Eagle .50AE and a beefed-up HK MP5K (complete with stock, laser-sight and torch). Moving on to specific shots, the blood shot in Kung Spoon 2 was done with seven sachets of extremely acidic ketchup - I'd love to say that other guys in that scene helped me out here, but instead they just tried to make me laugh and dribble ketchup all over myself. As for the flying kick in both KS1 and KS2, we did this using a trolley which someone pushed while I held the camera.

		Things to come It is probably unsurprising to hear that Kung Spoon 3 is already being planned, and while this is definitely going to be the last entry in the main story series of Kung Spoon, it is probably not going to be the last film made within the KS universe. I think what makes the series so appealing to those who make it is that it's all about having a great time doing it, and thusfar the response to the three KS films has been overwhelmingly positive. Equally, prior to KS:BA I'd never considered doing a spin-off series involving stories that have little to do with the main plot of Kung Spoon, but Adam and myself enjoyed making Ballistic Assault so much I see little reason why I'd want to stop doing these kinds of movies, at least for now. Some of the cast have also planned to do a commentary track for the three films, which I have no doubt would be absolutely hilarious, even if it would probably end up being us just telling jokes rather than really going into the background of each film. You can probably expect a commentary for Ballistic Assault in the Easter holidays, as Adam and myself live pretty near each other, but it might take some time to get one for KS1 and 2. That's about it for the Kung Spoon series for now, so I guess all that's left to say is... A big thanks to... Abi for being ridiculously patient when it comes to lending us her camera and laptop, all the main cast for not getting too offended when I shout commands at them, and to everyone who's ever watched the Kung Spoon series and enjoyed themselves doing so.