Movies - Big Trouble in Little China

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	Movies - Big Trouble in Little China

John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China is a 1986 comedy / action film, directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall, set in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Kurt Russell plays Jack Burton, a likeable but clueless truck driver, who, together with his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), must save Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) and Wang Chi's fiancée, Miao Yin (Suzee Pai), from an ancient and evil Chinese sorcerer, David Lo Pan (James Hong). Along the way, he encounters many battles and many opportunities to display comic machismo.

Although Jack Burton is the main character from the point of view of those watching the film, and although he clearly considers himself the hero of the story, it can be argued that he is actually the sidekick of the real hero, his friend Wang Chi.

Centuries ago, warrior Lo Pan was defeated in battle and cursed to be of no flesh: essentially a ghost. Although he can be temporarily granted a decrepit body by supplication to the gods, in order to permanently break the curse and regain his human form he must marry a woman with green eyes. Incredibly, he stumbles across two such women almost simultaneously: Miao Yin and Gracie Law. Wang and Burton are aided by a Chinese street gang called the Chang Sing, a bus-driving magician named Egg Shen (Victor Wong), and Eddie Lee (Donald Li), a friend of Wang Chi. Lo Pan is served by an opposing gang, the Wing Kong, and three mystical henchmen named Thunder, Rain, and Lightning.

Production History

Big Trouble in Little China was originally written as a period Western set in the 1880s with Jack Burton as a cowboy who rides into town. Producer Paul Monash bought Gary Goldman and David Weinstein's screenplay but after a reading he found that it was virtually unfilmable due to the bizarre mix of Chinese mythology and the Wild West setting. He had the two first-time screenwriters do a rewrite, but Monash still didn't like it.

The producer decided against having Goldman and Weinstein do additional rewrites because they didn't want to upgrade the story to a contemporary setting and felt that they had done their best. Keith Barish and Monash brought in W. D. Richter, a veteran script doctor (and director of cult film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) to extensively rewrite the script. Almost everything in the original screenplay was discarded except for Lo Pan's story. Barish and Monash offered Carpenter the movie in July of 1985. After reading Richter's script he decided to direct.

Carpenter made his own additions to Richter's screenplay which included strengthening Gracie Law's role and linking her to Chinatown, removing a few action sequences (due to budgetary restrictions), and eliminating material deemed offensive to Chinese Americans. Carpenter was disappointed that Richter didn't receive a proper screenwriting credit on the movie for all of his hard work. A ruling by the Writer's Guild of America gave Goldman and Weinstein sole credit.

Problems began to arise when Carpenter learned that the next Eddie Murphy vehicle, The Golden Child (1986), featured a similar theme and was going to be released near the same time as Big Trouble. Ironically, Carpenter was asked by Paramount Pictures to direct The Golden Child. To avoid being wiped out by the bigger star's film, Carpenter began shooting Big Trouble in October 1985 so that 20th Century Fox could open the film in July 1986 - a full five months before The Golden Childs release. This forced the filmmaker to shoot the film in 15 weeks with a $25 million budget.

Carpenter surrounded himself with a seasoned crew from his previous films. He reunited with three long-time collaborators, line producer Larry J. Franco (Starman), production designer John Lloyd (The Thing
), and cinematographer Dean Cundey. Big Trouble also saw Carpenter re-team with his old friend actor Kurt Russell, who has appeared in several of the director's films, most notably Escape From New York and The Thing. At first, Carpenter didn't see Russell as Jack Burton. He wanted to cast a big star like Clint Eastwood
or Jack Nicholson
to compete with Golden Childs casting of Eddie Murphy. However, both Eastwood and Nicholson were busy and Fox suggested Russell because they felt that he was an up-and-coming star.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Big Trouble in Little China ]

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Movies - Big Trouble in Little China

Production History

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