In 1996, Jet Li was the biggest martial arts star in the world – and he was lured to London for a very special movie event…
It’s a relative warm October day in 1996 and, in keeping with what any self-respecting film journalist would do, we’re in a cinema somewhere on the fringes of London’s Soho, Chinatown and Leicester Square.
But this is no ordinary screening.
We’re at the Prince Charles Cinema (PCC), long a bastion of weird and wonderful films, and to this day one of London’s last surviving venues showing left of centre and odd films, as well as a smattering of credible blockbusters. In the cinema, it’s absolute pandemonium. It’s heaving with people, seemingly more than there are seats, a mixture of British Chinese and scruffy martial arts fans.
We’re there for a marathon three-film mini-festival, but there’s more too.
In a move more in keeping with the Notting Hill Carnival than a respected cinema – or any cinema for that matter – whistles have been handed out to those queuing for the 10.30am start. These are now going off at regular intervals.
And hang on, what’s this? Suddenly, accompanied by percussion, drums, cymbals and more, there’s a Chinese dragon working its way up and down the aisles of the famous repertory cinema and the place is going completely nuts.
It’s not just the percussion and whistles, there’s whooping and hollering, screams even and it’s all going off.
And then, marshalled and flanked by assorted security, hangers-on and more, is Jet Li.
In 1996, Jet Li is the biggest martial arts star in the world and, while others are flocking to see that weekend’s big release at the Leicester Square megaplexes a Shuriken’s throw away (The Nutty Professor is number one at the box office that weekend), he’s been guided through the West End and into the PCC.
It’s like some kind of twisted Beatlemania, as the quiet, unassuming star makes his way through the throng. People are screaming. This man is a huge star.
The day had been organised by Eastern Heroes, the organisation promoting Asian cinema and predominantly martial arts flicks, having grown out of the Jackie Chan Fan Club.
Started by kung fu buffs Ricky Baker and Toby Russell (the former who lived just round the corner from Chinatown, rooming at the YMCA, the latter the son of director Ken Russell, fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin), they began by renting out VHS cassettes to fans who didn’t know how or where to get them.
A newsletter morphed into a magazine, then grew into screenings at – where else – London’s Scala. Baker says he wanted the Sunday afternoon screening to be more like a Saturday night late night affair.
“The Jackie Chan Fan Club events were totally awesome,” recalls then booker at the legendary Scala Cinema in London’s pre-gentrified Kings Cross, Jane Giles. She wrote the definitive book and then directed the documentary film (Scala!!!) looking at the cinema’s history. “All their events were fantastic. They were always on a Sunday afternoon and Ricky Baker had the concept. They would rent the cinema and he’d bring the audience with him, they were his people.”
“I’ve seen some hilarious pirate video footage, shot by a guy in the audience at one of the festivals. It’s literally got someone’s head in it in front of them. They weren’t trying to pirate the film, they were trying to capture the flavour of the screening. They got the whole audience going with whistles and cheering. Ricky created the most fantastic atmosphere.”
By the time the Scala shuttered, the Jackie Chan Fan Club had morphed into Eastern Heroes, eschewing the name of the by-now-star who’d inspired the original screenings. The magazine was still going and there were now books and a prolific video label of the same name, as well as a store, first in Camden, then in Shaftesbury Avenue, a flailing nunchaku away from the PCC.
Jonathon Ross was a regular, Quentin Tarantino visited when he was in town, and, ever with their collective fingers on the pulse of what was happening in Hong Kong and mainland China, the duo of Baker and Russell had spotted the irresistible rise of Li (still billed in 1996 with the name Lee), alongside the trend for both martial arts and action movies from Asia.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was still a few years away, but John Woo and Jackie Chan had started the journey westwards to Hollywood and Jet Li was set to follow them.
The Eastern Heroes duo pulled together three of his films – Black Mask, due out from Eureka in a sparkling Blu-ray edition on April 2024, and a move towards more Western-oriented action; Dr Wai In The Scripture With No Words and, for a slice of more classic, traditional biffer fare, Fist Of Legend.
Of course, the proceedings had, in a pre-Internet world, sold out with little or no publicity, just word of mouth spreading through Chinatown and beyond. The achievement of Eastern Heroes in making sure the event truly went off was admirable.
“It was so weird,” says Michael Lee, a film industry stalwart now working in digital and streaming sales and distribution, but then at Eastern Heroes. “He came over for three days with a make-up artist and manager who also translated. I hired a car to go and pick him up from Heathrow, took him to the Whitehouse Hotel in Regent’s Park. “
Lee continued, remembering that “we did press interviews at the hotel with magazines such as Impact and Martial Arts Illustrated, He spoke no English and we ended up going upstairs, via a fire escape, on to the roof for photographs. He stood right on the edge throwing shapes, I was just out of shot, hanging on to his trouser legs. We had no permission, no insurance and there I was holding on to the biggest martial arts star in the world.”
On the day of the screening, Michael Lee and co parked in the NCP in Chinatown and had to walk him through Chinatown and Leicester Square to get to the PCC, where he was mobbed by those who recognised him. “It was in the days before mobile phones, but people were running up to him with cameras. He couldn’t believe it.”
Back in the Prince Charles Cinema on the day and Li took to the stage, waved a bit, then there were raffles and some prizegiving ahead of the premiere of the film. He signed some posters for adoring fans – a mate won one prize which Li signed on the spot and they’d barely made it back to their seat before being offered plentiful cash for the item.
“The place went absolutely nuts,” remembers Michael Lee. “It was the maddest I’d ever seen the Prince Charles. He was really into the fact that so many people knew who he was. He’d made a lot of movies and was becoming a star but he’d never been to Europe, he was shocked.”
Black Mask was screened and, despite coming on after the awesome Fist Of Legend, went down a storm. Meanwhile, the Eastern Heroes crew ended up driving Li around London in an impromptu tour of the sights, before more events (he went to the Chinatown travel agent for an appearance as they’d helped fund the visit, as well as a signing in Forbidden Planet.)
Black Mask’s success was a signifier of what was to come. The film would soon be released, on VHS, given this was before the days of the shiny DVD disc. High Fliers, a company that was a long-standing (and still surviving) rental specialist, favouring straight to video titles, released it in a dubbed version. And Jet Li was on his way to Hollywood too. The martial arts releases were being ratcheted up. Eastern Heroes was joined in the marketplace by Made In Hong Kong, co-owned by DJ and musician J Saul Kane, aka Depth Charge, and MIA, a label owned by Lauren Ronson. It was a bona fide boom time.
Eastern Heroes would eventually fold as the huge boom in martial arts and Asian films was seized on by bigger labels with deeper pockets to throw around on advances for films. But still: what a day it put on back in 1996. “I’ve told my kids and others about it, I’ve met all sorts of people in the industry, but in those early days, one of the standout moments was trying to battle through Leicester Square with Jet Li,” Michael Lee smiles.
Quite the memory.
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Black Mask has released on Blu-ray by Eureka in the UK. Find it here.
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