What do Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ching Siu-tong, Yuen Woo-ping, and Stanley Tong have in common? They're all famous Hong Kong action movie directors, and they all got their start as stunt men. But Stanley Tong also has a long-range aspiration-to realize one of Bruce Lee's dreams.

It's hard to imagine that the favorite movies of Stanley Tong, a long-time collaborator with Jackie Chan, are The Sound of Music and Love Story. Once he expressed his desire to direct a romantic film to his Hong Kong film company boss. The response he got was, "If you want to make a romance, I can only give you HK$8 million, and in an artistic film, actors' fees swallow up most of the funds. But if you want to make an action movie, I can give you HK$80 million."

Although there is a market for action movies, Tong comments, "I basically feel that today's kids don't have any movies to watch." That is why when the American film giant Disney, seeing the box office success of Tong's Rumble in the Bronx, asked him to direct a film for them and gave him a number of films to choose, he opted for one that was adapted from a cartoon-Mr. Magoo, a lighthearted story of a nearsighted old gent. "When kids see it they have a big laugh, and that makes me happy too." Remember Bruce Lee

In addition to working hard to create a body of films that young and old alike can enjoy, Stanley Tong has also for many years harbored the dream of breaking into mainstream American television. This in fact was why he studied the martial arts, and why he left kung fu to break into film-making.

When Stanley Tong was a schoolboy, he excelled both in track and field and in swimming. When he was 12 years old, he saw Bruce Lee's Fists of Fury and The Big Boss. He greatly admired Lee, and started studying Hong Quan style Chinese kung fu and taijiquan. An interview with Bruce Lee he once read mentioned that the script for the television series Kung Fu had originally been written for Lee, but being of the opinion that viewers would not accept a Chinese as leading actor, the network gave the role of a Chinese man to David Carradine instead.

"Bruce Lee always wanted to shatter the presupposition that Chinese people couldn't play leading roles, but he passed away before he could achieve this," says Tong. "When he died I was very sad."

At an Asian film festival last year in Los Angeles, more than 300 film industry professionals of Asian descent reflected the same conviction: "Chinese people can't be found in American television." There has never been a television program with an Asian in the leading role, even though there have been programs starring people of African and Hispanic descent.

"But we ought to realize that almost all the writers in American television circles are Americans. Why would someone be willing to write material with a Chinese person as the lead, and think up an interesting story for him every week? It must be a Chinese that takes the beachhead by himself." Tong says he is very lucky to be bilingual and have a certain understanding of both cultures, so he can serve as a bridge between the two.

Every bone's been broken

Stanley Tong sports a baby face and a body structure that's not particularly rugged. Born in Hong Kong, he was sent by his parents to attend junior high school in Canada. When he returned to Hong Kong to visit his family at the age of 20, a relative who was making a career in the film industry saw his agility and skill and asked him if he was interested in being a martial arts star. In this way, Tong broke into the business.

Stanley Tong's shoulders, ribs, kneecaps and fingers have all been broken. One time he was seriously injured and had to lie in bed recuperating for three months. His family said to him that if he had to continue in the film world, they hoped he could start working off-screen.

Tong quickly moved from martial artist to martial arts choreographer and then to director. After seeing his first work Stone Age Warriors, the Golden Harvest film group asked him if he was interested in directing a movie in Jackie Chan's Police Story series.

The first time he took on one of Jackie Chan's pictures, he felt tremendous pressure, because Chan was already a big star and a big director. He was afraid that the two of them would have incompatible outlooks on how to make a movie and that he would be replaced in the middle of the process. He watched all of Jackie Chan's previous films, and discovered that all the female stars Chan had worked with in the past had just screamed and made a fuss and served as decoration. Tong suggested that they add a woman partner that could also fight-Michelle Yeoh-to give a fresh feeling to both Jackie Chan and his audience. As it turned out, the third film of the series, Super Cop, had twice the box office earnings in Taiwan as the previous two installments. Afterwards, Tong directed almost all of Jackie Chan's movies. Staying true to his crew

Because he used to be a stuntman, Stanley Tong gives a lot of thought to the safety of his actors. Jackie Chan has said that he feels assured about any stunt designed by Tong, because he will run through it himself first.

In addition to protecting his actors, Tong also takes care of his crew. When breaking into Hollywood, Stanley Tong was the first Hong Kong director to bring his own technical personnel, and to make this a condition when negotiating with a major studio.

"The American studio said no way, because the American film workers' union has a lot of power, and they thought that they could handle anything the crew from Hong Kong could do." But Tong kept in mind that his workers had been with him for so long, and prospects in Hong Kong's film industry were not good. If they made no films, they would have no way to pass on their skills.

Stanley Tong went to talk with the head of the studio, and opened up a channel from the top: "If you like the style of my movies, I need people to help me do it. I can't train a whole new team from scratch."

When he was filming the television series Martial Law, he was also insistent: "You don't have this kind of personnel. Why don't you let them in, and then they'll become your employees?"

To negotiate with Hollywood, language is the first step. If your English is not good, if you can't read the script and you can't understand the subtle humor in it, if you can't grasp the feeling, then you can't communicate with the film company and the actors.

Tong certainly paid his dues. When he first arrived in Canada to go to school, his teacher, after looking over an essay Tong wrote, said, "Every word is English, but I can't understand a thing that you've written." He nearly broke down in tears, but said to himself, "I have to keep working hard. I don't want to give people reason to look down on me."

Perhaps because he spent many years overseas, or perhaps because of years of training in the martial arts, Stanley Tong has always felt the desire to gain face for the Chinese people. The next movie he wants to make is a story of loyalty, filial piety and integrity concerning the tragic hero Yue Fei. But he won't neglect the marketability of his films. The pageantry of an action film can draw in viewers, and non-Chinese actors can be used for the Tungusic invaders in the story. After three years in Hollywood, Stanley Tong has opened up a passageway of international cooperation for Hong Kong films.