Director and choreographer Before becoming famous, Lau worked as an extra and choreographer on black and white
Wong Fei-hung movies. He teamed up with fellow Wong Fei-hung choreographer on the 1963 Hu Peng-directed
wuxia film
South Dragon, North Phoenix. Their collaboration would continue on until the mid-1970s. His first appearance in a film was in
Brave Lad of Guangong (1950). In the 1960s he became one of Shaw Brothers' main choreographers and had a strong working relationship with director
Chang Cheh, working on many of Chang's films as a choreographer (often alongside Tong Gaai) including
The One-Armed Swordsman, as well as other Shaw Brothers wuxia films, such as
The Jade Bow. After a split with Chang on the set of
Marco Polo, Lau evolved into a director during the sudden boom of martial arts films in the early 1970s. He occasionally did choreography work for non-Shaw films as well, such as
Master of the Flying Guillotine. After Shaw Brothers stopped producing movies in 1986, Lau continued directing and choreographing films independently, despite numerous obstacles, among them the fact that Shaw Brothers considered his contract with them still valid despite the fact that they were no longer making movies. This led to a rumored four-film deal with Jackie Chan being canceled when Shaw approached Chan and warned him that Lau was still under contract to them. Additionally, because his last film for Shaw Brothers,
Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986), had been filmed in Mainland China, Lau was not allowed to work in Taiwan and no Taiwanese distributors would handle his films. Lau approached Cinema City who agreed to settle his issues with Taiwan if he directed three films for them,
Tiger on the Beat (1988),
Aces Go Places 5: The Terracotta Hit (1989), and
Tiger on the Beat 2 (1990). The box office successes of these three films reinvigorated his career. In March 1993, Lau began directing Jackie Chan in
Drunken Master II, however, the film's star
Jackie Chan and director Lau clashed over the style of fighting, resulting in Lau leaving the set before the shooting of the final fight scene, which was then taken over by Chan. Lau subsequently directed
Drunken Master III and
Drunken Monkey without Chan. His final credit was when he performed acting and choreography work for
Tsui Hark's 2005 film
Seven Swords.
Screenplays Throughout his career, Lau only wrote four screenplays, but they were all for films that he himself directed. Those screenplays/films are
My Young Auntie (1981),
Legendary Weapons of China (1982),
Lady Is the Boss (1983) and
Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter (1983). All of the films also starred or featured
Gordon Liu in some role or capacity.
Collaborations with Gordon Liu Lau's most frequent collaborator is likely his "god brother"
Gordon Liu Chia Hui, and he worked with Liu on a number of films, directing him as a star in the now classic
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), as well as directing Liu as either a star or cast member in
Dirty Ho (1979),
Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter (1983),
Executioners from Shaolin (1977),
Return to the 36th Chamber (1980),
Heroes of the East (1978),
Legendary Weapons of China (1982),
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (1985),
Tiger on Beat (1988),
Tiger on the Beat 2 (1990),
Shaolin Warrior (1980),
The Spiritual Boxer Part II (1979),
Cat vs Rat (1982),
Lady Is the Boss (1983),
My Young Auntie (1981),
Challenge of the Masters (1976),
Shaolin Mantis (1978),
Martial Club (1981), and
Drunken Monkey (2003). They also appeared together as themselves in the Italian documentary "Dragonland" (2009, directed by Lorenzo De Luca). == Style and techniques ==