Stuntman, actor, action choreographer and director Bun Yuen is known for his action work on Dragon Inn (1992) and Swordsman 2 (1992).
Bun Yuen is also known for his acting work on Kung Fu Jungle (2014), Running on Karma (2003) and stunt work in Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011).
Bun Yuen was born in 1954 and his parents were great fans of Peking opera. In 1962, they sent eight year old Bun to Jim-Yuen Yu’s China Drama Academy to study along side the likes of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Biao Yuen, Wah Yuen, Corey Yuen and Qiu Yuen, who together were known as The Seven Little Fortunes. In the 1970s, Bun Yuen began his film career as a stunt performer and actor, but it did not take long before he got engaged in action choreography. Along with Chun Yeung Yuen and Corey Yuen, Bun Yuen was action director for director Chi-Lien Yu’s film Devil Woman (1974).
By the mid-1980s, Bun Yuen was already an established choreographer, who counted Ngai Choi Lam’s The Seventh Curse (1986) and Tung-shing Yee’s The Lunatics (1986) as his most memorable work. In the late 1980s, Yuen joined Siu-tung Ching’s stunt team, which led to his involvement in the design of many classic action sequences in films such as Dragon Inn (1992) and Swordsman 2 (1992), in which he and Yuk-sing Ma served as Ching’s right-hand men. His work deeply impressed director Hark Tsui and producer See-yuen Ng, who hired him to be the action director for Once Upon a Time in China III (1993).
With Tsui and Ng’s encouragement, Bun Yuen became a first time director with Once Upon a Time in China IV (1993), which grossed over HK$11 million. Two years later, he co-directed (with Jong-shinn Chui ) and starred in the actioner Tough Beauty (1995) and the Sloppy Slop. But tepid results at the box office led Yuen to retreat to action choreography.
Bun Yuen’s ability to construct and stage fights, is lauded by professionals of the craft. In the past dozen years, Yuen became a frequent collaborator of Johnnie To and was tasked with designing many captivating gun fights and action sequences for films released by the latter’s Milkyway Image, including Breaking News (2004), Yesterday Once More (2004), Throw Down (2004) and Sparrow (2008). Recently, Yuen rekindled his partnership with Hark Tsui, designing the action sequences for the latter’s Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010), Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011) and Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon (2013). In total, Bun Yuen had worked on the action design of almost 100 Hong Kong productions.
Source: Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild
