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Ronny Yu Yan-Tai was born in Hong Kong. His journey into movie making began at childhood when at only 9 months of age, he contracted polio, resulting in a long recovery process which isolated him from developing an active childhood. To cope with the loneliness, Yu created fantasy worlds of his own, with furniture as props. As he grew older, his world of escape was the cinema, where he would immerse in grander, more exciting adventures. It was through his love of cinema that his passion to become a director began to grow.
As the only son of a traditional Chinese family, Yu's childhood dream of making movies was cast aside by the time he started college. Under pressure to take up the family business, Yu studied business and earned an MBA from Ohio University.
Soon after graduation in 1979, a pivotal turning point occurred for Yu when his friend Philip Chan, a police lieutenant with acting ambitions, persuaded Yu to direct THE SERVANT , a screenplay that Chan wrote based on his experiences in the police force. With this opportunity, Yu hit the ground running and learnt the craft as the filming proceeded. The film became the No.1 box office hit for the summer, and Yu's future seemed destined to be in movies after all.
Throughout the 1980s Yu directed and produced many other box office successes in Hong Kong.
In 1993, the romantic swordplay epic The Bride with White Hair established his signature style of kinetically-paced story-telling through sumptuous imagery. Bride was a huge summer hit in Hong Kong, and also became an art house theater favorite in the U.S. and Europe, leading to international critical acclaim. It also won the Grand Prize at the Fantastica film festival in Belgium.
In 1995 came the equally ravishing The Phantom Lover, a love story inspired by the original novel of The Phantom of the Opera, and the Chinese movie Songs of Midnight from the 1920s.
Following these two stunning films, Yu launched his Hollywood career. His flair for visually rich narration appealed immediately to broader Western audiences. The action comedy, Formula 51 (known as 51 st State in Europe ), starring Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle, did very well in England . Recently, Yu has been associated mostly with the horror film genre, as he has revived three franchises -- with Bride of Chucky (the fourth film in the Child's Play franchise), which he infused with dark humor; then Freddy VS Jason, ( of the Nightmare on Elm Street; and Friday the 13th franchises, respectively) where its box office total is more than the two franchises' combined earnings.
Never one who confines himself to a genre, Yu is currently working on Fearless, a film starring Jet Li, based on the true story of the martial arts master Huo Yuanjia. |
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