Lawrence Leung Maximum Choppage Interview

Lawrence Leung Maximum Choppage Interview

The new painfully funny 6 x half hour comedy series Maximum Choppage premieres Tuesday, February 24 at 9.00pm on ABC2.

Simon Chan (Lawrence Leung - Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure and Lawrence Leung's Unbelievable) has returned to his hometown after many years training in a faraway martial arts temple. He is a born hero, defender of the weak and champion of the honest people of Cabramatta… Well, not really.

For Simon, it's only a matter of time before everyone discovers he's just an ordinary guy, because Simon has a secret. Whilst everyone thinks he was training at a legendary martial arts school in Beijing, the truth is Simon was at Marshall's Art School, in Melbourne.

Now back in Cabramatta, armed with a fistful of pastels and a crippling sense of obligation, Simon knows that eventually the truth will hurt... literally. He could lose his life - or worse - disappoint his mother (Kathryn Yuen.)

The world Simon returns to is familiar yet oddly different to the Cabramatta you may know. It's a mix of Asian traditions, absurd superstition and colourful contradictions. A world where brutal gangs terrorise the community with bad karaoke singing; where a magical duck recipe can cast a horny spell and where pirated DVD's are the new crack cocaine. In this town, evil spirits attack nail-and-beauty parlours, council debates are settled via K-Pop dance battles and car parking spots are more valuable than gold.

The only thing that stands against all this craziness is Simon.

When the ferocious gang leader/karaoke singer Kai Le (Felino Dolloso) threatens to destroy his mother's beauty parlour-cum-DVD shop, Simon is joined by his two best friends: Egg (Dave Eastgate -The Moodys), a quick-buck entrepreneur and Petal (Stephanie Son - Rake), a groin-kicking kung fu girl. But can they really protect Simon's family from the Kylie Minogue obsessed gang lord? Will they uncover the corrupt Mayor Crawford's (Darren Gilshenan - The Moodys) secret plan for the town? And can Simon keep his mind off Elle, (Georgina Haig – Once Upon a Time, Fringe), the mayor's daughter for long enough to be (or at least pretend to be) the person everyone thinks he is?

Cabramatta needs a hero. Instead they got Simon, Egg and Petal.

Welcome to Maximum Choppage.

Screen Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, present Maximum Choppage, a Matchbox Pictures Production in association with Screen NSW. Directed by Craig Melville. Written by Lawrence Leung (EPS 1, 4 & 6), Duncan Sarkies (EPS 3 & 5), and Josh Mapleston (EP2.) Produced by Julie Eckersley, Sophie Miller and Linda Micsko. Executive Producers: Tony Ayres and Debbie Lee. Executive Producers for ABC TV are Rick Kalowski and Brett Sleigh.

Check out the trailer here.

Interview with Lawrence Leung

Question: How would you describe Maximum Choppage?

Lawrence Leung: Maximum Choppage is an action-packed comedy set in Cabramatta. It's about three best friends Simon, Egg and Petal who must try to save the town from violent gangs, a corrupt major and terrifying karaoke competitions. The problem is everyone thinks Simon is a great kung fu hero when really he's a wimpy little painter. Can he save the town while keep up the lie? Will he die at the hands of a gangster warlord… or worse - disappoint his mother?

Question: What motivated you to get involved with Maximum Choppage?

Lawrence Leung: As a kid, I loved the comedy kung fu movies of Jackie Chan. With Maximum Choppage, I originally came on-board as one of the writers. It was a great to create a similar chaotic and kinetic universe with all sorts of fun characters – much like the films I loved. Eventually, I didn't just help write the character of Simon but also got play him on-screen! You could say I finally got to live out my Jackie Chan fantasies.


Question: What was the best thing about filming Maximum Choppage?

Lawrence Leung: We shot the entire series out of sequence because it was easier to shoot based on the locations we were using. This meant that every day was completely new and exciting. One day we would be shooting comedy scenes in a DVDshop/beauty parlour then the next day would be a martial arts match in a warehouse. It was so much fun. We could be shooting a crazy K-pop music video in a carpark by day, then a spooky -haunted kitchen' at night.


Question: How are you able to relate to your character of Simon Chan?

Lawrence Leung: Simon and I are quite similar. We are both nerds. We both try our best to avoid fights in dark alleyways against thugs. Oh, and we look identical.


Question: Have you practiced any of your own martial arts skills for the show?

Lawrence Leung: Uh. Yeah, my body is a registered weapon… No, actually, I was lucky because Simon is a black belt in cowardice, so I didn't have to learn any difficult fight choreography. I just had to learn how to get kicked in the face and fall, convincingly. On the other hand, actress Stephanie Son (who plays the kickass fighter Petal) had to train for weeks to shoot scenes where she bashes the crap out of some pretty big dudes. Acting AND fighting! Steph's my hero.


Question: Can you tell us about this -Kylie Minogue obsessed gang lord'?
Lawrence Leung: The scary ganglord Kai-Le (played by the super-sweet-in-real-life Fellino Dolloso) terrorises the town by night. But in the daytime, he's a Kylie-obsessed karaoke singer. Listen carefully to the dialogue in his scenes. We have snuck heaps of Kylie song lyrics in his speeches that most viewers won't be aware of.


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

Lawrence Leung: The Lion Dance/fight sequence in the last episode was extremely difficult to do as we had only a short time to film it and the stage was smaller than my rehearsal space. Also I'm quite uncoordinated. I was quite envious of how skilled my fellow actors and stunt performers were at their fight choreography so I wanted my 'dance" to be technically brilliant. It was rubbish. As it turns out being clumsy during filming meant that the scene was funnier on-screen – WIN!


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your acting/comedic success?

Lawrence Leung: I wouldn't say it was the biggest challenge, but it was initially tricky convincing my parents that their son was attempting a career as a comedian. They are incredibly supportive now and have even appeared as cameo guests in my stand up shows and other TV shows.


Question: If you could collaborate with another actor, who would it be?

Lawrence Leung: Jackie Chan, naturally.


Interview by Brooke Hunter