MovieChat Forums > Freddy vs. Jason (2003) Discussion > Ronny Yu Killed Kelly Rowland’s Career

Ronny Yu Killed Kelly Rowland’s Career

posted 2 years ago by vilafire (616)
5 replies | jump to latest

Kelly Rowland’s really not bad at all in the film. Certainly no worse than the rest of the cast. They’re all pretty bad.

But it just a coincidence that everyone but Robert Englund stinks here? No! It’s 100% the director’s fault. The producers opted for something flashy and different—hiring a Hong Kong director—and ruined the whole friggin’ film.

I don’t know about his other films but this and Chucky are pure garbage, directing wise. If a director cannot elicit good performances from his cast who cares about the rest of it?

I feel bad for Rowland and the lead actress. They were screwed over by Yu. If they were directed by someone with any sense of subtlety or nuance for American culture and language they’d have completely different careers.

[–] hurricane (1932) a year ago

Though I agree that Kelly Rowland was good in this, I think it's unfair to put all the blame on the director for Kelly not getting more film parts.

I mean, I remember being psyched for Freddy vs Jason when it came out. But I was already a Freddy Krueger fan. This was already the first time in more than a decade that he'd starred in a slasher. Though, for the wider audience, Freddy and Jason were probably a bit passe to the majority of the general public in 2003.

Kelly Rowland was a singer, and people were probably a bit sneery about her acting in films, rightly or wrongly. I don't suppose a film like this was going to lead her to getting massive roles, unless it became a massive hit. Freddy vs Jason was probably too niche.

[–] AnagramYYZ (478) 10 months ago

Canadian hottie, Katharine Isabelle (of Ginger Snaps fame) came out looking pretty good with a solid performance. Probably no thanks to Yu… she’s just pure fire, particularly when it comes to terror.

[–] blue1981 (6730) 10 months ago

I always think of the shower scene but everything I've read about that scene online said it wasn't her.

[–] [deleted] 10 months ago

That was a definite body double. Ronny Yu and Katharine Isabelle clashed over that scene, he wanted her to do it and she refused to do any nude scenes.

[–] Cognoscente (2486) 8 months ago

In issue #41 of Asian Cult Cinema (circa 2003), Ronny had the following to say about the HK influence...

"Comparing my moviemaking experience in Hong Kong and Hollywood, there's one thing that's very obvious in terms of storytelling. In Hollywood, they are very explicit about categorizing different genres, very clean cut. Very seldom do they want to mix and match the different genres. As you know, in Hong Kong we don't have that clear-cut idea of genre. Like in horror, we throw in a lot of action, some comedy. Even in some dark thing, we have comedy as well. In a comedy, someone slides on a banana peel. He falls and hits his head and people laugh, right? In Hong Kong, it's not enough. He falls and hits his head, and then he falls twenty floors off a building, lands on a bus, and the bus drags him along. That's action, and stunts. I thought this time with Freddy and Jason, there's lots of room, not just to scare people, but they're fighting each other, so there's a lot of room for action in it. And of course we have teenagers and I can put some humor in it."