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David Carradine
The Kung Fu kook is back and weirder than ever as the title subject in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.
Stuff,
10/10/2003
By Matt Schneiderman
Kung Fu premiered more than 30 years ago. Do people still think you’re Asian?
Chinese people are always surprised to learn that I have no Chinese in me. I’m actually a mixture of Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, German, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian and Cherokee. I have the attitude of an Irishman.
Do you ever get mistaken for other actors?
Oh, yeah. The list is huge. I get confused for Clint Eastwood and for Peter Fonda, because Peter’s reputation—all the psychedelic stuff and that he’s a superhip person—is not too far from mine.
I empathize. How’s your arsenal looking these days?
I have a lot of swords. Several samurai swords and a couple of broadswords. I have an old Spanish sword-cane, but I don’t walk around with it. In the first place, I don’t need a cane, and in the second place, it’s a concealed weapon, which is a no-no. I have a lot of guns, too. I have a lot of single-action Colts and a .44 Smokeless Dance—which is a very rare black-powder six-shooter. One hundred were made for the Confederate Army. That’s a safe gun to have around, because no one can load it.
Is there a difference between kung fu and tai chi?
Tai chi is one of the 118 styles of kung fu. In tai chi, there are channels of energy that you can tap so that you can flip your finger at somebody and knock him across the room. I’ve actually done that. Not on purpose. I was in Germany with my then-fiancée, and she tickled me. And to stop her, I just—I didn’t even flick—I just touched her, and I bounced her off the wall.
Right. We’ll mention that in the affidavit. Gross us out by letting us know if chi helps you out with the ladies.
I’ve gone through the whole tantric thing—waking up and utilizing chi centers. My observation is that if you can wake a woman up, her entire body is an erogenous zone. I’ve known women who go crazy when you touch their knee, the base of their spine, the inside of their thigh, their vagina or their anus. And the deep-throat thing is really true. There are actually some women who can come just by sucking your cock. Boy, did I have fun finding that out.
[Cringing] Cool! So, how much do you remember about Death Race 2000?
A bit. That is actually the highest-grossing film I’ve ever been in. That movie happened right after I walked off of Kung Fu. I was looking for something that would destroy the image of the peaceful little Chinaman. But it didn’t have that effect. There is no way I can destroy that character.
Do you think you could beat up Steven Seagal?
Chances are, yeah. I’ve been doing kung fu for 30 years, so I have to have learned something. If that huge monster came at me, I’d have to do something extreme to get it over with quickly. I’d pull it off, because I’m in remarkable condition, considering I’m 66 years old. Of course, that has to do with this movie that I did with Quentin [Kill Bill], because I trained for eight hours a day, five days a week for three months. And Uma [Thurman] is something else. People are just
going to be knocked flat by her. She kills about 100 people in this movie. I don’t even know if I’m supposed to tell you that.
Tell me a do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do moment that you’ve had with your kids.
I don’t want them to smoke. I just assume they stay away from all the psychedelic drugs. I have been pretty abusive to myself—from eating chocolate to dropping acid. I’m not regretful about dropping acid, but I could have stopped it a little sooner—before I did a thousand hits of it.
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