Tattoo Artist and Designer Leaves his mark on Jackie Chan's 'Police Story'

    LOS ANGELES, CA, January 07, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- From the script to the screen, cinematic storytelling is achieved through the meticulous work of directors, cinematographers, editors, production designers, visual effects units, hairstylists and makeup artists, to name a few. For Haifan Liu, the chance arrived to apply his special artistry to the collaborative assembly line that is filmmaking. His craft as such is positively rare and best described as extraordinary.

Liu, from the city of Laiwu in the Shandong Province of China, is a tattoo artist and designer of international renown. He founded the Chaoqinghui Tattoo Studio in Beijing in 2009 with actor Donglin Li. Many celebrities and artists have sought out Liu's tattooing services such as pro racecar driver Huayang Gao, rock singer Qi Luo, producer Liwei Ren and actor Tie Zhou, among many others.

Liu was hired as tattooist for the action crime drama, "Police Story 2013," starring the multi-award-winning action legend and "Rush Hour" star, Jackie Chan.

The production for "Police Story 2013" marked the debut of Liu's work specifically in cinema. "I think this is an opportunity for combining tattoo and film," he said. "Tattoos can display the spirit of the character. Film makes the audience understand the art of tattoo better."

Written and directed by Golden Horse Award nominee Ding Sheng ("Little Big Solider"), "Police Story 2013" is about a club owner (Liu Ye) who seeks a sizable ransom and release of a long-time prisoner. In order to collect his demands, the club owner takes a Police Captain (Chan), the Captain's estranged daughter (Jing Tian) and an entire club hostage. While fighting for survival, the Captain is pushed to the limit to save his daughter.

Produced by Chan, Ye Ning and Lu Zheng, the Mandarin language film is a reboot of Chan's original "Police Story" film series.

"Jackie Chan found me and told me the story. He clearly and emotionally presented exactly what he wanted," Liu said of the tattoo designs he was to conceptualize for the film. "The filmmakers wanted to use tattoos to reflect the role of personality."

From there, Liu's work became individualized for different characters. "For the villains, because they are boxers, I designed and applied a totem tattoo," he said. "For the bad guy, I did a spider. For the bartender, I did a new-school style with a wineglass and a rose."

Long-established film and TV make-up artist Ha Dan, who has designed makeup for many Chinese stars including Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Honglei Sun, headed up the makeup department for "Police Story 2013." "Haifan was our lead tattoo designer and he designed all of the tattoos for the film, which was critical to the success of the film since there were so many gangster characters, who would take their tattoos very seriously as not only an expression of themselves, but also of their allegiance to their gang," he said.

Some of the tattoos enliven character's entire arms from their biceps and streak down their forearms. Others spread boldly across the chests of male actors. Some are jet black, some feature intricate shading and contrast, while others stand apart with robust colors.

"A great example is of a character formerly known as Spider, who we wanted to be tattooed with the animal of his namesake," Dan said. "It was Liu who was so brilliant to design a prominent, but not overbearing spider on his chest, drawn with violent strokes of ink and sitting on an almost translucent web. This gave Spider the menacing look of a fighter, but one with much training and discipline."

Sporting Liu's tattoos in the film - which were temporary visual additions - are Liu Ye, who stars as Wu Jiang, the lead antagonist, and Jing Tian, who plays Police Captain Zhong Wen's (Chan) daughter, Miao.

Ye has won awards for his prior roles in 2001's romantic drama, "Lan Yu" and the 2003 drama, "The Foliage." Tian is known for her roles in the feature action film, "Special ID" and the animated adventure, "Dragon Nest: Warriors' Dawn." She's also acting in the forthcoming films, "The Great Wall" starring Oscar winner Matt Damon and Warner Brother's "Kong: Skull Island" starring Tom Hiddleston ("The Avengers") and Brie Larson ("21 Jump Street").

Other actors donning Liu's extraordinary ink work in "Police Story 2013" are Cai Lu ("Jie jiu wu xian sheng"), Zha Ka ("Little Big Soldier") and Hailong Liu ("Kun Fu Fighter").

Chief among Liu's creative and striking tattoo designs is his dedication to originality. Dispatching his own exclusive style, Liu is an artist whose work can't be definitively duplicated.

"I think my tattoo designs have power," he said. "I'm good with the use of lines. I'm good at traditional Asian style, especially Chinese traditional style. I am also very good at new-school style. I have my own tattoo style."

Liu's talents and contributions to "Police Story 2013" did not go unnoticed by Chan either. "He was very satisfied for this one," Liu said.

In 2013 and 2014, the film released in China, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and in the United Arab Emirates. It also released in Cambodia, Bulgaria, Germany and the Netherlands. On June 5, 2015, "Police Story 2013" was released in the U.S. by Well Go USA Entertainment.

It went on to become both a critical and commercial hit. BeyondHollywood.com calls it "a solid, hard-hitting crime drama with a tough edge." ABS-CBN News said, "Jackie Chan is still at the top of his game." Box Office Mojo tallies show "Police Story: Lockdown" made more than $94M worldwide, including $86.3M in China, $3.2M in Malaysia and $1.9M in Singapore.

A 13-year tattoo and design veteran, Liu got his start in 2003 and was trained in Jinan (Shandong, China) by tattooist Hailin Fu, who now owns Hailin Tattoo Shop in Los Angeles. Among his highlights, Liu designed a special tissue and cut for clothing for the Yuzhou Pingshan Industrial Group in 2013. He designed and created illustrations for "After a Lazy Lunch," a widely successful Chinese book about economics. Liu's esteemed oil paintings - "Hippocampus" and "Cheb face" - have sold in international auctions.

He worked at the Jinan Liehuotang Tattoo Studio, the Beijing Lucky face Art Studio, the Beijing Black House Tattoo Studio and the Beijing 798 art studio before founding the Chaoqinghui Tattoo Studio. Liu, the Chinese Tattoo Association Vice Chairman (Shandong), has served as artistic director for the Guandong Decoration Engineering Company and the Beijing Culture Communication Company. He also participated in 2013 as tattoo artist and painter for the North Storm Tattoo Alliance tattoo show and for Strange Space, a celebrated tattoo exhibition in Beijing. Liu is slated to bring his talents to Hailin Tattoo Shop this year as a designer and tattoo artist.

Follow Haifan on Instagram: @haifan_liu
Follow Hailin Tattoo Shop on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hailintattooshop
Watch the "Police Story 2013" trailer: http://tinyurl.com/PoliceStorytrailer
For more information on the film, visit: http://wellgousa.com/theatrical/police-story-lockdown

Haifan Liu is a tattoo artist and designer from the city of Laiwu in the Shandong Province of China.

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