Four Assassins - Will Yun Lee (2011) - Perowne House, Perowne Barracks

I did mention in my last post for Four Assassins that the film's own website included some production photos of the building on Perowne Barracks that served as the main studio space for the variety of internal sets. You can click through to the website here, but just in case it disappears one day I have "borrowed" one of its images of the main building.

I didn't post this initially because I had a real hard time trying to find out where "Perowne House" was exactly, no amount of googling returned any useful information, but it turns out that it was located in the north section of the camp - separated from the rest of the camp when the new Tuen Mun Highway was constructed right through the middle. This part of the camp contained a variety of sports grounds as well as the gym and the aforementioned Perowne House.

This whole section of the old camp was redeveloped circa 2011 into the Harrow International School and a very large multi-unit housing development called "The Bloomsway". So I think it's safe to assume this is why the film crew had the run of the place. Perowne House was located at the eastern end of what is now a luxury house development called "The Highlands". Anyway, mystery solved. As far as I can tell the image below is the only online picture of the place.

Perowne House courtesy of the Four Assassins website

Four Assassins - Will Yun Lee (2011) - Shamrock Hotel, Nathan Road

Despite an illustrious history and career in local 50s and 60s Cantonese movies (so I've been told), this is the first time I've seen the Shamrock Hotel on a modern foreign production. Opened in 1952, the Shamrock Hotel was once the tallest building in Kowloon which is quite hard to imagine given by how relatively small it is these days. There was a demolition scare a few years ago when the owner put it up for sale, but it seems that either the owner had a change of heart, or the new owner has, and has turned it into what I believe might be serviced apartments. Its name has been changed to Synloc Tower.

In the film this is, supposedly, the main setting for much of the story as the hotel where the four killers meet up, and as such we are given several establishing shots of the hotel disguised as the "Shum Shui Hotel".

Despite being set in the "Shum Shui Hotel", the interiors were shot in a specially constructed set in one of the buildings in the old Perowne Camp in Tuen Mun. Don't take my word for it, you can see some of the production photos over at the film's old website (https://www.fourassassins-movie.com/the-location-2/). I don't recognise the main building in the top photo but I suspect all of the interiors were shot in one or more of the old buildings at the former camp. Once occupied by Ghurkas, part of the camp has been redeveloped into a residential condominim complex called "The Royale"- although I believe the old temple has been preserved - the rest of the camp is currently used by the Crossroads Foundation.

Four Assassins - Will Yun Lee (2011) - Kansu Street, Yau Ma Tei

At the north end of Woosung Street was Tak Hing restaurant (德興海味). The neon signage in the image below though was located along Kansu Street-side of the building where the restaurant was located. I'm not sure when the restaurant closed but the signage most likely came down when the building was externally renovated in 2019.

Four Assassins - Will Yun Lee (2011) - Arran Street, Mongkok

Here is some more neon that has sadly been removed. It is the large sign for the Four Seasons Hotpot restaurant (春夏秋冬火鍋) that used to be located at 2-4 Arran Street in Mongkok.

Four Assassins - Will Yun Lee (2011) - Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei

A rather generic view of one of Hong Kong's night time street markets, but the presence of Asian Curry Chicken (亞星咖喱) at the bottom right tells me this is Temple Street just south of Kansu Street.

Four Assassins - Will Yun Lee (2011) - Tung Choi Street, Mongkok

Here's a view that should be familiar to anyone who has spent anytime reading the older posts of this blog. This is the usual collection of red minibuses that (illegally, but strangely never ticketed) gather on Tung Choi Street in Mongkok and this view is, specifically, from the pedestrian walkways above Mongkok Road. The neon sign below (for a karaoke club) also used to be located on the first floor of the building right next to the walkway - which explains why the camera could get such a close-up - but has since been removed.

Four Assassins - Will Yun Lee (2011) - Woosung Street, Yau Ma Tei

Another shot from the opening montage which shows a view looking south down Woosung Street between Saigon Street and Ning Po Street. None of this signage exists anymore - it's been removed in the slow stripping away of Kowloon's soul. Welcome to the new Hong Kong.

Four Assassins - Will Yun Lee (2011) - Victoria Harbour

Next up is a 2011 film, Four Assassins, starring Will Yun Lee and Miguel Ferrer. It's about a group of contract killer friends with a bunch of personal baggage who meet up following Marcus' (Will Yun Lee) recent, seemingly unsuccessful, fulfilment of a contract for which he still expects payment.

It was shot completely in Hong Kong, although the way the film is put together - pretty much a single location film that would work as a stage play - I don't know why. Most of the different locations are all part of the initial montage of establishing shots including this rather colourful one of the harbour viewed from Kowloon-side.

In the bottom image you can see where SOGO used to be located under the atrium next to the Intercontinental (now The Regent) Hotel.