One of the most popular stars at the time was the Shaw Brothers leading man Alexander Fu Sheng. Sheng was THE heart-throb of a generation of Hong Kong girls and was admired by his male fans for his superb martial arts skills. Yet today he is generally unappreciated by many Kung-Fu movie fans. He first appeared in "Police Force"(1973) but really became a star following his incredible, charismatic appearences in Chang Cheh`s Shaolin Temple films, "The Men From The Monastery"(1973), "Heroes Two"(1974), "Shaolin Martial Arts"(1974), "Disciples Of Shaolin"(1975) and "Shaolin Temple"(1976). His other films included "Na Cha The Great"(1974), "Marco Polo"(1975), "Boxer Rebellion"(1975), "Eight Man Army"(1976), "The Naval Commandos"(1976), "The New Shaolin Boxers"(1976) and "The Chinatown Kid"(1976).

It was at this point that he was considered for the lead in the planned Seasonal Films production "Snake In The Eagle`s Shadow". Unfortunately for Sheng he had just suffered a serious injury. He had badly broken both legs and was consequently out of the running. In fact his legs had been so badly smashed he wasn`t expected to ever return to movie making.

The film's director, Ng See Yuen, had seen a young leading man, then known as Sing Lung or Jacky Chan, in several Lo Wei productions and thought the relatively unsuccessful Jacky had the necessary comedic talents, martial arts skills and charisma to take Sheng`s place. For a small financial consideration, Lo Wei, who at that stage basically `owned` Jacky, agreed to 'loan' Jacky to Seasonal.

Although still far from 100%, Sheng eventually recovered enough to resume his career with "The Proud Twins"(1979). This was followed by "The Deadly Breaking Sword"(1979), the incredible "Legendary Weapons Of Kung Fu"(1980), "My Rebellious Son"(1982), "Treasure Hunters"(1982), Wong Jing`s "Hong Kong Playboys"(1983) and "Eight Diagram Pole Fighters"(1984). It was during the filming of this movie that, while travelling with his brother in a car, he was involved in a serious accident on Clearwater Bay Road. The car had smashed into a wall at high speed. Sheng was critically injured and after a few days his final fight ended.

There is little doubt that Jackie would have still become the superstar he is today even if he had NOT got the lead role in "Snake In The Eagle`s Shadow". However, things might have been VERY different for Alexander Fu Sheng. Some believe that if Sheng hadn`t moved house in 1976 he wouldn`t have suffered the injury that lost him the role in "Snake In The Eagle`s Shadow" and wouldn`t have died before his time. The house he had bought was notoriously unlucky and was believed to be cursed. The house in Kowloon Tong (Nine Dragon Pond), was the home of the late Bruce Lee.

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