It was some 30 years ago when Hong Kong's movie industry first experienced its revolution, when a bunch of bold young directors tried to embrace the Hollywood-style of filmmaking yet retain their culture in the silver screen films. Hailed as the "New Wave" in Hong Kong, this group of groundbreaking filmmakers consisted of Patrick Tam, Yim Ho, Allen Fong, Ann Hui, who recently won the Best Director Award at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, and of course, Tsui Hark. Best known for his courageous attempts in combining Hong Kong martial arts with special effects from Hollywood, Tsui Hark once again proves himself a pioneer, this time for 3D filmmaking in the Asian movie industry. Titled "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 3D", Cinema Online was excited to catch this Jet Li-starring movie and find out what was Tsui Hark thinking about when he made this! Cinema Online had an interview with Tsui Hark at Golden Screen Cinemas, Midvalley, Kuala Lumpur. Q: What does 3D mean to you? Tsui: I think 3D enhances the sense of realism for a movie in terms of visual effects. It provides the audience an illusion of depth when viewing the film and this in turn provokes their visceral feelings for the plot. 3D technology has given the filmmakers the ability to produce pictures that can provide audiences an opportunity to put themselves in the characters' shoes. Q: What was the most challenging part for you in the production? Tsui: During the filming process, my team and I realized that to use 3D technology in a movie, we need more talents and professionals to help us solve the problems in 3D filmmaking, especially when it comes to tools and equipment on the set. The existence of 3D also challenged and reminded us about being meticulous in each and every little detail, as 3D would emphasize any flaws in filmmaking. Q: Would you continue directing your future films in 3D? Tsui: Well, if you look at the Hollywood movie industry, almost all of the blockbuster movies are shot in 3D. In fact, people would be surprised if those movies are not in 3D format. "Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate" is a stepping stone for us to break into the world of 3D filmmaking and it will be the beginning for me and other Asian filmmakers to produce more films in the future using this new technology. Q: It has been 14 years since the last time you worked with Jet Li. What took you so long to collaborate with him again? Tsui: After shooting the "Once Upon A Time In China" franchise and a few other movies together, Li [Jet Li] decided to spend most of his time making a name for himself in Hollywood, and as it turned out, he met with great success in terms of his reputation and salary. Back then, the market is still small and we did not have enough investments and funding, hence, we could not afford to hire Jet Li for our films. But now that the market is growing rapidly, we managed to find more parties who are willing to invest in our films, as well as discover Li's enthusiasm to shoot a kungfu film in 3D. Moreover, I needed time to come out with a creative script for him. So here we are.
Q: Do you worry that "Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate" would appear redundant for the audience as you once made "Dragon Inn", as this would definitely cause people to compare these two films? Tsui: No, because we filmed this movie using a brand new story and characters. None of the plots or characters are the same as what you have seen in "Dragon Inn". I would not want the new actors to play recycled characters because stars like Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung had made their mark in their roles in "Dragon Inn" so I don't think anybody can take over their place. That is why I hope moviegoers can judge the new cast's performances based on the new characters that we had created instead of comparing them with the old. Q: In the past, we often heard people saying that, as a director, you were very strict on the cast and crew on set while these days you are a much more looser person. Why is it so? Tsui: [Laugh] I have always been a nice director throughout my career. You know, filmmakers put high expectations on the team in order to reach a common goal, which is to produce a great movie. Making a 3D movie is a very good example of this. We know we want to make a change in the movie industry and to reach that; each and every one of us needs to be high spirited and focused on our jobs. Q: You have been working with countless actors and actresses. How do you lead them to fit their roles in a movie? Tsui: One word: communicate. A director must talk to their actor or actors all the time. It is hard to ask someone to imagine himself as a high-flying and undefeatable martial arts hero when he is not like that in reality. I have to inspire an actor's imagination about the character he is playing by encouraging him to do research, listen to more music, watch similar movies or movies with similar characters based on his or her personality so they can maximize their potential and to do that, I need to know them well.
Q: Do have any plan to shoot movie in Malaysia? Tsui: I will need to understand more about the culture and people in this country so I can build a proper story and background. Then, I will be back to Malaysia to make a film. Q: Thank you so much for the interview! Tsui: No problem, and thank you.