The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
- James Lee's latest flick
- Hollywood icon gets biggest makeover for 35 years
- 'Goodbye Emmanuelle': Sylvia Kristel buried in Netherlands
| Posted: 27 Oct 2012 06:15 AM PDT Filmmaker James Lee goes back to what he knows best in his latest independent feature, If It's Not Now, Then When? THE title of a film is usually a good indication of what you can expect from it. And when the title is If It's Not Now, Then When?, well you know it's not going to be about vampires in love! Where James Lee is concerned, he'll be sure to let you know what you're in for ... like his aptly titled 2011 comedy horror Tolong! Awek Aku Pontianak (Help! My Girlfriend Is A Vampire). Now that's about vampires in love (or at least, one vampire in love). Lee's latest effort harks back to his roots as an indie filmmaker making ... indie films. You may think I'm being redundant but not all indie filmmakers make indie films. It's just like how not all mainstream filmmakers make commercial films exclusively. Lee is one of the few Malaysian filmmakers who has gone from being an indie filmmaker to "filmmaker-at-large". Lee, 39, made the leap to mainstream when he directed the horror film Histeria in 2007, and continues to make mainstream movies. He has an established reputation as a filmmaker, so much so that now, he either gets hired to direct a film or goes out and gets the money to make his own film. By the way, he also directs TV dramas, stage productions and short films. Prolific? You bet. Since he made his first feature film Snipers in 2001, Lee has, to date, directed 17 films altogether. In the last couple of years, he has made two commercial action-oriented films – The Collector (which is due for release in December) and Petaling Street Warriors (2011). So how is that different from making a movie like If It's Not Now? "Well, the film is smaller in scale and it's less epic," said Lee in an interview, laughing. If It's Not Now centres on a family unit of three living in an apartment: A mother (played by Pearlly Chua) who is hardly at home and spends her days in the park with her lover; her daughter (Tan Bee Hung) who spies on her mum, has a deskjob and is having an affair with her boss; and the son (Kenny Gan) who breaks into cars and modifies the electronics he steals. "There was a lot of experimentation during the shoot," the Ipoh, Perak-born director explained. "I had written the script and we had spent about one to two months in rehearsal before we started shooting. We did a lot of preparation for the characters but I still kept it 'semi-improvised' when we were shooting. "I let the actors do their thing on set. But I didn't push them as hard as I would on a mainstream film, for example." Lee is also known as a meticulous director who would do one take after another until he is satisfied with the results. While this may sound like Lee is one of those perfectionist directors who swoops down on set and puts the fear of God into cast and crew, there is actually a good reason why he does that. "When I'm working on a mainstream film, especially when I've been hired to direct a film, then I will do as many takes (as needed) until I get the best results. It's about being professional and obtaining professional results for the producers who hired me," said Lee. Action on the horizon One of the shortcomings of talking to Lee about his latest release is that it's usually not his latest movie project or projects. He shot If It's Not Now in a two-week period between July and August in 2011. He had written the story a year before in 2010 and had finished editing the film by early 2012. Incidentally, Lee describes the film quite succinctly as a "family drama". It will be screened at three different venues in the Klang Valley next week, in true indie style. If It's Not Now already made its international debut at the 17th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea early this month. Lee had attended the fest and also served as a jury member for the NETPAC Award. That meant he spent four days watching 12 Korean movies, among other things. "I don't know if you know this, but Korean films tend to follow a certain trend and the trend right now is to make brutal and violent films. So the majority of films I watched were just brutal and violent," noted Lee. And did that have any affect on Lee? "Yeah, I'm in the middle of getting my English sci-fi action thriller off the ground. It's called Atlantis Conspiracy and I plan to use a real mat salleh (Caucasian) cast (laughs). It's my mat salleh film (laughs). I mean, I'm still looking for investors but I'm trying to come up with my own approach to action. "Previously, with The Collector and Petaling Street Warriors, I've done classic Hong Kong-style action and with this film I want to do a combination of Korean and Hong Kong-style action. Hong Kong action is always over the top while Korean action is steeped in realism. I want to combine the two and make it my own," said Lee. Lee notes that film producers usually shy away from making an action film because it's either too costly or too complex to shoot. He points out, though, that action films can be made on a low budget, like the recent Indonesian film The Raid and the soon-to-be-classic El Mariachi by Robert Rodriguez. He hopes to change their minds with a short film he's made to show all the potential investors that he can do action by being original and cost-effective. While that project is underway, Lee will be preparing to shoot a mainstream film in Bahasa Malaysia next month. Funnily enough, Lee was saying just how "over-saturated" the local market was with the influx of horror/comedy films. "There are just too many hantu (ghost) movies ... I think the title for the film I'll be shooting next month is going to be called Hantu Facebook (laughs). This is how I survive, by making mainstream movies." If It's Not Now, Then When? will be screened Nov 1-3 with three new short films by James Lee. They will be shown at Tocatta Studios (19B, Jalan SS2/55, Petaling Jaya, Selangor) on Nov 1; Help Institute (Auditorium, Help University, Pusat Bandar Damansara, Kuala Lumpur) on Nov 2; and Five Arts Centre Studio (27 & 27 A Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 7, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, KL) on Nov 3. Showtime for all shows is at 8pm, with an extra 4pm screening on Nov 3 at Five Arts Centre Studio. Admission to all venues is RM5. This story originally appeared in the Oct 22, 2012 issue of The Star Editor's Choice. |
| Hollywood icon gets biggest makeover for 35 years Posted: 26 Oct 2012 06:27 PM PDT LOS ANGELES: The iconic Hollywood sign overlooking Tinseltown is getting its biggest renovation for 35 years, ahead of its 90th birthday next year. Workers are using window-cleaner style platforms as they strip down the 50-foot (15-meter) tall letters, powerwash the corrugated iron and apply nearly 400 gallons of fresh paint, organizers said. The operation, which started earlier this month, will take eight to 10 weeks to restore the sign to its bright white glory atop Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills north of Los Angeles, said the Hollywood Sign Trust. The original sign was erected in 1923 to advertise a property development called Hollywoodland, but the last four letters were removed in the 1940s. One of the City of Angels' most beloved attractions, the sign had fallen into disrepair until it was restored in the 1970s after a campaign that saw nine donors pay $27,777 to "adopt" one letter each. It was threatened again more recently when investors who own land surrounding the giant white letters indicated plans to sell the plot to developers. But Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner helped secure the sign in 2010, along with then-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other Hollywood luminaries including Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Although members of the public are forbidden from accessing the area around the landmark - a sophisticated alarm system including motion sensors has been set up to deter trespassers - the sign has a grisly history. In 1932, British actress Peg Entwistle infamously committed suicide by throwing herself off the top of the letter H. - AFP |
| 'Goodbye Emmanuelle': Sylvia Kristel buried in Netherlands Posted: 26 Oct 2012 06:22 PM PDT THE HAGUE: Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who starred in the cult erotic "Emmanuelle" films, was laid to rest after a "stylish and beautiful" ceremony in her birthplace Utrecht on Friday, her agency said. The actress, whose iconic role symbolised the sexual revolution of the 1970s, died on October 18 aged 60 after a battle with cancer. "The service took place this afternoon," Nina Ziegler told AFP Just Jaeckin, the French director of "Emmanuelle", attended the intimate ceremony at a funeral home during which her agent and others paid tribute. Clips from her films were played after which Kristel's body was taken for burial in Utrecht's cemetery, Ziegler said. Kristel was catapulted to fame in 1974 aged just 22 by her first movie, "Emmanuelle" which recounted the erotic adventures of a young woman in Asia. - AFP |
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