The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
- Dick Chua aims to make films with universal themes
- Max Zhang blessed to be part of The Grandmaster
- Winners in main categories at BAFTA film awards
| Dick Chua aims to make films with universal themes Posted: 12 Feb 2013 12:22 AM PST Dick Chua shares his love of filmmaking. WHILE not new to the filmmaking world, Dick Chua (also known as Chua Dick Woei) is now making his presence felt in it more than ever. Last December, his 15-minute short film Murdered was announced the grand prize winner of the BMW Shorties 2012. It was the sixth time BMW organised the annual short film competition, which aims to encourage Malaysians to produce their very own short films. Besides the grand prize, there are awards in supporting categories. For this round though, Chua's short film managed to bring home six of them, including Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Editing, Best Sound Engineering and the Best Actor Award for the lead actor Lee Yee Han's convincing performance. You must admit that is quite an amazing feat, by anyone's standard. Chua's winning film revolves around a scriptwriter pressed for time as his deadline is on the next day and he has not figured out what to write. It explores the possibilities that run in the mind of the writer as he paves out his story. "How we (the production crew) started out with the idea for Murdered was through a brainstorming session," recalled Chua. "While brainstorming, we were looking for ways to connect different elements of this story with that story. We reached a stage where we saw that we were actually connecting all the possibilities." The film became an exploration of the many possible ways of reaching an ending. What the team came out with really coincided with the theme of that year – 'Possibilities'. The theme was announced two months before the competition deadline, thus giving all participants the same duration to come out with a compelling film. The whole production process for Murdered – from the birth of the story idea to the filming, right up to the final editing – took the crew a month-and-a half to complete. Hailing from Kota Baru, Kelantan, Chua studied 3D animation in The One Academy in Kuala Lumpur before going to Canada to learn more about film production at Vancouver Film School. For the past six years since graduating, he has been involved in film production. Initially, the 30-year-old made the move to study film as he wanted to gain knowledge in directing animations. But while in the film school, he fell in love with filmmaking and decided to delve wholeheartedly into that. Asked what led him to love one field more than the other, he answered: "In 3D animation, you need to know modelling, rendering and all that stuff. But for film production, even if you are new to it and are alone today, you can still do a documentary or a movie. You can be the cameraman and the soundman. You can go out and record a complete film. I think that's the difference. (Filming) is more achievable." That is one of the things Chua hopes young people will pick up from watching his films – to realise that filmmaking is not a far-fetched dream. After setting an unprecedented record in the BMW Shorties history of winning the grand prize and six other award categories, one would think Chua is now faced with intense pressure to stay ahead of his own game. But for this filmmaker, any pressure that exists is a good thing and is viewed no more differently than the pressure of making a good film in any other circumstance. "After every film, you want to make a better one," he said, regardless of whether or not the film is for a competition and receives a lot of limelight. However, becoming the winner of a prestigious film competition does come with more opportunities. Not long after the awards ceremony, Chua was approached to make a music video for local singer Bell Yu Tian's song Yu Shi Tian De (Rain Is Sweet). After some deliberation, his team proposed instead to make a short film out of it. They went ahead with the shooting and completed the short film last month. The video can be viewed on YouTube. A look at Chua's works would make one realise one thing. Unlike what seems to be a trend among local filmmakers today who like to emphasise on local themes and culture, Chua aims to make films with universal themes that can speak to international audiences. "I want to be more universal," he said with conviction. Chua owns a production company by the name of D1, to mean 'the one', or if you say the letter and the digit in Mandarin quickly, it means 'first'. Needless to say, this filmmaker aims to be the finest in the industry. |
| Max Zhang blessed to be part of The Grandmaster Posted: 12 Feb 2013 12:18 AM PST After living in his famous actress wife Ada Choi's shadow, Max Zhang is coming into his own in The Grandmaster. China actor Max Zhang has a prominent role in Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster that is not reflected in the movie poster or promotional materials and much press coverage. Though his role as antagonist Ma San means he enjoys more screen time than Taiwanese star Chang Chen, it is Chang who gets billed ahead of him. But Zhang, 38, tells us in an interview that he is not at all insulted by any of this. He feels "blessed" to be part of the movie. He has the same attitude towards being called Mr Ada Choi, in reference to the popular 39-year-old Hong Kong actress, who is his wife and is more famous than he is. "It has never bothered me when people say she is more famous than me or doing better, because firstly, it is the truth," he says cheerily in Mandarin over the telephone from his home in Beijing. "Also, she is my wife and I want only what's best for her. Let's say if one day, her career goes downhill and I happen to be doing much better. Would I really be happy about that? Of course I wouldn't. I only want my wife to do well and be happy. So when people talk of how well she's doing, whether or not it's better than me, I really am very, very happy for her." Similarly, he sings the praises of Chang, who has overshadowed him. "Chang is an excellent actor and I respect him a lot. I really don't feel even the slightest bit of unhappiness over the fact that he is on the posters and I am not. As an actor, you shouldn't think so much about these things. Your job is only to do your role well. Everything else should be left to others to decide." The Grandmaster, which is showing in cinemas (worldwide except Malaysia), is about martial arts expert Ip Man, who taught Bruce Lee his Wing Chun skills. Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi as another pugilist, the fictitious Gong Er, it also looks at the types of martial arts styles from around China. Zhang's character Ma San is the man who kills Gong Er's father. Although he is the only actor among the main cast to have formal martial arts training before the film, he says he has no idea why Hong Kong director Wong picked him to play Ma San. "Action choreographer Yuen Wo Ping introduced me to him, but of course he still had the final say. I am very thankful that he chose me." Trained in martial arts as a child, he has also been working with Yuen (Kill Bill Vol. 2, 2004) since 1998. He was a stunt double for several actors on large-scale gongfu films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002). The Grandmaster is his biggest project to date as an actor, following roles in period TV dramas such as The Tearful Sword (2007) and Ming Dynasty (2007). In all the time before his big break, his biggest fan was his wife. Sounding genuinely grateful, Zhang says: "No matter what, Ada has been really supportive of me through the years. I owe her a lot for that. She already thought I was a good actor long before The Grandmaster." They married in 2008, had daughter Zoe in 2011 and are expecting their second child. Choi, whose acting credits include TVB dramas Healing Hands (1998) and The Gem Of Life (2008), was one of the most popular actresses in Hong Kong before she relocated to China for work and family in the mid-2000s. Zhang emphasises that he has never ridden on her fame to get roles. "There have always been those few people who would say that I only got roles because I'm married to Ada or that she helped me get those roles, which is not true. "I guess this is part and parcel of being in show business, but I feel a little wronged by it. But it's okay – all I can and will do is to keep working hard and know that people will eventually recognise me for that." Following the release of The Grandmaster in China last month, he says he has already received "a lot more script offers". "While we were filming, director Wong told me that I would be getting a lot more movie roles after the release of this film and it's true. "The thing is, people have been saying I am a worthy actor now that I've done this movie. But I have worked hard for the past decade and I look at that entire process of learning to be enough of a reward. "I've also always looked for opportunities where I can exhibit my talent and let people see what I can do. I'm just glad I never gave up all these years." – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network |
| Winners in main categories at BAFTA film awards Posted: 10 Feb 2013 07:24 PM PST LONDON: Here is a list of winners in the main categories at the BAFTAs, Britain's top film awards, which took place in London on Sunday. BEST FILM: "Argo" OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: "Skyfall" BEST DIRECTOR: Ben Affleck for "Argo" LEADING ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln" LEADING ACTRESS: Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour" SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained" SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway in "Les Miserables" ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Quentin Tarantino for "Django Unchained" ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook" FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: "Amour" ORIGINAL MUSIC: "Skyfall" CINEMATOGRAPHY: "Life of Pi" |
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