So happy of the local success and the warm
welcome in festivals of Media Asia's latest big hit Infernal Affairs, Fred Tsui
enthusiastically answered our questions on the Media Asia policy, the Infernal Affairs
development and its prequel, and the Hong Kong moviegoer interests in well packaged and
produced movies.
The interview is divided into three
parts:
Media Asia policies and targeted
market - Infernal Affairs
-At the local box office
Media Asia policies and targeted market
HK Cinemagic: What is your
function at Media Asia?
Frederick Tsui: I
joined the company a year and a half ago. I work in co-production and distribution. So
basically, I sell the film and I am also in development. Before a film is produced, I
would have to look at the script, and see whether it can be turned into a film that could
be commercially viable. It's all before the green light. Once the film is green-lighted, I
am almost out of it until it's done. When it's done, then I have to go and sell the film.
From now on, I'll be also involved in some kind of marketing and festival presentation
related to distribution. I've been involved with Infernal Affairs, Princess d,
Visible Secret 2, Naked Weapon, and then the Media Asia upcoming films in 2003.
What should a movie contain
to be green-lighted for international markets?
There is not definite formula. You have to have a look at the script and see whether it
will translate. Sometime the content is so regional, especially comedies, because
dialogues are so ingrained in the culture of locals. Even some of the comedy elements
cannot travel outside of HK, because they could be making fun at local commercials or
things that happen to celebrities that none would know about. It all depends whether the
film have some universal values. If these films are more like art-house films, we will
have to see if international markets can absorb that. And because of these cultural
elements, it might be able to sell. So it all depends. Infernal Affairs can
translate into anything. It just happened that it's an Asian film. For that kind of things
it would work. But sometimes some films can be very local and very regional. There are no
criteria. I don't check saying this is international elements. It's just looking at the
script and see whether it might work.
At Media Asia, when you have
a good script, do you look for a director to make the movie or do you have already the
filmmakers at hand?
In HK it's different. They are already partners. Many of filmmakers are with
scriptwriters. When we read the script, there is already a director attached to it.
Sometimes, it's even the director who submits the script to us.
After you green-lighted a
project, do you have much input on the way it's produced?
The director would have the final say of everything. But then, we will try to work with
the director and the scriptwriter about the script on the commercial side. We see what is
not going to work. We won't go and say:
"That's wrong. The director shouldn't direct like that ."
It's then the way it is in
HK. It's very different from the Hollywood approach...
Yes in a way. In Hollywood, it all depends on the director, how big he is. We try to have
a compromise. At Media Asia, we don't really want to control how the director is going to
direct the film. When we work with him, we make sure that it's going on the way we agreed
on. The creative side always rests with the directors.
Media Asia makes movies for
international markets now. Naked Weapon is in English, Infernal Affairs has
a production value up to international standards.
What is the Media Asia policy now?
We
actually have diversified policies. These two films you are talking about are aimed at
international markets. But we also have more local oriented films like comedies for the HK
region consumption. So they might not be able to sell to international audience, only
maybe to Chinatown, things like that. Those are smaller budgets and we are targeting
locals.
So what market is the most
important for you at Media Asia?
It depends on the film. If it's a big budget film, international markets for sure. Infernal
Affairs is a big budget film, we have to have international buyers because
international market is essential to the film. But if it's small-scaled films, we're only
targeting at local viewers. Then international market is not as important, it will be a
bonus if we can sell the film. When we make the film, we decide what kind of film we want
it to be. So whether it's a small budget film aimed at international market, or at local
market, at the Chinese market, Mainland China. It all depends of the project. We try to
diversify, we don't want to have only one kind of film.
As distributors from European
countries (e.g. France) are more and more attracted by Asian movies, do you think that
Media Asia could produce movies more oriented to an 'European market'?
As I said, we don't try to produce a film to target an international market. We try to
produce local films and if there are elements that would appeal to international audience,
that would be good. Except Jackie Chan's movies, which are more international! We don't go
and say: "let's produce film to target at Europe". We don't do that. It's not
going to work that way. We try to keep the original creative integrity of the film and to
structure it accordingly. If it's not meant to international market, we control the
budget, so we recoup from local market.
What are Media Asia big
projects for 2003?
We will have a prequel of Infernal Affairs. We'll start shooting at the end of
April, early May. And we have a Jackie Chan project, which will be our biggest production.
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Infernal Affairs
Tsui Hark's
wife Nanshun Shi is credited as the producer
of the movie. What was her task?
She was the producer and the vice-chairman of Media Asia. She recently left and became the
senior advisor. She needs to spend more time in her husband's projects. On Infernal
Affairs, she was the executive producer. She oversaw the whole thing. Media Asia acted
like a studio. Andrew Lau was the producer and also the director. But then you need people
to oversee the whole project and to make sure that everything runs.
Will the prequel be the same
type of movie, i.e. a big budget film with great production value?
The budget of the prequel
would be probably less, because the two main actors, Tony Leung and Andy Lau, won't be in
this one. This is much cheaper already! They might have cameo performances. The script is
kept wholly confidential. So we haven't had the chance to read it yet. Scriptwriters are
still working on it. The main plot will be on the other two side characters, Anthony Wong
and Eric Tsang and we'll see what happened to them. Because right now they are the bosses
in respective sides.
But who are they? Are they good guys? Like Anthony
Wong is like a good guy, but who is he? Maybe he's not a good guy? You never know. In the
prequel, we'll know more about them. The prequel will be also about the two leads when
they are younger. There will be new women, stronger women characters in the prequel. In Infernal
Affairs, the women are not as important. There will be other characters not in the
original one brought in as well. But all these are not confirmed yet!
Infernal Affairs had a
huge success in HK. Did you expect this?
Not to that extent. Never!
And what about in the rest of
Asia?
In Taiwan, it's not doing this well. In Korea it's doing OK. In Thailand I don't know yet.
How do you explain that
Taiwanese audience doesn't watch anymore this type of films?
They somehow have lost interests in Chinese films. Not all Chinese films. But for
filmmakers like Hou Hsiao Hsien, his films cannot be released in Taiwan! Hollywood films
are really popular there. People go to the cinema, but they are very selective. Hero
[NDRL: Zhang Yimou's latest film]
is doing OK, whereas Infernal Affairs isn't doing as well. We try to find out why
certain films work there and other don't.
Is it easy to sell a film
like Infernal Affairs?
It's not easy.
But then it's because people liked the film. It's a well-made film. It's not as difficult
as say an art-house local film or a comedy. Naked Weapon was easy to sell because
it's pure action. It's kind of exploitative in a way. That kind of films would appeal to
certain buyers. They like to buy Asian action films. For Infernal Affairs, that's
different because it also appeals to other buyers who normally would not buy Asian films.
They look at it as a good film, and they want to buy it. That's different from some very
specialised buyers wanting erotic or action films from Asia. Infernal Affairs
hopefully would be able to cross the barriers. It's shown in Berlin, in Deauville and in
other festivals, so many people have seen it and most of them liked it. So we're received
offers from different companies, that normally wouldn't do business with us. Because our
films are normally more mainstream and commercial oriented. Infernal Affairs is a
cross between commercial and art-house. So it appeals to both.
Have
you already sold the film? If so, to which countries?
As you know, we have already sold the remake rights to Warner Bros. in Hollywood. But for
the film itself, we still have no confirmed good buyers. As for Europe, we already have
lots of offers from France, Germany… But we haven't closed the deal yet. We try to
get the best distributors. Sometime, we get people that can offer us a lot of money. But
then, they might not be an ideal distributor. We look for someone who really liked the
film. And sometimes these distributors might not have the resources. We are looking for
higher minimum guarantee and they might not be able to do that. We are trying to get the
best we can.
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The local Box Office
Isn't it very dangerous at
the moment in HK to produce big budgets like Infernal Affairs? Because if they
don't work, that's a lot of money lost…
Yes, exactly.
The good thing about Infernal Affairs is that it worked! If it didn't, it would
have affected our bosses. They would be more scared about producing good quality films. At
first it was kind of risky. They budgeted it, the film was good but it didn't seem to be
good enough. Then it worked, and it was good for everyone. Quality works finally. It's
good for us also, because we know that our bosses will be more interested in investing in
quality films now. It's good for people in HK too. We are paying more and more attention
to the quality. It's good as well for the prequel. There will be less emphasis on the star
value than in the content and everything else. If it still works, that means we can take
that off. Because otherwise, it's too costly for people to have all these mega-stars. If
we have a success without Andy Lau and Tony Leung, it will be good.
Last year the local market
was very low. Are you confident for this year productions in Hong Kong?
Yes it was very low and suddenly with Infernal Affairs, things seem to be going up
again. So we don't know. We try to have more quality films as well. You never know. It
doesn't look like a definite revival. With Infernal Affairs, people just went back
to the cinemas. Which is good, because before, nobody watched films anymore in HK, for a
while. At least half a year! You didn't see people lining up for tickets. It was something
everyone did in the past. But it hasn't been done for a while in HK. Now you can go to a
cinema anytime and get a seat. With Infernal Affairs, everyone was lining up for a
ticket again! So it's a good sign. And even for other films, not only Infernal Affairs.
They lined up and pre-bought tickets.
It's a good sign. They show that they are not uninterested
in going to the cinemas. It's just that they are not interested in certain films. If the
right film comes up the audience is still there. It's been going on for a while. People
thought that moviegoers preferred to watch DVDs or to do something else instead of going
to theatres. It wasn't the case. With the huge success of Infernal Affairs, people
have the need to go to the cinema. They just couldn't find the film they want to go to
see. If we continue to produce film with quality, with some kind of commercial elements
maybe, there will be a revival. We need the support of all other film companies.
Do you think that the TV
productions and cable TVs, which are very popular in HK, had a part in the fall of the HK
cinema?
I don't really think so. People just lost interest.
But maybe, they have more
interests in staying at home watching TV and VCDs…
That's what we thought. With the coming up of Infernal Affairs, it turned out that
it shouldn't be the case. There were also pirated VCDs of Infernal Affairs coming
out and people still went to cinemas. If you have the right film, people would go. They
don't feel like paying so much to go to the cinema anymore. But if they find the film is
of good quality, they'll go. People are still going to see some Hollywood films.
Do you think that Infernal
Affairs worked because it has that great production value and this feeling of an
international movie attached to it? Maybe if it were less well produced it wouldn't have
attracted so much people?
True. I think
it's a combination of different factors: the script, the production and the chemistry of
the actors were very important. There are big stars, but then it doesn't mean that big
stars always work. It's the chemistry of the people and the word of mouth. People came out
and really liked it and it spreads. Many people were not use to watching local films. In
HK, certain people are 'eyebrow viewers' and always look down on local films. They only go
and see international films. These people went to see Infernal Affairs!
Many thanks to
Frederic Tsui for his patience and his kindness.
Interview by Laurent Henry and Thomas Podvin, March 2003.
We'd like to extend our thanks to the 2003 Deauville Film Festival team and the Public
Système Cinéma, Laurence Hartmann-Churlaud, Sophie Bataille and Emita.
Very special thanks to Céline Petit who made this interview possible.
This interview
was transcribed by Thomas Podvin, April 2003.
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