|
Click here for the Johnnie To profile story and here for the review of PTU.
Interview with Johnnie To
Interviewed by Annisa Kau
Transcribed by Junie Quah
Hong Kong native Johnnie To began his career in television in 1973 and has made 30 feature films as a producer and director. After a few years of script-writing, he became a director's assistant and a television-director, before finally turning his focus to the cinema with his first film, The Enigmatic Case (1980). However, it would be another six years before he dedicated himself wholly to cinema, dabbling in all different genres as is typical for a Hong Kong director. His scope as a director ranged from the action-packed The Big Heat (1988) to historical parodies in Justice, My Foot (1992), the racy Heroic Trio 2 (1993), the police-thriller Loving You (1995), the drama Liveline (1997), and A Hero Never Dies (1998). His films Running out of Time (1999) and The Mission (1999) have brought To international distinction as a director. His most recent film, PTU (Police Tactical Unit), explores camaraderie, righteousness, and the nature of heroism in this crime film. Johnnie To was recently honored as Best Director at the 10th Annual Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards in 2003.
APA: How did you communicate with your cameramen, and…
Johnnie: Before filming, I would tell the cameramen my concepts, and let them know my expectations. It was more difficult to have the work done perfectly for the first couple of days, since most of us came from different working environments. Instead of preparing beforehand, we did our talking and the planning of the layout at the filming scene. At the scene, the crews would adjust the lightings and angels for try-out, and from there I would decide if that was the set up that I had in my mind. The basic idea here was to let the cameramen know what I was expecting, and allow them to perform their job in their own way to compromise. I am not the kind of person who likes to do listing and organizing, and follows everything point by point. I don't even like to write scripts for my movies. I prefer drafting my ideas, and start filming when I think it's the time. Having to write and edit the scripts perfectly makes me feel that I have already made the movie, especially movies like PTU and The Mission.
APA: Many people think that the film industry in Hong Kong is very commercialized. However, I can see that a lot of your works are rather more artistic. How did you manage to balance this?
Johnnie: Actually, I do have some “commercialized” films in this industry but people probably just don't realize it. I personally felt that everyone has the right to handle their films in whichever way they wish. Being a director in Hong Kong, it is probably hard to survive in this field if we only make films that are too personal. We need to be flexible in a way that we are able to fulfill the expectations on us.
I would really like to help my company make some profit by making films that are preferred by the general audience. So far, everything is working out well. I certainly know what type of films I would like to make, and there are a lot of people who think I should insist on what I want to do as a director. However, I do have my concerns. Looking back on the film history in Hong Kong, there is a reason why it is so successful. It is all about the box office. The box office allows the Hong Kong film industry to survive till this day. Whenever the box office drops, the production of films is affected. Specifically, we can be compared to the Japanese movies. We can see that the Japanese movies have improved more than us (Hong Kong) for the past couple of years, yet their production is still low. Their movies are more toward extraordinary storyline, or artistry. But if we look back to their film history, they were way more successful than us.
In Taiwan, there are almost no productions from them, but only a couple of the local directors are still making movies.
So when there is support from the audience, it is hard for the movie industry to survive. Why is it that Hollywood is still considered the most successful and well-known film industry in the world? It is all because their movies are profitable. Considering Hong Kong, we can actually count ourselves as one of the better ones in Asia. But in order to maintain this status, we have to keep our audience.
APA: What do you think about the Hong Kong film industry in Asia now, and the future? And, what is your point of view on the Korean film industry?
Johnnie: I will first look at the situation in Hong Kong. The worst time for the Hong Kong film industry was back in 1998. It got better in the year 2000. I believe it is stabilizing itself now, and it should not get any worse. The enormous population in China has the greatest impact on this. The reason why sometimes the film industry has its down-fall is because there are no buyers who want the movies. The time when the Hong Kong film industry was the most prosperous was when Asian countries like Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia were still buying movies from us. However, since even Singapore has started their own film company, and that Korea has also starting to make their own not movies and buy more movies from the Hollywood, we do not have as much of an advantage as before. For Taiwan, they seem totally not interested in Hong Kong movies at all. The reason why we are still able to survive is because of the combining of Hong Kong and China, which allow us to fulfill the needs from the investors. The Canton population itself is already in the millions. Therefore, I believe that as long as we keep the quality of our products and work towards the greater population in China, we will still be able to survive. For me, I am looking at the future very optimistically. Although there will be ups and downs along the way, there is no easy way to get through whatever we want except for accepting the challenge and dealing with them.
I don't think that the Korean film industry has made a great impact on the Hong Kong industry. I have already been asked a few times before, regarding this issue. To take a closer look at the box-office on Korean movies, so far “My Sassy Girl” is the only one that has made it to the top in Hong Kong. The difference between Hong Kong movies and Korean movies is that Hong Kong movies have more variety. There are comedy, action movies, and the others. But, the only kind of Korean movies that are popular in Hong Kong are the romantic love story movies. I am not saying this is a problem at all. We have no right to suggest to someone else what to do, and that they also have the right to improve themselves. For my point of view, I do think that the Korean film industry is improving a lot. A lot of the Korean directors are amateurs, and Hong Kong should also allow newcomers to make more films. The more directors are willing to make films, the better it is going to be for the market. In fact, all the other part of Asia should be doing this in order to produce more variety for the audience.
APA: Do you have any thoughts of joining the Hollywood team?
Johnnie: (laugh) You guys are always asking this question. Of course being able to make Hollywood films will be a great experience for every director. However, we say that for those (senior directors) who had directed films in Hollywood, those films they made in Hollywood did not turn out as good as those they made in Hong Kong. John Woo is one of the few exceptions who is very successful, and Ann Li is still working with the Hollywood team. I actually thought about this before. For those who failed, I don't think it is their problems. In fact, for myself, I would rather choose the scripts that I think is the most suitable for me to direct. I don't necessarily need a lot of money to make a film nor do I want the best actors and actresses in my film. Only if I feel that I have the best scripts and the best timing, then I will consider it worth it to make a film in Hollywood. If not, I still think Hong Kong is the place that is allowing me to make the movies I like.
APA: Who you do think has influenced you the most in this field?
Johhnie: In terms of my movies, I think Akira Kurosawa has influenced me the most. His movies are my favorites. Other than that, American directors like, Stanley Kubrick, is also one of my favorites.
APA: Ok, my last question for you is that do you think the outbreak of SARS has brought a unity to the people in Hong Kong?
Johnnie: Actually Hong Kong people are really united and they have dealt with this situation very well. SARS has affected us greatly. The economy is already bad enough, and we still have to deal with this kind of disease. Well, the people did not really do anything unlawful like streak, or get themselves depressed over the whole situation. I really think they did a good job in dealing with all these negative situations. Even a million people parade was well organized. As the matter of fact, Hong Kong people are supposed to be very well-disciplined, and even for such situations, we are all just waiting for it to become better.
APA: So when can we expect another movie from you?
Johnnie: I am still working on the new movie right now.
APA: Thank you.
|