Maximum risk that paid off for Ringo Lam

As one of the top action directors in the territory, Ringo Lam Ling-tung is used to fast moves. Even so, the speed with which he landed his big Hollywood debut, Maximum Risk, caught him by surprise. While he had had lengthy meetings with Hollywood producers to talk over possible movies, nothing had ever emerged from it. But, with Maximum Risk, it just took minimal time before Lam had a script and a contract - in that order - in his hands. 'I have talked with other producers before but usually by the time they finish talking over the script or rounding up the stars, I would have started work on a movie already and was unable to take up the offer,' Lam said. But Maximum Risk producer Moshe Diamant caught Lam at the right time - on holiday in Toronto between films. Lam almost missed this chance because he had been looking forward to the month's holiday with his family for so long that he was loath to cut it short for just 'another one of those meetings'. After about four calls from a persistent Diamant, however, Lam relented. Within days, Lam had already been presented with the script and his cast list. 'At the time, I hadn't even seen my contract yet but [Diamant] told me not to worry, it was being drawn up. It was only after much negotiation that he allowed me about 10 days to come back to Hong Kong and pack my things,' Lam said. 'Luckily I did not have any films that I had to start work on immediately although I did owe Wong Jing one more film. But we're good friends and I talked to him about it. He said I should do [Maximum Risk ] first. It would help the next film's reputation anyway.' That was in October 1995. By January last year, Lam had already done all the pre-production work and cameras started to roll for Maximum Risk. Made at a cost of almost US$35 million (HK$270 million), it stars Belgian muscle man Jean Claude Van Damme and Natasha Henstridge, who last thrilled audiences by running around nude in the science-fiction horror, Species. Van Damme plays French policeman Alain Moreau who only finds out he has a twin brother, Mikhail, when the latter ends up being killed in Nice. Moreau decides to find out more about his brother and his only lead points to New York City. He ends up being pursued by the Russian mafia as well as crooked FBI agents through the streets of an incomprehensible and strange city, peopled by characters he finds equally weird. In many ways, that could well be a description of Lam who, in eagerness to find out about the world of Hollywood films, is thrown into the middle of big American cities in a culture that is different. But that is understandable since Lam has always maintained that his films are a representation of his feelings at the times he is making them. 'That is the strongest thing that I can relate to in the film,' Lam said. 'He goes searching and ends up in a strange city and he wants, more than anything else, to go home. When I make a film, I must relate to the main character. It's all very personal.' It has been a lonely year, he admitted. 'I didn't know a soul there. The person I spent most time with was the producer. With the crew and cast, it took a long time before you learned what you could say in front of some people and what you couldn't,' he said. But it was a conscious choice that Lam made to use an all-foreign crew and not bring any of his own along, even though producer Moshe Diamant had requested him to do so. 'When I decided to make this film, I thought, 'It will be my first Hollywood picture, and it could be my last'. If I wanted to take up the challenge I should make a 100-per-cent Hollywood picture, so I didn't bring anyone with me,' Lam said. 'I didn't know anyone on the other side and I had to find everyone from scratch . . . the director of photography, the stunt co-ordinator, everyone. I had to interview them and watch their films. The key men all have made big pictures.' Communication was not a problem for Lam. Even though he modestly claims that his English is 'not very good', he says getting the crew to understand him was not very difficult. 'In many ways, it was better than having to speak two languages on set. I had that problem before with Undeclared War, and parts of The Great Adventurer was filmed in San Francisco where I had to make use of foreign crew as well. It was really difficult then, having to explain in English and then in Chinese. It takes up double the time and slows everything down,' Lam says. 'Moreoever, on set, I can be very sullen or have temper tantrums. Can you imagine if I had just finished being angry with a foreign crew member and then turn round and instruct a Chinese crew in Cantonese, he [the Westerner] will think I am talking about him and will be unhappy.' Lam reckons he suffered for his decision because he found it more difficult to control his schedule. Had he made the film with a Hong Kong crew, Lam knew that he would make the deadline with little problem, but the Western crew was an unknown entity to him: he did not know how fast his new crew could work, especially when shooting had to take them from Los Angeles to New York City, Philadelphia, Toronto and Nice, France. 'You know, the studios are mostly concerned with two things: the budget and the schedule, because if you take even a day longer with the shooting, you have to pay a week's wages. But I was confident that I could finish the shooting in 12 weeks,' he said. 'They take their time doing things there. It doesn't matter if you take longer, as long as you do it well. That's the mentality there.' When Lam was conducting interviews to look for his director of photography, he already knew he had an uphill battle. The most set-ups that even the fastest could manage was fewer than 20 a day. Lam had in mind a figure closer to 40. 'The fastest I could get was still about 17 or 18, which is still a long way from 40. The problem is that if the DP [director of photography] does not get things moving, I cannot make my movie,' Lam said. 'Action movies require a lot of set-ups. If I were making a drama, I would not need to move my camera as much. But with every action, everything changes places. The DP was not very experienced with action movies.' Still he knew he had to adapt, telling himself that he already had the luxury of having 12 weeks. Many directors had to settle for eight. Often he had to quell his irritation at the speed things got done, especially in France where he overran by a couple of days. Faced with the prospect of changing his whole crew, he decided to stick with it and then had a word with his DP, Alexander Gruszynski, back in Toronto. 'You should have seen him after that 'private talk',' Lam says with mirth. 'He went round literally barking at his crew and getting them to speed up. The thing was that I was not too keen on changing the crew because I looked at the rushes and knew that Alexander's style was what I was looking for. That's not easy to find. But the whole experience has been a great test of my patience.' Although his shooting schedule was under control, Lam still had to deal with another uncontrollable force: the weather. It is not the first time that Lam's shooting schedule has run into weather problems. While filming The Great Adventurer, Lam ran into seven tropical storms, three in the Philippines and four freak ones in San Francisco. In France, it was just rain, which was easier to handle. 'You wouldn't believe it. It rained almost every day for four weeks except for one or two days. In the end, we just assumed it would rain and sprayed the ground wet for filming every day, whether it rained or not [for continuity]. A lot of money and time was wasted on this,' he said, shaking his head. Lam claims that after taxes, the money he got was only 'slightly more' than what he asks for in Hong Kong, but the Hollywood experience has been one to savour. 'In Hong Kong I only make one movie a year. But with this movie, I have been able to reach a much wider audience than I could possibly imagine. I have learnt so much but unfortunately a lot of it cannot be applied to Hong Kong because we don't have the cash to back it up,' he said. It would appear that working with a Hollywood crew has taught Lam how to relax as well. The formerly-intense and 'cool' director, who often refers to himself as a 'dark-faced god' because of his known temper tantrums, is laughing a lot more these days and it worries him. 'This is not good. Previously I used to bottle up everything and then unleash it when I am filming. Now, I am letting myself go loose. At this rate, I shall have to start making comedies soon!' he complained with another laugh. There is every likelihood that Lam will be working on another Hollywood project in the future, since Maximum Risk already made a profit on pre-sales before its cinema release. There are a few deals being talked about, but Lam's next project will be the one that he still owes Wong Jing. Unlike John Woo, who has been living in the US since his Hollywood debut, Lam has no intention of following - yet. 'For now, anyway, I can say for sure that I will not be moving to Hollywood. I still want to make Hong Kong films,' Lam said. 'However, I don't know what things will be like in the future. I'm not talking about politically, but the conditions of the film industry. I usually need about nine months to work on a movie. If you asked me to deliver one in 45 or 20-over days, maybe I could do it if there was little or no action. 'But I hear of people making movies in 10 or 11 days. I could not do that and meet even my minimum standards. If things get to that, I will have to think about making my living elsewhere.' Maximum Risk opens on Edko and UA circuits tomorrow