Love story seals HK director's US arrival

STARTING anew in another country can often bring about culture shock, even when one is from a melting pot such as Hong Kong. Most of the SAR's directors and stars in Hollywood would probably attest to it, although most had the advantage of working in either cosmopolitan cities such as Los Angeles and New York, or in Asia, or both.

Peter Chan Ho-sun, however, did not have the same easing in for his Hollywood debut, The Love Letter. Shooting took him to the sleepy town of Rockport, Massachusetts, where his was perhaps the only non-Caucasian face.

'I've never lived in a homogenous place before. I mean, I've lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco, which were more culturally mixed, but to be in a place that is so homogenous - and you're not [from the same background] - it's so weird,' says Chan, who was back in Hong Kong last week to promote The Love Letter, which opens this week.

Nevertheless, he was helped by the friendliness and the warm welcome that he and his crew received from the townspeople.

'They're really friendly. Since I'm the only Chinese face there, everyone knows I'm the director. And everywhere we went, people would greet you. And it was a beautiful place,' he says.

Filming in Rockport was a little like going back in time for the director of such hits as He's A Woman, She's A Man and Comrades, Almost A Love Story. 'It was filming Alan & Eric (Between Hello And Goodbye) all over again,' Chan muses. 'It was, totally, in terms of setting. Alan & Eric, my first movie, was filmed in Stanley, which was an imitation of Rockport. In an ideal world, I would have made [that] film in a place like Rockport.