It's a scream!
It's a scream!
Many of us may not realise that the latest American horror flick, Freddy Vs Jason, is directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ronny Yu Yan-tai. The film, which topped the United States' box office for the first two weeks of its release, is now showing in local cinemas.
Following his success with the Bride of Chucky - about a possessed doll - five years ago, Yu was invited to take part in two famous film franchises - Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street and Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th. 'I'm actually not fond of horror movies,' the film veteran said at the Hong Kong Director in Hollywood talk, organised by the Cinema and Television Department of Hong Kong Baptist University last week. 'It's because I am afraid [of watching them].'
The event attracted more than 100 students from the faculty as well as film lovers from other disciplines.
Before Yu started his career in Hollywood, his Hong Kong film credits included The Phantom Lover. His international breakthrough came with the award-winning series The Bride with White Hair, starring Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing and Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia, which gained him recognition in the West.
'I received a lot of phone calls after the release of The Bride with White Hair. People from Spain, France, Australia and America said that they loved the film,' he said.
'I had intended it to be an action romance,' he added, 'but in the West people assumed that I was a 'slasher movie' maker. I received many scripts about scary films.'
However, he rejected them all, insisting he was not a 'slasher movie director'. Yu's dream came true when he released his US debut, Warriors of Virtue, in the mid-90s. Though the film was not a great success, it gained him vital experience.
Yu said the Hong Kong style of film making was very different to that in Hollywood. There, everything should be planned or known beforehand and that 'involves a lot of time to prepare for a shoot'. But in Hong Kong, directors have the flexibility to change anything at the scene. Yu said he combines both film cultures in his Hollywood productions.
So what advice would he give to Hollywood newcomers? 'The first step to becoming a director in Hollywood is to put aside your ego,' he explained, adding that filmmakers often need to be 'salesmen and convince others to invest money in your production'.
'In Hong Kong, directors are 'gods' as they have their own creative freedom,' he said. 'But in Hollywood, even though you are talented you have to be a good salesperson and ask for money.'
Though horror films are really not Yu's cup of tea, he is working on another spooky movie called Blood, an adaptation of a Japanese cartoon about vampires and a school girl. 'If you want to be a mainstream director, you have to try everything,' he added. The film opens today in Hong Kong
