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Hong Kong's sordid underground drug trade will be portrayed on the silver screen later this year in a remake of the Oscar-winning film Traffic.

Director Derek Yee Tung-sing told the Sunday Morning Post  he is working on a local version of Steven Soderbergh's film on the United States' 'war on drugs'.

'The film is something like a police story. It will be a local version of Traffic, tailored to fit Hong Kong. It will be based on hard drugs, mainly heroin,' said the director.

'I want to expose the dark world of drugs in Hong Kong. It will be a shocking and realistic portrayal of what drugs can do to people.'

Traffic was based on the four separate but connected stories of users, dealers, police and a judge involved in the war on drugs. It won four Oscars in 2000, including best director for Soderbergh and best supporting actor for Benicio Del Toro.

Yee has approached a number of local and mainland stars for his film. The local production will share similarities with the original but its success will be based, he said, on who he casts.

'If there is one wrong choice made during casting, it will be the end of the film. All I can say is that people will be surprised by the production and actor lineup I have in mind,' he said.

Having done a lot of research on the effects and societal damage drugs can cause, Yee is hoping the big production will strike a nerve in the shrinking Hong Kong film market  and give his movie greater international appeal.

The Hong Kong market is pretty much destined for extinction  in the next few years, the director said, adding that there was only one way to survive.

'Some are trying to expand into the mainland market, but in the end, they will just be swallowed up. The Hong Kong movie industry will become just a small part of China.'

'Others are trying to make English-language films to get into Hollywood, but honestly, only less than a dozen will ever make it. So the only way for Chinese-language films to survive is for Hong Kong to make films that have more of an international appeal to increase distribution overseas.'

He believed that Hong Kong had a great advantage over mainland filmmakers - who he sees as being obsessed with their own art - in terms of success in the international market.

'There are a lot of good directors on the mainland but they are very self-centred individuals. Eighty out of 100 of them have written autobiographies, despite being in their mid-20s,' he said. 'Hong Kong films can take advantage of [this] ... and come up with films that have international appeal.'



Remake of Hollywood classic to lift lid on HK drug scene