bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Audrey Parwani

The director of  Infernal Affairs  says the Oscars' success of the movie's Hollywood adaptation, Martin Scorsese's The Departed,  would not prompt him to try to drive up the price for a remake of another film in talks now under way.

Andrew Lau Wai-keung  said Warner Brothers had been in negotiations since Christmas to obtain the rights to remake the psychological thriller Confessions of Pain.

'Negotiations for Confessions of Pain will not be affected and we will definitely not ride on the success of The Departed and charge more,'  Lau said.

He added that the interest in Hong Kong films was encouraging and he hoped more people overseas  outside the film industry would  become  familiar with  the city's movies. He said demand for  Infernal Affairs had already risen since The Departed picked up awards at the Golden Globes.

Confessions of Pain, created by the same team of Lau, Alan Mak Siu-fai  and Felix Chong Man-keung,  follows the story of a police detective and his private detective friend who investigate the murder of the officer's  father-in-law.

It is believed the new film will see the collaboration of the same team that  worked on The Departed, including screenwriter William Monahan,  actor Leonardo DiCaprio  and Vertigo Entertainment.

Lau said he would not mind the story being changed too much if it  had to be adapted to suit different markets and cultures. But he felt Confessions of Pain would make for even better adaptation  and fewer changes would need to be made.

The local director does not wish to have  any directing role  or otherwise in the new film. 'We spent three years on  Infernal Affairs and another year on Confessions of Pain, and gave them everything we had. Having someone else come with fresh ideas is a good thing. I don't think I will be able to add anything new beyond what we have done.'

Co-writer and co-director of  Infernal Affairs  Mak   had commented after the Oscars that the  adaptation of The Departed had 'not gone far enough' in offering a vision distinct from the 2002 original.

As to whether the new film would be a major hit,  Lau said: 'I don't want to think too far ahead about awards or things like that.

'I'll be happy as long as people like the [new] film and more people get to know about Hong Kong films.'

The Departed was named best film at Monday's Academy Awards and won best film editing. Martin Scorsese  won best director and screenwriter  Monahan  won an award for best adaptation for the film.



Oscar success of Departed won't raise price in new deal: director