Eric Tsang, Shawn Yue on how they came to star in Mad World, indie gem that’s one of Hong Kong’s hottest new films
Veteran actor almost backed out of Wong Chun’s debut feature because of its heavy subject matter, but instead roped in Yue to star, and film has since gone on to garner several prizes – with Hong Kong Film Awards still to come
When the veteran actor-producer Eric Tsang Chi-wai picked up an early script for Mad World – the feature film debut of two twentysomethings, director Wong Chun and screenwriter Florence Chan Chor-hang – he was more tormented than excited by the prospect of bringing the project to life.
As Tsang now recalls, he was not ready to participate in such a bleak story – even though he had promised to help Wong make his first feature after the young man impressed with his short film Good Take, a segment in the Tsang-produced Streets of Macao anthology (2013) that was subsequently released in cinemas last year as Good Take! and Good Take Too .
Wong, 28, says: “I remember that Tsang told me he was going to turn me down; he didn’t want to take part in such a tough and heavy project.”
So it was a blessing in disguise that Mad World was to be made on a budget of just HK$2 million – a shoestring figure in today’s business – as a beneficiary of the Hong Kong Film Development Council’s First Feature Film Initiative. “Once Wong told me there’s no money in it, I couldn’t say no to him – or it would look like I turned him down because of that,” says Tsang with a chuckle.
On the plus side, Tsang could foresee that the film – which revolves around the reintegration into society of a patient with bipolar disorder (played by Shawn Yue Man-lok) and his emotional reconciliation with his long-absent truck driver father (Tsang) – would be a showcase for any obliging actors. Its socially conscious subject matter – covering mental illness, family breakdown and the plight of those living in tiny subdivided flats in Hong Kong – would capture the attention of critics and win awards.
