Helios not intended as follow-up to their hit Cold War, directors say
The directors behind 2012's surprise hit say their latest outing is a different type of film, but one that's still very much about the core values of Hong Kong
It's a hard act to followfor sure: Cold War (2012), a crime thriller and directorial debut by Sunny Luk Kim-ching and Longman Leung Lok-man, was the highest-grossing Chinese-language film in Hong Kong that year and went on to pick up nine prizes at the 2013 Hong Kong Film Awards, including best film and best director.
But if the pair are under any pressure to repeat the feat with their latest offering, Helios, which opens May 1, they are not showing it. Sitting inside their new production office in Kwun Tong, which started operations in mid-April, they appear to be occupied with matters much closer at hand.
"We finished the renovation here in just a month and two days. We don't have much money so we had to make it quick. Salaries are expensive," says Leung. Luk chimes in: "We're still unpacking."
With "CW2" prominently scribbled on a blackboard, the space is a testament to how far they have come since their breakthrough 2012 film. Luk and Leung first worked together on 2003's The Twins Effect, and had been well regarded for two decades within the industry respectively as assistant director and art director.
See our review of Helios
Luk denies that they feel pressured to follow up on Cold War's success: " Helios is a different kind of film, so when we worked on this we had more freedom. On the contrary, when we start working on the sequel, the pressure would be larger because we have to continue where we left off; we would be restricted by the framework of the first film."