Life of Bigfoot

“I don’t come from money,” says the soft-spoken, 36-year-old aspiring mogul. “But I made a lot of money in the crazy dot.com times. You think it’s going to solve your problems, but you have so much more to worry about.”

These days, Gleissner has traded in those old financial worries for a new batch: his directorial debut, “Irreversi.” He's shooting it twice, once in English and once in Mandarin. “It’s a thriller,” he says. “It’s about a couple that goes from being very poor to having tremendous wealth. They think that money solves all their problems. But after a tragedy, things are revealed.”

Not one to rest on his laurels, Gleissner wrote the screenplay and will even have a minor supporting role. Then he went about securing an international cast, including actress Estella Warren(“Planet Of The Apes”), and rising actors Mei Melancon (“X-Men 3”), Ian Bohen and Kenny Doughty. Also figuring prominently will be Hong Kong itself, including Victoria Park, Tsim Sha Tsui and the Peak. “It’s a great backdrop for an international film. It deserves to be shown,” says Gleissner. “There are a relatively small number of international movies that come here. But my movie is such a non-Hong Kong movie. Nobody beats anyone up.”

Once shooting for both films has been completed (the Chinese cast for the Mandarin version will be announced next month), the film will be edited and finished at the International Academy of Film and Television in Cebu, a full-fledged, post-production facility that Gleissner built from the ground up and which he hopes will someday be known as one of the best in the region.

He not only expects to have students from around the world attending classes there, but for Hong Kong and Hollywood to come calling. “Many don’t mind getting into movies so they can have dinner with Julia Roberts. I’m too capitalist for that. This is a five- to 10-year plan. We want to be serious players.”