Two prop men convicted for carrying fake money from Hong Kong best picture winner Trivisa – because it was too realistic
Sentencing of pair over more than 200,000 fake banknotes used in the award-winning film sparks anger as filmmakers union calls case an international joke that could doom industry
When the Hong Kong crime drama Trivisa hit the city’s big screens it bowled over audiences with its high-level production values and gritty realistic plot that was loosely based on three real-life gangsters.
Take this scene: it’s a rainy day in 1997, news footage plays in the background – with mentions of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the pledge of 50 years unchanged – as infamous armed robber Kwai Chung-hung sits in a living room plotting his latest heist.
Shutting us down? We’ll just move to Causeway Bay, say some Mong Kok street performers
Kwai gets a phone call and takes out a stash of HK$1,000 banknotes wrapped in brown paper bags. Sprawled out of his bed are a host of fake IDs, including a counterfeit Canadian passport.
Everything looks so authentic, it’s as though it might be found in a police evidence room. Unfortunately for one member of the film’s production crew and another prop man, it eventually would be.
Cheung Wai-chuen and Law Yun-lam were found guilty on May 31 of possession of counterfeit cash that was used in the film, which took home five awards – including best picture – at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards.
In a twist worthy of a Hollywood plot, the authenticity that had garnered the film so much acclaim was now the pair’s undoing.