CineVue got the chance to talk with world-famous Hong Kong director, Mabel Cheung and her long-time producer, Alex Law, on their 2015 film entitled A TALE OF THREE CITIES. The epic film is based on the love story of Jackie Chan’s parents against the background of the Sino-Chinese War and the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
AAIFF ’16 showcased A TALE OF THREE CITIES as its centerpiece presentation on July 23, 2016.
Kari Lindberg: Why did you decide to tell this story?
Mabel Cheung: We went eating, drinking, and karaoke singing with Jackie Chan’s father, Fong Daolong, and afterwards he started talking. I found him a really fascinating character. We actually wanted to do it sooner but we couldn’t find the money. It took us ten years to put on this production.
Alex Law: It was very difficult to sponsor the film.
KL: What were the difficulties in getting sponsors?
MC: Major difficulties, because it is about escaping from city to city. I wanted to film in the actual city. Of course you can film in the studio and build all the scenery, but it is very different from shooting in the real location and as a result it became very expensive.
KL: Is there more of a push in Chinese cinema to create larger epics?
MC: I don’t think so, it is just coincidence. John [Woo, director of THE CROSSING, a two-part epic series] and I made these films at more or less the same time. The trend in China is…smaller films…More expensive [films], but not epics because all the film star and crew salaries have become more expensive…The most popular films are modern comedies, love stories, special effects adventure films. Epic films are not in the category.
KL: Regarding the cinematic use of subtitles, why did you decide not to inform a non-Chinese-speaking audience when a different dialect was being deployed?
MC: We switched language to emphasis the change of city. It’s A TALE OF THREE CITIES so we intentionally had people speak the dialect of that city, Cantonese in Canton, Shanghaiese in Shanghai, and Anhuiese in Anhui…But it is difficult to translate into English. I don’t think you can translate Shanghaiese into English.
AL: We had one of the best translators working on the film.
MC: We didn’t think of [letting the audience know another dialect was being used] because [it meant putting] it in brackets.
AL: I did give it some thought, but the thing is in several scenes they would speak Shanghaiese and then the next several scenes they would all speak Anhuiese and sometimes a combination of the two languages would be used in a scene together. Unless you put it in brackets, and even if you do, the Western audience wouldn’t be able to really comprehend anyway.
KL: How was the film received in China and Hong Kong?
MC: It was the same. But it got better reception in the West.
AL: …In China and Hong Kong, people could share in the sadness, could share their yearnings.
MC: Maybe [Chinese audiences have] seen too many of these kinds of films and TV programs about that period in history. Maybe in the West it is difficult to get to see these kinds of films.
KL: Currently there is a big push for young Hong Kongers to distinguish themselves against the Chinese. In creating this film, were you hoping to convey a sense of shared unity amongst the two countries?
MC: I don’t know, it was not our original intention…I thought, I owe my father’s generation a film that pays tribute to my father’s…generation. Because almost all our grandparents and parents came from China. All the people in Hong Kong, my classmates, they or their parents were refuges from the war…Jackie Chan’s parents belong to the same generation and their story is more romantic and I thought that I would just make them the representative of that age. [It]…is a tribute to all our parents who suffered so much during that period of time and were strong and steadfast in finding a new home. I really have a lot of respect for that generation.
AL: We shot the film to pay tribute to the whole generation who went from China to Hong Kong. If you want to talk about how different the Chinese and Hong Kong people are, that is a totally different story and you need another 128 minutes.
KL: Your previous films have mostly been on a smaller scale, very people-centric. What were the challenges of working on a big scale film with a large historical forefront that at times takes precedent over the people?
MC: …To me, big and small stories are the same. You just concentrate on the human stories and all the things that happen, no matter how big, are just in the background. So you think this is a really big epic, but to me, the way I make the films is the same.
AL: Another reason why we [make] less epic films than small personal films is financing. To get financing for a big epic film you need to have more time, approach more people–so every ten years we will make an epic, but every two years we would make a small intimate story.
KL: Did Jackie Chan’s parents know you were going to make this film? Was Jackie Chan involved?
MC: Oh yes they knew about it. I had to get their authorization. Jackie Chan was very nice, he didn’t want to get too involved because he wanted to give the film the freedom to be by itself, and stand by itself. He never came to set except once when he came to cheer us up and gave us some buns as a present.
KL: What do you think is special about this film that was different from your previous works?
MC: Every single film is special to me because it is about a different period of my life. Looking back it is like all the tapestry of experiences I have gone through…Sometimes when I look at my films I can see that the society at that time. For example, my first three films were made in New York and New York has changed so much. I was so happy that I captured the New York I knew on film, so that it would exist on film forever.
AL: I think this is one of her best works. I have told her that but she won’t believe me. It is more mature in the handling of the subject matter and some of the historical changes. She somehow manages to weave them in very skillfully.
KL: Was it hard to incorporate the special effects alongside the acting?
MC: Well, I got a very professional special effects team from Korea. I also got a special effects director Dong Wai, who is a skillful choreographer…I got a really great art department. There were about 50 different sets and locations–that is very difficult. We had to run from city to city…We had to have three teams working separately…It was really complicated logistics, but I was never let down. Of course we did a lot of preparation. For over a year prior we drew storyboards especially for the action and more difficult scenes…You’ve got to be very careful and very precise. I wouldn’t have been able to do this film when I graduated from NYU because all my classmates and I were so inexperienced that we couldn’t even get the focus right. Now, after so many years I was very lucky to get a very professional and artistic team together.
KL: What was it like working with the two main actors?
MC: I was so fortunate to have them as actors. First of all they were my idols, I really like watching Sean Lau in his other films and Tang Wai is like a goddess in China and Hong Kong. They never behaved like movie stars, they always behaved like serious actors. I didn’t know that Tang Wai is hydrophobic until I shot the underwater scene and she tried but she actually couldn’t get into the water. I told her that she had to…because I need your close-up under water…Eventually, after several tries Sean Lau said, “I will go down with you.” So he took her hand and they went down together and we built a platform for her to stand on so that she could feel a little bit safer. It was very fast because she trusted in Sean Lau and they became good friends. He held her hand and she just thought of the warmth of his hand and I [shot] all her close ups.
KL: Are there any lasting impressions that really stuck with you during the making of this film?
MC: …I’m so impressed by [my actors] and by the way they work, their sacrifices. Tang Wai had to carry…the little girl [who] was 30, 40 pounds…so the other basket had [to have another 40 pounds to balance the weight]…[Tang] came on set and you can see she carried it–with difficulty–but she could still carry it. Sean Lau and her kept a distance in the beginning but after that Sean Lau was really impressed and they worked really well together and have a lot of chemistry. [Sean Lau]…couldn’t sing Beijing opera and couldn’t play the Er Hu. He spent three months learning and now he can play, actually, not well, but still.
AL: Everyday was [memorable], we were running against time, against budget, and we had to work around [everyone’s] schedule because there were six or seven big time stars and they all had very different schedules- clashing schedules. Everyday was like a battle because…I had to make sure we stayed within budget, within time and make sure everyone was happy but everyone’s wishes were usually against everyone else’s. The art director would always want the best set, best props, best costumes, but the production manger would say I don’t have the money just make do with what you can get. So they figured out a way and when they couldn’t figure out a way they would come to me and say “What do we do now?”