Interview with Director HAN Yew Kwang Producer LAU Chee Nien

HAN Yew Kwang

HAN Yew Kwang studied to be an architect but ended up as a scriptwriter and director. After a stint with local broadcaster Mediacorp, he made his feature debut Unarmed Combat ( 鐵男 ) in 2005, which was followed by three comedies, all starring YEO Yann Yann (who was named Golden Horse best actress for Wet Season and best supporting actress for Ilo Ilo). 18 Grams Of Love ( 愛情十八克 , 2007) is a romantic comedy about two men who write anonymous love letters to test if their wives are faithful; When Hainan Meets Teochew ( 當海南遇上潮州 , 2011) is a LGBT-themed comedy about a manly woman and a womanly man; and sex comedy Rubbers ( 套 , 2015) features YEO in her most suggestive role. His latest film is fantasy romantic comedy When Ghost Meets Zombie ( 女鬼愛上屍 ), starring popular singer Nathan HARTONO and Ferlyn G, a former member of South Korean girl group Skarf. In 2009, he was awarded the National Arts Council Young Artist Award.

LAU Chee Nien

LAU Chee Nien is a regular collaborator of HAN, having produced for him feature films Unarmed Combat, 18 Grams Of Love, When Hainan Meets Teochew and Rubbers, as well as TV

drama Folks Jump Over The Wall. In between productions, Lau taught at various film institutions and is currently a full-time lecturer at the School of Media and Design, ITE College Central. Through his blog (http://sgmoviebiz.blogspot.com/), he has been tracking the Singapore box office since 2011.

How would you describe your latest film When Ghosts Meet Zombie ? Is it a comedy, a romance, or a horror? A HAN Yew Kwang: When Ghost Meets Zombie is a romantic comedy, not a horror film despite the ghost and the zombie in the title. I came up with a female ghost who has a soul without a body and a male zombie who has a body without a soul and the two become soulmates together. To create more laughter, the zombie will be possessed by the ghost to take part in a male beauty contest. It is quite obvious that you have a liking for comedies. What is it about comedies that you can’t get enough of them? A HAN: I was born to make people laugh. I was already the funny guy in class in primary school. When I started out in the entertainment industry, I was assigned to write sitcoms. It satisfied me greatly when my work made the audiences laugh out loud. Compared to dramas, comedies have always been under-rated and even considered inferior. But I believe if a funny scene can tickle the audiences, it has the same effect as touching their hearts. That’s why I think comedies can be touching too. Q No doubt it is difficult to be an independent filmmaker, how is it even more so in Singapore? What are the challenges? A HAN: Money; a shortage of production crew and actors; and only a small minority of local audiences will support local films and even less will support independent local films. I remember very well that when I was studying filmmaking at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, a lecturer from the US asked us why we didn’t make indie films. I told him no budget, no time, no crew and no cast. He said the school had the equipment, students can help each other out and many aspiring actors would be happy to act pro bono. He said we gave ourselves too many excuses.

I couldn’t agree more. I think we worry too much and don’t have a ‘just-do-it’ spirit.

Q In 2019, When Ghosts Meet Zombie was one of

six local films released in Singapore. It is brutal to say that all their box office was far from satisfactory. What are the lessons learnt?

A

HAN: The script of my film has room for improvement as the relationship between the zombie and the ghost could have been fleshed out further. Besides, Singapore’s local actors are not really box office draws, unlike many TV and film stars from South Korea who have even become international celebrities.

Q Yew Kwang has pointed out some of the challenges. You have worked closely with him as his producer on four films and you are also a box office tracker. Are there other issues bothering you?

A

LAU Chee Nien: In this small market, exhibitors are very commercially conscious. I started a personal blog in 2011 to document box office performances. One thing I noticed over the last 10 years is: despite more screens now, the exhibitors would give the majority of the screens to the blockbusters. To the point where smaller films are released only on just one or a few screens and what they earn in their entire run is less than what a Marvel picture earns on a single day of release from over a hundred screens. Even if these smaller films are sold out, they’re not going to make much money at all.

In Hollywood, the box office numbers are published. But it’s common in this region that people hold their numbers closely to their chest. Singapore’s local newspapers publish only the top 10 chart, but without any numbers, while Box Office Mojo provides incomplete and sporadic updates on Singapore. The lack of such data published publicly meant that no one is able to track the numbers to make any real analysis.

Q What more can be done to drive the box office for local films?

A

LAU: Since the somewhat revival of the local film industry in the 1990s, we've had some successes. The most successful is Jack Neo because he can reach out to his suburban Chinese audiences. A few other filmmakers also found success, but they did not have the commercial consistency of Jack. A common gripe is that local films aren't that good. I think we do have great films, but the support from local audiences is limited if it’s not a Jack film. Among the award winners, I really liked A Yellow Bird and A Land Imagined , but these films performed poorly at the box office, which was not exactly a surprise given their number of screens. I also enjoy Kelvin Tong’s The Maid and Wee Li Lin’s Forever from years back and the recent crazy comedy Zombiepura by Jacen Tan. We need to gather more local audience support to make it viable.

Q What’s the road ahead?

A

LAU: Now more local films have made an impression internationally – further examples are Ilo Ilo and Pop Eye. Making personal films may be one way to go because these are stories that no one else can tell. But the hurdle to make commercially successful films still exists. Once in a few years, when a local film crosses the S$1 million at the local box office, everyone cheers. But it is still far from profitable if it costs S$800,000 - S$1.5m, the budget of most mainstream local films. We probably need someone with a strong vision who is determined enough to create a brand that people can associate with quality entertainment and has the luxury of a road map, support and time to build the industry up.