Interview with HK filmmaking maestro Johnnie To
- By Tom Cunliffe
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 25, 2015
On the evening of June 22, 2015, legendary director Johnnie To was in London for the BAFTA A Life in Pictures: Johnnie To event, co-presented by the Asian Film Awards Academy. That afternoon, I caught up with him for a quick chat about his new film, his filmmaking methods and style.
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Johnnie To is at BAFTA in London. [Photo/China.org.cn] |
Johnnie To's latest film "Office" is set for release this September in China. It is adapted from the 2009 stage play "Design For Living," written by and starring Sylvia Chang. Chang will reprise her role in the film, alongside Chow Yun-fat, reuniting these stars from To's 1989 hit "All About Ah Long." Whilst previous reports have said "Office" is a musical, To stated he wouldn't actually classify it as a musical, though there are definitely musical elements in it, including songs and people singing. "I'd still really love to make an actual musical one day, it's something I'm very interested in." American musicals including "West Side Story" and dancehall scenes from the 1930s/1940s are what have influenced him most in this regard. In terms of European influences, he said he's more into films by directors like Jean Pierre-Melville and Sergio Leone since their films contain scenes of pure movement and have a certain musicality to them, elements that are clearly evident in To's action sequences.
I asked To whether the almost musical like scene in "Blind Detective" (2013) where two characters dance their way to safety to avoid deadly acid flying through the air was scripted or thought up on set: "Generally I don't storyboard and we don't really prepare in that way, and so a lot of it does happen in the moment, and is improvised, it's just whatever feels right at the time." This improvisatory style has yielded some of the most compelling images in contemporary cinema, which is amazing considering they are largely shot without pre-planning.
Johnnie To established his own production company, Milkyway Image, with screenwriter, director and producer Wai Ka-fai in 1996. The Milkyway films are where the majority of To's acclaim and his ascent into the upper echelons of world cinema lie. Initially, the often bleak, dark tone of the crime thrillers made by To and his associates didn't equal box office success. From 1999, they started making lighter comedic fare to balance the bank books. Up to today, To and Wai Ka-fai have continued this method of making commercial films to help fund their more personal films:
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