"The Messengers" Special from the set - Q&A with Danny Pang (Pt 1 of 2)

An ominous darkness invades a seemingly serene sunflower farm in North Dakota, and the Solomon family (Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller) is torn apart by suspicion, mayhem and murder.

The Messengers is the U.S. horror debut of directors Danny and Oxide Pang is due out in 2006. The movie was filmed in Regina, Canada (doubling for North Dakota), and Horror.com’s Staci Layne Wilson was on the set where she learned that the twin directors switch back and forth on shooting days, almost never actually working together.

Danny was on set that day (August 12, 2005), and with the help of a translator (whom he seldom needed to refer to), he graciously answered several questions about his work, his new movie, and what’s in store for the Pangs.

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Q: For those who have seen The Eye and The Eye 2, what parts of this film will be familiar to fans?

Danny Pang: Compared with The Eye and The Eye 2? Compared with this movie? I think the background is different. Because The Eye and The Eye 2 is only one way. It's the actress, how she sees the world. But in this movie, it's two ways, how the humans see the ghosts, and how the ghosts will do something with the humans. So it's two ways.

Q: Can you describe the working relationship you have with your brother and how you divide what you direct?

Danny Pang: So basically, when we create a new idea, we will sit down together and we ask each other what the next-- what's the new idea [we] want to shoot. So maybe at the same time I want to make a ghost movie, or when we at the same time want to make a comedy movie. Comedy. So this can be we will co-direct together. So, for example, The Eye. I remember I really want to make a ghost movie almost 10 years. And one day I talk with my brother. It seems like he really want to make a ghost movie at the same [time], I think. So that's why maybe we can try co-direct together. So we start from this movie. So after we got the idea and we start to writing the script and sit down together and we will find the guy to draw out the storyboard. Following the script.

So when we draw in the storyboard, all the pictures just come up in our minds. So that's why we can on the locations, that's why we can one day it's Oxide shooting, one day it's Danny shooting. Because all the structure we have compromised already. So we can do like this. But honestly, maybe we are twins. We trust each other and we know each other really well. So we never find that we have any argue or the films come up with two styles.

Q: You never have two different pictures in your head?

Danny Pang: It's really close. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But sometimes we will see the same filming, same angles and the same locations. Because, for example, maybe the cellar. Because the cellar is not really big. After we watched the rushes I find that I got this angle two days before. And the next day I will find that Oxide will shoot the same angle as me. So it's quite very funny things. Our eye angles, our eyeline, is really close.

Q: Does this film follow the style of your Asian films or for the U.S. market have you adapted something a little different?

Danny Pang: I don't say that we try to bring Asian things to the Hollywood movie, or try to bring Hollywood movie to Asian movie. I don't feel that I'm thinking it's a Hollywood movie or Asian movie, because I just follow the script to do it. Even if they speaking English, or speaking Thai or Hong Kong. In my mind it's the same. So, but maybe the pacing is different. I have found that it's a big difference from the two countries. I find that Hollywood movie is slowly, because we have to spend a lot of time to talking about the drama part. Make it all reasonable and logical. But in Asian movie we don't have to spend a lot of scenes to explain how they coming, where they go. Just to make you feel scared maybe is enough.

Q: They accept it without question.

Danny Pang: In Asia, yeah. All the peoples are watching movies. They feel satisfied a lot. They never asking questions. Why [is this] like this? But Western audience is difference. Everything is being logical and reasonable.

Q: Is the more supernatural or psychological?

Danny Pang: I think it's supernatural, because ghosts is supernatural things. But inside the supernatural things, and these have the psychological. So it's two ways in Hollywood.

Q: Will there be a lot of blood and gore in this?

Danny Pang: No, the producer always remind me this movie is PG-13. Yeah, yeah. So we always keep asking, Can we make more blood in this scene? They say, No. But honestly, in Pangs Brother movies we don't love to [unintelligible] in the blood. Only we have one movie we making in Thailand. It's called Bangkok dangerous. It's really bloody. I think that's good enough for Pangs Brothers. No more blood anymore.

Q: We heard that you sometimes play jokes on the crew and switch places.

Danny Pang: Just one time. Not many times. But some people they can recognize who is Danny, who is Oxide. But some people, even we start shooting almost one week, they're still thinking only one director before they will think we have two brothers.

Q: What did you do?

Danny Pang: At that moment, I remember, Oxide had a meeting to blocking the shot with the camera man. And I shooting at the next part. So when I arrive, Oxide comes to talk with me, maybe no one know I arrived to the location already. So that's why we swapped places and changed the clothes, and to go in and say, Where is Danny? Why he is come so late? So everything keep silent because they wonder Oxide is getting angry why Danny is coming in late. So finally they realize Danny is here already.

Q: How much input did you have in who was cast in the movie?

Danny Pang: Casting? Basically with the producer we have output about the cast, because the one important thing is, we're not really know the background in the culture about the Western actor and actress. We didn't know their names. So we just chose from the face. But maybe from the point of view of the producer, they think this girl or man is not good enough for this story, or not good enough for this marketing.

Q: Not a big enough star?

Danny Pang: Not for the style, maybe the performance, because maybe they know where they come from. Maybe someone is come from the TV series, or they come from the feature movies. They know them very well. But we didn't know it. So after we just look at the pictures and all the videotape, we wanted to choose this one, they say, No, this one is not enough to support the marketing. Because maybe he's not good enough for making a scary performance in a scary movie. So we have to discuss all the time. So finally we have a compromise to choose all the casting.

Q: The original script by Todd Farmer was changed a lot. It was very different than the Mark Wheaton script afterwards. What did you like? Did you keep anything from the Farmer script?

Danny Pang: So what we kept from the first draft is talking about a family, they're moving their home from one of the big city to the country. And after they move inside this house they find that it has something strange come up, and besides these things, they have one murder behind the house. This line is from first day until now is the same. The storyline is the same.

Q: When you say behind, you mean in the history not actually behind the house?

Danny Pang: About the history. Yeah, yeah. But about the structure, I think we changed a lot, because we spent much time to rewrite many drafts. So what I say maybe we just can keep 20 percent from the first draft, and 80 percent is keep developing in every draft.

Q: And that was Mark and Stuart who came on.

Danny Pang: Yes, yes. They know very well stuff from the first draft. Yes. I guess he's still happy, because he still see his name.

Q: Stuart's gone. Mark is still here.

Danny Pang: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Q: What was it about the story that made you want to direct it?

Danny Pang: The most things make me want to make this movie is this one is a Hollywood movie. I want to try to learn some things from the Western culture, because honestly, the movie is not a great new thing for me. It's a ghost movie. The storyline is simple. So why I want to come here to make this movie with my brother is, we want to know what's the system in this movie business. All the filmmakers in Hong Kong, they always have a dream to come to make a film in Hollywood. So I will not say this is my dream, but I really want to understand, want to know more. Yes.

Q: What have you learned that's difference?

Danny Pang: The big difference is we got a lot of time to writing the script and have many, many meetings for talking about many, many small things. Yes. But inside there, I feel it's good experience because everything is very detailed. And so that's why we will not make any mistakes on the shooting time. So I think it's positive things, because we spend a lot of time for the people, that's why we can shorten the production time maybe. But in Hong Kong in maybe, or other Asian movie sets, we hurry to start shooting, even we just got there, [unintelligible] the script is not final. But we have to hurry to start shooting. So maybe on the shooting time we will have facing more problems and not guarantee what happens going on. So that's the big difference when I work on this project.

Q: Does this compare with other Asian-influenced Hollywood films like The Grudge and Boogeyman? Are the similarities?

Danny Pang: I'm not sure how's the Boogey man and The Grudge, how they make it. I just know that The Grudge is [the battle? we make right?] and do the same story shooting in Japan. The same locations. But just all the main actor and actress, just changed to the Hollywood star. But everything is keeping the same. But for me, in this project it is completely different because we are not come from other movies. Everything is start from zero.

Continue to Part 2...