10 Questions with Lo Chi-leung

1)  How did you come to direct this project, Koma?

The first sight of Koma was brought up by the scriptwriter, Sinling Yeung, who wrote for my previous film Inner Senses. She got the idea way before writing Inner Senses when she received a random email about a real case of kidney stealing one day. Although we finally proved that the case was a made story, it gave us a fruitful inspiration to start on. The synopsis of Koma was finished before the shooting of Inner Senses, but no investors were interested until the success of Inner Senses.

2)  What was it about the script that really grabbed you and made you want to direct it?

The hostility and friendship between two girls.

3)  Did you bring some different things to the story, or did you stick pretty close to the shooting script?

I started in the industry as a scriptwriter, and I write most of the scripts by myself. I know it is the time for me to make some change, so I find another scriptwriter to work with. But still, I cannot get rid of the identity as a scriptwriter, that's why I was in the script meeting since the first meeting. The production practice in Hong Kong and Hollywood is so different, the projects in Hong Kong are always initiated by the director and he needs to find his own investors. This is totally different from the producer-driven practice in Hollywood. In Hollywood, the script always comes as the first thing and the producer will find the right director, so the film would never go to far from its original story, but this is not what usually happens in Hong Kong.

I wish the two actresses could involve more in the film. They spent almost a month before shooting for rehearsal; I wanted them to involve as much as they could, so I can revise the final version of the script by watching their rehearsals. We have arranged Sinje Lee to meet with those patients who suffering from kidney problems, helping Sinje to understand the patient's inner thoughts. We have arranged Karena to meet a surgeon also. Finally when we were on the set, I told them to forget all the rehearsals that we have made and just watch and listen to how each other acts to respond. This is because in reality, you will never know what are you going to say and what are you going to do. All the behaviors are dependent to each other, put the drama in your heart, and play the scene with your own heart.

4)  In preparation for shooting the movie, did you do any research on illegal organ harvesting?

Research is always my favorite activity in filmmaking. Of course we have done researches but our aim is not on illegal organ harvesting, but the inner thoughts of those kidney patients. This helped Sinje to live up the character and she can know some information and facts like these patients would have mouthful smell, very skinny, bad skin, etc. Moreover, I have decided with my art director that the tone of the film should tends to be red; as those patients do not want other to know their sickness, they will always dress up. This is why Sinje always wear red clothes in the Koma.

5)  Koma has so many great locations are they real, or are they sets? Can you talk a little about some of the challenges of directing such an ambitious film, with so many locations?

90% of the locations are real except the nude scene in the hotel bathroom. This is because the real location cannot satisfy my needs. It is interesting and I have a lot of fun; challenges would be the time limitation. I think the nude scene is also my most memorable scene, it was winter at that time and really cold. The actress had to lie in a bath tub filled with water and ice. Every time when we finished a shot, her whole body was shaking badly and yelling to leave the set. Although she suffered a lot but we know she is just kidding, because she is a very professional actress and we do not have to worry.

Another difficult scene is the love scene of Sinje Lee and his boyfriend after she had the car accident. This scene is important because it is very crucial to the drama and it was a raining scene which makes it even harder. We shot the scene in winter also, we blocked up the whole street for shooting so we can only start the shooting at late night. For my past experience, I will usually clear the set for shooting love scenes; however, this time we need our crew to block up the streets and control the rain scene, so the casts had to play the scene in front of more than 50 crew members. That’s why the actor and actress had to be well prepared. And turned out, the scene was shot beautifully and very satisfactory.

6)  I have seen quite a few Asian horror and thriller films in the past couple of years, but I don’t recall ever having seen a full nude-scene, like you have in Koma. How did this come about? Was the nudity show in Hong Kong theaters, or was it added for European and U.S. releases?

That scene that you mentioned about is exactly the detail in that email [I mentioned earlier]. I was attracted by this passage at that time, and I shot the film with the same feeling after I read the passage. After then, we extended from this small passage into the whole story of Koma. The version that you watch now is exactly the same as the version screened on Hong Kong theatre. In Hong Kong, Koma had categorized as IIB, which means not suitable for young persons and children under 18.

7)  What do you think of the American’s sudden craze for Asian horror movies?

Asian cinema do not have much recourses compare to Hollywood cinema. We cannot handle too much and difficult special effects, that's why we have to put effort on designing characters. For horror movie, if special effects cannot help much, then the other way is to go deep into the character's inner thoughts. The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan is a good example, because the director is coming from the third world, so the script is always a prior of everything. I believe this is the distinct difference between these two cinemas and also the answer for this trend. But in contrary, thrillers in Hollywood cinema are not something that we can do in also.

8)  What was it like to work with your wonderful leading actresses? They both have such challenging roles; were they auditioned together, to make sure they would have chemistry and get along?

It was my second time working with Karena Lam, and Inner Senses was her second movie when we first worked together. She was green when we were shooting Inner Sense, at that time, she was still unfamiliar with the general operation and technique of film making, which consumed more time than we expected. However, she grows up very much when we worked on Koma. She learned a lot, but what I appreciated most is that she is still using her intuition to act but not any acting technique which was originally one of my concerns. Acting with rules and technique does not help her; instead, capturing the decisive moment of here and now is her strength. So, if the first or second take turns out NG , we may have to wait till Take 15 for her to forget those formulated actions and rhythm.

Sinje Lee just goes to the opposite. She is a fascinating actress with well polished technique; this is proved when she receives the title of Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actress. We have been looking for this chance to work together since we knew each other long time ago. Being able to work with these two actresses, one using her intuition, another using technique, acting in two distinctive ways, is what I benefit most in this movie.

Many people asked whether I have any headache when dealing with these two actresses, or are there any communication problem as they were both the candidate of the Best Actress in the Hong Kong Film Awards last year, Karena Lam (Inner Senses) and Sinje Lee (The Eye). Even though the award finally goes to Sinje Lee, they became good friends. They spent almost a month before shooting for rehearsal; this may be the reason why they built up this valuable friendship. I wanted them to involve as much as they could, so I can revise the final version of the script by watching their rehearsals.

Apart from the script, we have arranged Sinje Lee to meet with those patients who suffer from kidney problems, helping Sinje to understand the patient's inner thoughts. We have arranged Karena to meet a surgeon also. Finally when we were on the set, I told them to forget all the rehearsals that we have made and just watch and listen to how each other acts to respond. This is because in reality, you will never know what you are going to say and what you are going to do. All the behaviors are dependent to each other, put the drama in your heart, and play the scene with your own heart.

9)  What is your favorite scary movie of all time?

The Shining by Stanley Kubrick. The film is famous because of scary, but what it actually presents its a man facing towards a lonely space, and how man would generate fear who he is lonely. Another favorite is The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan. It also presented as a horror movie but it a film about family relationships.

10) What are some of your upcoming projects?

The English title of my new film is Bug Me Not. It is a romance comedy about the growth of a young girl who can talk to bugs. There are a lot of special effect shots, because all the bugs are made by computer graphics which belong to part of the "main casts". I have been longing to make an animation film and I want to grab this chance to give a try.

(Interview by Staci Layne Wilson)

Be sure and check out our interview with Koma star, Kar Yan Lam.

Read our review of Koma.