Kelvin Tong and the real horrors of filmmaking
Inside the psyche of Kelvin Tong, a Singaporean filmmaker who is set to debut a locally-made horror film in Hollywood next year
It represents an exciting phase – especially for local filmmakers – and marks the start of something new, agreed Kelvin Tong, during his interview with xinmsn at the press conference for his upcoming horror film, The Faith of Anna Waters, yesterday.
The local auteur, who has helmed a diverse range of projects, from horror and thriller to nostalgia films, like The Maid, Kidnapper and It’s A Great Great World, is buzzed with excitement for his biggest movie production to date. Its modest budget of US$5 million (S$6.25m), although may seem paltry when compared to films in the big boys league such as Guardians of the Galaxy (US$170m), is considered very generous in the context of local films. On top of its American investors, we were told that the film has also received additional funding from the Media Development Authority of Singapore.
Set and filmed entirely in Singapore, The Faith of Anna Waters, which is produced by Boku Films, also boasts of an international cast, starring Hollywood faces like Mad Men actress Elizabeth Rice, Band of Brothers and Gossip Girl actor Matthew Settle, local actors Adrian Pang and Jaymee Ong, and Australian artistes Colin Borgonon and Adina Herz.
Lead actor Matthew, who is excited to catch some Formula One action in Singapore – if time permits, said this opportunity to work with Kelvin was like “kismet”. “It’s gonna be a rigourous shoot and we’re gonna have to dig deep into ourselves to make it work. I have a lot of faith in Kelvin and his vision.”
Do you get chills when you write your own horror movie script?
I get chills when I wrote my first draft ‘cos I’m approaching a lot of new things. I’m sitting down in front of my computer and working on a blank page and sort of in this meditative zone. And I get shocked by my own ideas sometimes. I tend to have a lot of nightmares when I’m writing my first draft – because my mind’s thinking up what’s scary. And when I’m asleep, it scares me. But as I move beyond the first draft, it becomes a little like you won’t be as scared, as if you saw the same horror film twice (…) at the end of pre-pro and completing my list of shots, I’d have seen my movie 90 times now. I go on to shoot it – 91 times, and maybe another 30 times in the editing room.
What about when directing? Have you ever gotten spooked out on set?
Never while filming [and] simply because if you’ve been to a horror film set, I guess it’s the un-scariest place on earth. There’s 50 people, giant lights and not a single dark corner in the room. And the actor who plays the ghost is squatting there eating char siew rice. The actual look of it is comedic lah. It’s very fun. A lot of people think just cos we’re shooting a scary movie it is scary, but the set is not scary.
a lot of Chinese productions are gonna come too) makes Singapore an easy place for foreigners to feel welcome – there’s no language barrier. You want steak? Go ahead. You want satay? Also got. I think Singapore is perfect in that sense, that’s why as a filmmaker and producer, you’d find it so attractive (…) And if you want Chinese shophouses, a business district or something space-age like Marina Bay Sands? We have [them all] and it’s all within 10 minutes of driving. It’s very efficient in a filmmaking point of view.
The Faith of Anna Waters is scheduled for an early 2015 release.
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