I had the opportunity to sit down with first time director Freddie Wong, director of The Drunkard, before the AFFD premiere screening of his film. I had not seen the film before speaking with him. We had a very friendly chat near the bar at the Magnolia Theater in Dallas, and he was eager to show me some of the materials he brought with him to promote the film.
Freddie Wong – And then I have published a kind of screenplay book on my film. I’ll show you. This is the only copy I have.
Jenny Rebekah – Well I’m not going to take it from you. (laughs)
FW: (laughs) It’s in Chinese anyway.
JR: It’s beautiful! This is a great idea for marketing your film. Is it written in screenplay format?
FW: Yes, it’s in a screenplay format. See this (pointing) is scene 34, scene 35. And then I have a few anecdotes that I’ve written; why I wanted to make this film, what difficulties I had. This is the second printing.
JR: Is that going to be released in English?
FW: I don’t think so. Actually I’m planning to publish a second book – a bigger one – because I have such high quality photos, but I haven’t finished yet. I have thousands of those photos. I want to do a bigger one with the script and also with some of the criticism about my film. That’s what I want to do.
JR: I’ll be reviewing the film, so I’ll send you something.
FW: Oh great! If you say some good things, I will publish your article.
JR: It’s a beautiful looking film. Is this the first screenplay that you’ve written?
FW: I’ve written others, and one which is set in the ancient period of China during the Hang dynasty, but I don’t think I can make it into a movie because it’s a big budget film. I’m hoping later on I can make more films, this is probably my fifth one.
JR: This is your fifth screenplay?
FW: It’s going to be, if I can go on making movies. Because I cannot make a big budget movie with some action, now. I need more experience, maybe more credibility. So I have other projects, and this script will be my fifth project.
JR: They said this is your first film, is it the first one that you’ve completed?
FW: Yes.
JR: So what made you decide to finally direct one of your scripts?
FW: I had bought the copyright to this famous novel. He’s a very respected writer in Hong Kong. He’s now 93. And his novel was written in the 60’s, but is regarded as the first Chinese novel to be written in the stream of consciousness style. Like the James Joyce kind of writing style. I make this film because I love this novel. I think I read it maybe 30 years ago, it was written in the 60’s. At that time I don’t think it could be made into a movie because it’s so stream of consciousness. Sometimes it’s subconsciousness, sometimes it’s a dream, but then 10 years ago, I read the novel and I think it might be possible to make it into a movie. So I talked to the writer and then I bought the copyright. But it took me 10 years to try to get the money, because it’s difficult to convince a film producer – in mainstream business – to do an adaptation of a novel that is very literary. So finally I got a little bit of subsidy, a little bit of funding from the arts development council of Hong Kong. For the rest of the money, I raised the money from my friends, old classmates. They believed in this project so they helped me out. Rather successful classmates. So they gave me the money and I could realize my dream.
JR: So did you have any issues though, since they were personal friends, did you have any issues with them trying to have a say in what the final product looked like?
FW: Oh no. They let me do it. I never consulted them. I make it. Like the script, I consulted the writer. When I finished the script, I showed it to the writer. He felt that there had never been a script that was so faithful to the story. And then because I am my own producer, I can say when the script is ready and when I can start making the movie. All my friends said I could do it, and they never interfered with the filmmaking. They just wrote me a check.
JR: When you were thinking of the look of the film, what sorts of films were you inspired by?
FW: Actually, I don’t have any influence of Hong Kong cinema. I studied in France, so I am more attached to French culture and painting. In fact, when I made this film, I had a reference of French impressionism. The reason for that is because since the novel is about the writer who is always drunk and is in and out of his dreams. When he is writing anything, it is out of focus. And then he has dreams and those things are not really in focus. That’s why I wanted to use these rather out of focus, impressionistic style.
JR: It reminded me of Wong Kar-wai’s 2046. Just the images I have seen of the film.
FW: 2046 actually is the same period. And he used many things from the same novel.
JR: Did he?
FW: Yes!
JR: The description reminded me of that film.
FW: I’ve been saying that in many interviews and articles. There is something that I don’t want to bring this up, but whenever people think that, “It reminds me of Wong Kar-wai”, and then I feel like I don’t want to tell the truth. His producer approached me, and said we want to make a film about this novel, because I had bought the copyright. And then somehow he, after a few talks with the producer, then he made 2046, and then the film came out and he had used some things from the novel. But I didn’t want to sue him because I knew him personally. (laughs) But what I want to say is that I try to avoid his visual style because I am making my own movie. At the same time, when you make a movie about the 60’s, Hong Kong in the 60’s doesn’t exist anymore. It’s impossible. That’s why I think he and I have the same consideration for the period. I think his films are more claustrophobic than mine. Most of the films that are shot in period, but I try to pay a lot of attention to the details. But unfortunately, people still think that the film is inspired by Wong Kar-wai. But I think it’s something that’s inevitable.
JR: I think people consider that a compliment.
FW: It is a compliment, but I saw some comments, they said this guy is trying to imitate Wong Kar-wai. But that’s something that I try to avoid.
JR: Well I’m very excited to see the film.
FW: It’s not like the Hong Kong movies, except Wong Kar-wai, usually you have action, fantasy. My film is very literary; a lot of dialog. I use a lot of dialogs. I have Chinese titles, it’s because I really adore the writing of the author, as do many of people in Hong Kong. In literary circles, professors in literature, or editors or writers, they really adore the writing of Liu Yi-Chang. And I am one of them. And I tried to keep the original writings in Chinese. Which is kind of a folk poem. That’s why I think to some extent the film is rather…well, it had something to do with the budget. And I tried to dictate in a very classical way.
JR: Has the author seen the final film yet? What did he think of it?
FW: He was very happy about it. It was Wong Kar-wai In the Mood For Love, is actually from another novel by the author. It only has a French title called Tête-bêche, which is a term for stamp collecting. I don’t know if there is an English translation. Wong Kar-wai was inspired by this novel and actually used some of those elements in the film and combined them with this character from the novel The Drunkard and he made In The Mood For Love. After this trip, I’m going back to Hong Kong and the next day there will be a seminar about the making of this movie organized by the Hong Kong book club. Last year he was selected writer of the year by Hong Kong book fair. It was the first time they selected any writer of the year. They started with Mr. Liu Yi-Chang. Last year at the book fair, they had a talk about my film. About the novel being made into a film. Last year they had this discussion and the film was not yet released, but for this year, some of the people who come have seen the movie and I can share some of my experiences with making the film.
JR: When was the film released in Hong Kong?
FW: November
JR: Does it have a US release date?
FW: No, I’m hoping it picked up by some American distributor.
JR: That would be great! Thank you so much for talking to me, I’m really looking forward to seeing the film.
FW: Thank you!
