Skip to main content

New! You can personalise your feed. Try it now

Advertisement

Advertisement

Filmmaker Anthony Chen On Being A Very Hands-On Producer And How His New Film Is Very Different From His Award-Winning Debut 'Ilo Ilo'

He'd a wonderful time working with an elephant in 'Pop Aye'.

He'd a wonderful time working with an elephant in 'Pop Aye'.

He'd a wonderful time working with an elephant in 'Pop Aye'.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

Six years is a very long time to wait for a filmmaker to make his second feature. Then again, Anthony Chen hasn’t exactly been slacking off since his Cannes Camera d’Or and Golden Horse Award-feted feature debut Ilo Ilo, the semi-autobiographical drama about a teen (Koh Jia Ler) and his relationship with his parents (Chen Tianwen and Yeo Yann Yann) and their Filipino maid (Angeli Bayani) during the 1997 financial crisis.

In the following years, Chen, 35, kept himself busy with projects produced by his company, Giraffe Pictures. He was the hands-on executive producer on Distance, the 2015 omnibus feature, starring Taiwanese Chen Bolin, and helmed by directors from Singapore, China and Thailand; and Pop Aye, Kirsten Tan’s 2017 shot-in-Thailand debut about a midlife-crisis-stricken man (Thaneth Warakulnukroh) accompanying an elephant to his childhood home.

During this time, Chen also managed to find time to make his second feature, Wet Season. The London-based Chen shot the film — starring Yeo Yann Yann as a Chinese language teacher struggling to conceive a child, and Koh Jia Ler as a student she forms an unlikely friendship with — last year in Singapore.

On the home front, Chen has a new role to juggle: fatherhood. Last year, he and his wife had a son, Ethan, who’s now 10 months old. While his risk-analyst wife is back at work, Chen is holding the fort at home, taking care of the baby, doing laundry and grocery-shopping. He’s become his own helper, Chen tells 8 DAYS via Skype from London. He also brings Ethan to his production meetings. “He’d also sat through quite a few meetings with producers and editing and sound mixing sessions.”

While Chen didn’t reveal too much about Wet Season (“we still have quite a bit to do in post-production”), he is game to share his thoughts on Ilo Ilo and Pop Aye, both are available on Toggle, as part of the ‘Lights. Camera. Singapore’ showcase, and whether he would take on a juggernaut like a Marvel Studios movie.


1 of 4 Make a wish: Yeo Yann Yann, Koh Jia Ler and Chen Tianwen in 'Ilo Ilo'.

8 DAYS: When we last spoke in 2014, a year after Ilo Ilo had come out, you said you were still excited to talk about the film. But you added, “I’m not sure if I can do it in two years’ time, though.” Well, we’re now three years after the statute of limitations.

ANTHONY CHEN: It feels like such a long time ago, a lifetime ago, and to be very honest, I’m so much looking forward to finishing my new film, Wet Season. But Ilo Ilo is such an important chapter in my life as a filmmaker. I’m still very grateful for its success and its impact on my career. I must say that, for a first feature film and the kind of success it received, it’s definitely put pressure on all my subsequent projects.

If you were to remake Ilo Ilo, how different would you do it? Or would you rather make a sequel?

I’m not sure if I would remake it or make a sequel. The film forms part of your growth as a filmmaker at that time. It should be what it is. I have a feeling that, even though I have not seen the film for a few years, if I watch it again, I’ll be quite happy with what I have done then. I’m not sure in another five or 10 years, though. I might cringe looking at it. Recently, my sales agent was asking me who’s holding on to the remake rights of Ilo Ilo. There were companies, I can’t remember if they were from Europe or the US, asking if they could remake it. I might dread watching the American version, which I imagine would be [more] sentimental.

Alfonso Cuaron was in Singapore in December to promote Roma and he mentioned Ilo Ilo in his interviews…

[A journalist friend] texted me [about that].

Have you met Mr Cuaron before?

I’ve never met him in person but I saw him briefly many years ago at one of the pre-Oscars parties in Beverly Hills. We were then represented by the same agency, UTA, in the US. I really respect him as a filmmaker, and Roma happens to be one of my favourite films last year.

There’s this Hongkong film, Still Human, starring Anthony Wong as a paraplegic who becomes friends with his maid. Ilo Ilo, Roma, Still Human — why are filmmakers drawn to telling stories from a maid’s perspective?

The thing isn’t so much about telling the stories through the eyes of the maid — I have not seen Still Human, but I heard it’s probably more of a tearjerker than Ilo Ilo — but about stories of human relationships that resonate with people, stories that connect with the best and worst parts of ourselves. I don’t think Roma is just about a maid working in a middle-class family; it’s the richness of the characters’ emotional connections that make the film.

  • 2 of 4 Odd couple: Thaneth Warakulnukroh on the road of self-discovery with his pal Bong in 'Pop Aye'.

    Ch 5 is also showing Kirsten Tan’s Pop Aye, which you were the executive producer. What are your memories working on this film about the bromance between middle-age man and an elephant?

    We were shooting all the way in the north of Thailand. It was very hot. There were a few days when it was about 45 ˚C. What I learnt is that when temperatures go up, temperaments also go up. People start kicking a fuss. The heat can [be infuriating].

    Was the elephant, Bong, a pain to work with?

    If you think the elephant was the biggest problem, it wasn’t. Bong is the most patient, most beautiful, the kindest creature to work with. It was actually the humans. When you have 70 crew members on the set and when it gets very hot, emotions can easily flare up. We are now making another road trip film in Korea early next year in winter… we’ll be dealing with extreme temperatures again. So I am not sure what lessons from Pop Aye we can apply on this next project. But I learnt quite a bit about how to work with a foreign crew. On the Pop Aye set, there were definitely times when things got lost in translation because there were only a few Singaporeans, everyone else was Thai.

    What advice did you give Kirsten, a first-time feature filmmaker?

    When you wear the hat of a producer, you start to deal with practical things. We have this call sheet and a list of shots we need to finish. So we need to prioritise things: Is this the most important shot? Can we lose it? Otherwise, we can’t waste time on this [cutaway scene] because we haven’t shot the [main] drama yet. [As a producer], it’s very much about getting the film into the can on schedule. It’s more about dishing out practical advice, not philosophical advice. When you are on set with 70 crew members and actors staring at you, you need to make quick and hard decisions.

  • 3 of 4 Let's do it again: Anthony Chen (second from left) discussing a scene on the 'Ilo Ilo' set.

    You’re a very hands-on producer. Do you know when to engage and when to step away?

    I wish I know. I think that’s the problem with me. I get very attached to all the work that I say yes to. My wife has in the past few months tried to talk me out of producing. She said that every time I produce a film, it sets me back on my own film because I pour so much of myself into it. I’m not a producer by name, just be on the set on the first day and attend the press conference. I’m literally on set every day. I think I was the Pop Aye set for four to five weeks. There was one week where I flew to China to promote Distance [another film he was the EP]. Apart from that, I was there every single day.

    I asked Eric Khoo recently about the lack of female directors doing horror. He suggested Krysten should have a go at it. What do you think?

    I think if you are a good filmmaker, you can take on different genres. When you look at the early works of Ang Lee — Eat Drink Man Woman, Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Sense & Sensibility — you don’t see him doing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hulk. If you are a good storyteller with enough experience and craft, you can take on [any genre] definitely.

  • 4 of 4 Coming soon: A first-look still from Anthony Chen's next film, 'Wet Season'.

    You once said that you were game to make a genre movie. You’d love to do something as subversive as Kick-Ass, which you were a fan of. It seemed farfetched then but look at Chloe Zhao: she hails from the indie world, and she’s hired to direct Marvel Studios’ The Eternals. Can you imagine yourself making a Marvel Studios movie?

    I was so surprised that Chloe is doing that. I know her from the festival circuit very briefly; I adore her as a filmmaker. You know what? She is like a full-on Marvel comic book fan. There’s the other side of her where she does fan-fiction and fan-art illustrations. Honestly speaking, I’m not sure Marvel is my cup of tea. I didn’t grow up reading comics or graphic novels. I realise that filmmakers who gravitate towards that kind of material really grew up with those characters.

    Okay, maybe not a Marvel Studios movie, but a mega-franchise…

    First, I need to enjoy watching them. Second, I need to feel that I’m going to have a lot of fun making it and at the same time, there is space for me to push the boundaries. In 10 years or 20 years’ time, if someone were to ask me, Anthony, do you want to do James Bond? I’m going to say, Yeah, f**** yeah! (laughs). Years later, hopefully, when I get to that level.

    What’s your favourite Bond movie?

    Definitely Skyfall.

    Are you looking forward to the next one directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga?

    I hope it will out-do or be on par with Skyfall. I was underwhelmed by Spectre but I would imagine Cary Fukunaga, as with most of his work, taking the material and character to a darker and more complex place. That would be exciting for me.

    You returned to Singapore last year to shoot your new film, Wet Season. Can you share anything about that with us? It stars Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler. It’s an Ilo Ilo reunion!

    All I can say is that it’s a film that’s going to get a more mature rating. Ilo Ilo is a PG13 film; I’m pretty sure this film is going to get at least an M18. I can say that they gave fine performances in the film. I think it’s very important that everyone goes into this new film, not thinking that it’s Jia Ler and Yann Yann from Ilo Ilo. They need to go in fresh.

    This interview has been edited and condensed.

    Catch Pop Aye on Ch 5 tonight (May 28) at 10pm. You can also stream it later on Toggle. You can also watch Ilo Ilo on Toggle.

    Photos: Giraffe Pictures; Ealbert Ho (Anthony Chen)


    Read more of the latest in

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

    Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

    By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.