Last Saturday I wrote 4,000 words about the events that happened on that day as I was feeling particularly rant-y but had no money to go somewhere wirelessly connected so I didn't blog it, thinking I'll post it today. Needless to say, I was feeling a bit... down.
Actually, down is an understatement. It was more like I was in the seventh circle of emo.
But the rest of the weekend gave me time to calm down and think about the events of the weekend which is good, because there's no need to burn any bridges at this point in my life. There're already a few people that would love nothing more than to watch me dangle from my scrotum at a great height and there's no need to add to that list if the feeling isn't mutual.
Ok. At this point some of you are wondering "what the fuck is he on about?" Fair point. Time for a story:
The Story of Saturday
So last Saturday Ariff and I made our way to PJ to meet someone who we thought might be willing to play the part of the father, a man known in the local music scene for his jazzy guitar compositions and sound engineering skills: Rafique Rashid.
I'd met Rafique previously once or twice but we never really sat down and had a proper conversation. I was buzzing on half a cup of venti latte so I started my spiel, talking about the movie and what it's about, the motivation behind it and how we're going to shoot it and he seemed genuinely interested and an all round nice guy. We passed him a copy of the script and made our way to our next stop for the morning: 'Cravings' at Hartamas.
'Cravings' used to be called 'Gecko', and the interior hadn't changed much. Ariff and I went to the smoking area, constantly keeping our eyes open and taking in the place as a possible 'location'. After a cup of tea we approached the manager, a wonderful woman named Nyoke. We asked her whether we could shoot our little indie DV film. She asked what it was about. We told her our usual spiel about how it's a story of a Malay guy whose been living overseas, comes back to Malaysia and can't adjust. As luck would have it, she could relate because she studied in the UK too. Sold, solid gold.
After that it was a whole day of recording at Saiful's house. The interesting thing about Saiful's house in Bukit Antarabangsa is that it's built iinside a cutaway of a hill, making it (a) incredibly humid and (b) devoid of mobile phone reception. Hence all three of us were cut off from the real world as no calls and sms's could reach us. When we came out of the 'cave', the phone came to life and I received a few messages from Rafique:
'Read the script. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to decline as I don't think I'm right for the role." (Or something along those lines. I didn't save that message.)
Fair enough. Curiosity got the better of me, though, and I replied thanking him for his time and asking him why he felt he wasn't right. That's when I received this:
"More thot needed on storyline & depth & dimens'n of each character. Supportg cast too stereotypical & predictable. Jo's past, his dad, the UK, Pak Su & Diane's evolut'n need expans'n. 2 many more points to go into via sms! For starters try movin away a bit fr Jo's constant one-dimensional aggro. If not he comes across as nothin more than a vulgarly idealistic yuppie prick (his moral antithesis) and the wonderful irony of that fact will be lost."
Ouch.
For one thing, I wasn't prepared for an sms of such magnitude. I had that tiny feeling that he didn't think the script was all that to begin with from the first sms, but this was something else. After that sms, season 4 of South Park could do nothing to turn my frown upside down. Not even Mr. Hanky singing a Lion King style song on the importance of poop in the circle of life.
Ariff called later and we talked about this at great length, and his responses have firmly placed my faith in him as the producer. When the director goes emo, at least the producer's still level headed.
"I think this is simply a case of different expectations," he said. Or didn't. I can't remember the exact words, but here's the gist:
"When he heard us talk about the movie, he probably had an idea of how he thought the film was going to be, but he hardly knows you, your likes and dislikes, hence he didn't expect the script to be like that. If he had known you and me better and read your blog and knew what you like in movies, he would've read the script and gotten what he would've expected you to write. But you can't let this criticism bring you down. The reason I came on board is because I think the script is great, but more than that, I see your enthusiasm and drive to make this movie and I believe in that, and I think everyone else also believes in that and feeds of your positive vibe. If you start going emo, then they'll start going emo, the whole vibe's gone and nobody believes this movie will happen. But regardless, if you wanna go all emo and not do the script, fine, but I'll take that script from you, find a director, find an actor, and get the fucking thing done myself. That's how much I believe in your movie."
What a lovely Ron Howard moment.
Rafique not liking the script, well, I guess I should've expected that. The man is surrounded by people in the creative arts, people who delve into depth and character study. Hell, from what I've heard, his brother is in theatre and musicals. I'm guessing the man's use to something a bit more... high-brow. Something a bit more mature. And as everybody knows, I'm about as mature as a nine year old nutsac.
It made me realize a lot of things. Number one, not everybody's gonna love this movie. No one movie can boast the admiration, respect and love of every human being on the planet. It's just not possible. I've been lucky enough that the few people who've read the script liked it. The thing is, these are the type of people who would like it, and I'm glad that the type of people I've got this movie in mind for like the script. But a lot of people won't like it and there's nothing I can do about that. It's not their cup of tea, fair enough. Experimental art-house cinema is not my cup of tea. I can appreciate it and respect it, but I can't watch it without feeling incredibly impatient. That's just me.
A lot of people in the more artsy scene would probably think this movie is derivative shiite pooped out from a lifetime of Hollywood brainwashing and for once they'd be right. I'm the type of guy that would put 'Back to the Future' in his top ten list of films alongside 'Goodfellas', 'A Better Tomorrow' and 'Swingers'. I'm the type of guy that prefers 'Mallrats' to 'Chasing Amy' when it comes to repeat viewing. The type of guy that loves Harold & Kumar and thought The Thin Red Line was waaay too long. The type of guy that quotes 'The Big Lebowski', 'Scarface' and 'Evil Dead II'. The type of guy who thought 'Lost in Translation' was just okay (I know a few people out there who'll resent that last comment).
In short, ladies & gents, I like to entertain. I like movies that make you react and would like to make movies like that. Bruce Lee once said that he wants people coming out of the cinema kicking and punching the air, going whoo-whoo-whoo and signing up for Kung Fu lessons. Does this mean he wants the entire male population of the world to be badly dubbed killing machines? No. It means he wants people to walk out the cinema thinking about how fucking cool the movie was. He wants to entertain. Plain and simple. And there's nothing wrong with that.
On Sunday, just before I was about to hit the stage with Y2k, I got another sms from Rafique:
"Be careful my young friend. Remember - controversy is easy, quality is hard."
A fair point. I just reckon quality is subjective.
Epilogue
Sunday night rolled around and I met up with Ariff at Penang Mari in Taman Tun together with my girlfriend. Earlier that morning he'd gone to meet up with Rafique to pick up the script and they talked for an hour about why he wasn't happy with his part, the lack of depth, etcetera, but the vibe Ariff got was that he liked the story. But Ariff and I had both agreed on one thing: to stick to our vision and belief of the script and not pander to everyone's comments. Rafique sent his regards and if he somehow ends up reading this, 'Cheers, mate'.
But we were still stuck with no dad. After a moment, Ariff offered a suggestion.
"If we could get him, would you be okay with having Jalalludin Hassan in the movie?"
I replied with a hearty, "Fuck yeah I'd be okay!"
For those overseas, Jalalludin Hassan is a veteran actor in Malaysia and used to host Malaysia's 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'. I actually wrote the role with him in mind as he's one of the few actors in Malaysia I actually think is half decent.
"But how are we going to pay him? Can we afford him?" I asked.
"If we can get the money, why not?" Ariff replied.
A few calls later, and we'll be getting the contact details within the week.
My producer kicks ass.
No comments:
Post a Comment