The eternal saga of my may-or-may-not-ever-be-made first feature length film continues. It's been on my mind for quite a bit, you see. My girlfriend and I are continuously trying to figure out storylines with a mixed bag of results.
We both came to the conclusion that a horror film would probably be the way to go. Many great directors that I admire started off in horror, like Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, to name two. Horror also shows a directors skill (or lack of) more obviously. If the camera and the music and the cuts aren't right, no one will pee in their pants.
But this in itself provides another dilemma. Many fine horror films have been made, and the ones that stand out from the crowd are the incredibly original ones, the ones that don't get boxed up in the 'B-grade splatterfest gore' category. Sure, there are many people making a decent living in this category, but it's not where I see myself going.
So if I don't want to end up pigeonholed, my horror movie would have to be something wholly original. Wes Craven gave you Freddy. Sam Raimi gave you Ash and the Deadites. Peter Jackson gave you zombie sex, zombie babies and zombie intestines.
And that's stumping me. I have no wholly original horror idea. Not one that I feel strongly enough about, anyway.
Also, take a look at the current climate of cinema worldwide. The last big horror wave was Asian horror, particularly of the Japanese/Korean variety, where everyday people in everyday situations stay very quiet for long periods of time before getting freaked out by some little girl with long black hair in a white robe.
And that particular wave, whilst original a couple years ago, is rapidly dying down.
Plus, there's something about me doing a horror film as a first film that just doesn't fit right. I love the horror genre, but it's not my predominant genre.
Then there's my little love story, 'Celup'. Apart from the problems I already experienced with it, I also have the fear that, apart from the characters, the story isn't quite original and may not stand out. We've had 'Sepet' and 'Gol & Gincu', two seperate love story based movies tackled in two different ways.
And whilst 'Gol & Gincu' isn't wholly original, it is original for Malaysian cinema. A romantic triangle chick-flick love story for the mainstream that doesn't feel like root canal surgery on a humvee. How often does that happen?
With 'Celup', I just feel like it should be saved for when a decent budget can give it the scope and feel the story deserves. With my horror story ideas, they feel like they should be saved for when Malaysia really needs a good scare.
Originality, freshness and an opportunity to put in everything that I consider my own personal touch into a movie have been of the utmost importance in my head for the past few days whilst thinking about this. It's been a headache and a half which I have inadvertedly roped my girlfriend into (couples should share, they say. Even at times of supreme head-fuckery).
There was also another thing to tackle: Malaysian-ness. I didn't think much of it before, but the more I thought about it, the more it became important. If I'm going to make a movie set in Malaysia, it's gonna have to be a Malaysian movie. Not a Western movie set in Malaysia.
I realized this when I brainstormed a possible storyline which I had scribbled on a notepad: "Get Carter in KL". I'd been watching 'Dead Man's Shoes' and 'Old Boy' and the revenge movie genre seemed interesting. I imagined Peter Brown, a British ex-soldier back in Malaysia afte thirty years, stalking the streets of KL killing off all the evil bastards responsible for the death of some loved one (My idea. Fuck off if you're thinking of nicking it).
But it didn't feel Malaysian. Malaysia was an alien in the story I was crafting. So back to the drawing board.
At 3.00am last night I got one of my inspiration hits again. It felt just like the one I got for the 'Some Like It White' script (which I shall upload shortly and for those of you in Malaysia, do tune in to Astro Prima at 10pm on Sunday 28th to check it out on 'Shortcuts', censored for the mass with lots of bleeps and pixelated boobies).
I like these inspiration hits. They thwack you upside the head and all your lethargy and tiredness seem to seep out of your pores. The ideas need to be written down.
But I'm not going to talk about it just yet. I have this weird superstition that if I tell someone the story of my script before I write it I can no longer write it. I've only broken that superstition once in Malaysia, and that took four failed attempts.
On the surface it seems as daunting as 'Celup' was, but it should work. It should. And it should have all the pre-requisites I want in my first feature: rough, brash, loud and crass. A rude, lewd and pollitically incorrect 80 minutes of wackiness, a touch of farce and most importantly, something wholly original and uniquely Malaysian.
And if you hear me say nothing more of it, you'll know you've just jinxed it.
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