words yvonne teh

Say Milkyway Image and the name of film doyen Johnnie To immediately comes to mind. However, To is not the director of Eye in the Sky, the film production company’s first film for 2007. Instead, it’s Yau Nai Hoi – the scriptwriter of more than 20 Milkyway Image movies ranging from romantic-comedy crowd-pleasers like Needing You... (2000) through to critically acclaimed crime dramas like A Hero Never Dies (1998), The Mission (1999) and the Election duo of 2005 and 2006.

Recently, bc visited the Milkyway Image office to have a chat with scriptwriter and director Yau. Days before his film hits local theatres, the conversation understandably focused on Eye in the Sky but thoughts also invariably turned to the nature of his relationship with all things Milkyway...

You’d been the scriptwriter for 24 films over 13 years prior to making your directorial debut with Eye in the Sky. What took you so long to make the move into directing?
It’s a matter of finally getting the chance and opportunity. The condition of the local film industry being what it is, it’s hard to find the right opportunity to make a movie. Also, it takes investors and producers to want to take a chance and give a new director the opportunity to helm a movie. Investors like Sundream Motion Pictures, producers like Johnnie To and Milkyway Image. In particular, it was Johnnie To who recommended me as a director to Eye in the Sky’s backers.

Your work has, for the most part, been with Johnnie To – before the formation of Milkyway Image as well as after. Do you have any plans to branch out and work with other people in the future?
It would be nice to work with different people, different companies and different producers. However, at this point in time, my first choice remains to work with Johnnie To.

What is your relationship with Johnnie To?
It’s like Johnnie To is my sifu (master) and I’m his student or disciple. Over the years, I’ve learnt a lot from him and been influenced a lot by him not only in film but how I’ve come to see life, the arts and a lot of other different topics. Actually, I’d say that my relationship with Johnnie To is like the relationship between Kate Tsui and Simon Yam’s characters in Eye in the Sky – what you’ve got there is a relationship between a newbie and veteran, student and master –
the only difference being that Simon Yam’s character is more polite and approachable than Johnnie To!

Johnnie To has talked about how he divides the films he makes into commercial films and personal films. Is it the same for you?
Since Running on Karma (2003), which was directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai, Wai Ka Fai and I have been trying to make movies with messages. I want to make movies with values and movies that will get people discussing issues after viewing them.

So are you saying that you’re thinking less in terms of dichotomy and more in terms of trying to make movies that can entertain but are also thought-provoking?
Yes, there’s no dichotomy in my film making.

Eye in the Sky has real Hong Kong locations. So people in Hong Kong will recognize the settings and enjoy knowing where the action is taking place.
Yes.

At the same time though, the film has a very Hollywood feel in terms of the editing – the work of David Richardson. Did you deliberately go for a pacing that was atypical Hong Kong?
First of all, yes, the editor is a foreigner. So that does have an effect on the pacing of the movie and makes it different from many Hong Kong films. Also, Eye in the Sky wasn’t conceived to be an action-packed movie with a lot of highly dramatic goings-on. The very nature of surveillance makes for it being a very still and quiet activity. So the editing was actually intended to raise the tension and also the tempo of the film.

Hollywood movies tend to spell out everything, whereas Hong Kong movies often don’t. Eye in the Sky feels more like a Hollywood movie in that you seem to have felt compelled to show everything. Is this to do with its surveillance theme?
Surveillance, as in the movie, is about details. It’s about making sure you notice the details, including everything that happens on a miniscule scale. That’s why every detail needs to be addressed, covered and shown, and that’s why I had the film shot the way it was.

Many aspects of this movie, including many of its cast members, mark it out as a Milkyway Image movie. But what do you feel makes this movie distinctively yours?
Johnnie To and I do share some thematic interests: for example, the notion of destiny is very much in my movie along with other Milkyway Image movies in general. However, Johnnie’s movies really are about romantic heroes. The sense of heroism is very strong in them, even in a movie like Breaking News (2004) which is supposed to be very ‘real’. The characters of Richie Ren, Kelly Chen and Nick Cheung are larger than life. The film also projects a sense of being honourable, [and focuses on] friendship and bonding, things like that whereas in my movie the characters are more mundane, regular people reacting to real situations. Also, in terms of camera movements [and on a generally technical level], you can say that Johnnie’s movies really are about moody, atmospheric, long takes whereas in my movie, things happen a lot quicker.

For all the talk about differentiating yourself though, you chose two actors – Simon Yam and Tony Leung Ka Fai – Johnnie To used in Election (2005) and Election 2 (2006). When people see them, they’re going to think of those Johnnie To movies. So aren’t you opening yourself up to your movie being compared with Johnnie To’s?
Simon Yam and Tony Leung Ka Fai are good friends of mine. So I’m happy that they decided to come on board and help me, a first time director, out! Also, I think the audience had a good reaction to the chemistry Simon and Tony had in Election but for me it’s a nice experience to see how the two actors can produce something different – and play against type, almost, in Eye in the Sky. For example, in Election, Tony played a very flamboyant character but in this movie, he’s playing the opposite – a very quiet, calm and cool person who generally keeps things to himself. As for Simon Yam, in this movie he plays a very mundane character against his pretty boy looks. So it was an experiment for me to see how these two people could do things differently.

On the other hand, you’ve got Kate Tsui, making her movie debut in Eye in the Sky...
I first saw Kate Tsui in a commercial with Leon Lai and thought she had a pretty face but I also saw a girl-next-door, very friendly type. I additionally got the feeling that at times she can be tough. So she fits the role very well. And when Kate Tsui was in the Miss Hong Kong pageant, Johnnie To was on the panel of judges! So Johnnie already knew her from that event. After the event, Johnnie and I had a conversation about what movie we could use her in. Eye in the Sky became the project to introduce Kate Tsui into films.

Finally, now that you’ve had a taste of directing films, do you want to direct more?
Yes!