words james marsh

The Pang brothers revisit their first film and contemplate love

Twin brothers Danny and Oxide Pang, writer/directors of such Asian horror hits as The Eye and Re-Cycle, are in town to promote their second Hollywood venture, a big budget remake of their 1998 debut, Bangkok Dangerous. The film tells the story of a lonely assassin, played this time around by Nicholas Cage. James Marsh talked to the brothers about their latest release and other projects.

It may be a signal to Oxide, or it may just be Danny’s attitude to interviews but as I leap in with “Whose idea was it to remake the film?”, Danny pages leisurely through a gossip magazine. Oxide takes the cue. “The studio,” he says. “Nic Cage saw the original and liked it, so his company contacted us to get the rights.” But, knowing how negatively most Asian cinema fans react to remakes of their favourite films, didn’t you have qualms, I ask.

“No, we thought it was great!” Oxide continues. “Because it gave us the chance to make the movie again. We had more budget to make it better. In the original we had to shoot the gunfights on street corners, but this time we could use the floating market.” I can’t imagine that gunshots in the floating market is all that is different and press him about what else changed in the movie.
Danny lifts his head from the magazine and seamlessly takes over. In the same way they direct, with only one brother on set at a time, they alternate with answers. I wonder if they ever disagree.
“It’s about 90% the same as the original,” he says, “but the big difference is that now Nic Cage can speak. In the old version, the killer is deaf and mute. This time, it’s about a killer who comes from America to Thailand and slowly starts to feel something different. He becomes more human; he’s not just a killing machine. So, the situation is the same.”
It is not all that common that the leading man is also the producer of a movie – as directors, did Cage’s dual role put any extra pressure on the brothers?
“Not pressure,” Danny is quick to retort, “but you have to be concerned with many things, like the marketing. First time out we came from nothing and could do what we wanted.” Then he adds, laughing, “Just kill all the people!”
“On location,” Oxide pipes up, “Nic Cage is just an actor, not a producer. He believes what we say and believes in our style, so he just left us to it.”
Leaving Nicholas Cage becoming human in Bangkok, we move on to last year’s Hollywood remake of The Eye starring Jessica Alba, which they were not involved in.
Oxide starts. “It’s so close to the original! The audience already knows the story, they know the cutting already, so there are no surprises. Apart from Jessica Alba’s low-cut top – that was a big surprise for me.” The two giggle like mischievous schoolboys.
So, they were never involved? “No,” says Oxide. “We wanted to do it, and we talked about it, but there was never a green light for us. I think now the studio knows that they made a mistake. It’s so foolish because they hired another director who just followed our style!”
Danny comes to the end of his magazine, flicks it down and leans forward. “One scene that made me very disappointed was the ending, with all the cars exploding,” he says. “In our version that scene is more powerful. Why, with a Hollywood budget, did they make that scene so small? It’s the most powerful scene in the original – it should make me go ‘Wow!’ but I couldn’t feel anything.”

Now out of the gossip pages, it seems he has plenty to say. “Maybe the culture is different, I always say the tempo of Hollywood movies is different from Asian movies, because we think tension should last longer, build up slowly, to make the audience tune in with their emotions. But Hollywood always makes this mistake; they just go step by step. The director of The Eye tried to make all the scenes the same as the original, even the editing, but the feeling is very different.” Oxide jumps in with “It was just lazy of the director.”
No, I think, probably they never disagree.
Next up, the brothers will soon be releasing a sequel to the 1998 comic book movie The Storm Riders, starring Nicholas Tse, Simon Yam and Charlene Choi, which is sure to be a domestic success. And after that?
“We have some small projects, a love story.” The comment is casual but then the silence is thunderous. A love story! From the Pang brothers?
“Yeah, that’s the news!” declares Oxide. “The Pang Brothers make a love story! They are more scary than ghost stories anyway. But actually we are doing two – one each. When the budget is smaller we do them individually.”
As we pack up, I thank them for speaking to me in English, confessing I don’t speak Chinese.
“You should learn! You need to think bigger!” says Danny.
“Be water, my friend!” Oxide Pang channels Bruce Lee.