DISPELLING THE MYTH OF BAI LING

Whenever I get asked questions on The Gene Generation, somehow the question about working with Bai Ling always comes around. It’s something I’ve grown used to, especially with her controversial publicity that has surrounded her, but I thought I could answer a couple of questions.

First of all, I don’t claim to know Bai Ling personally, except through various conversations on set, so I won’t claim to judge Bai Ling as a person. But from what I know, she is probably one of the nicest people I’ve come to work with and a professional who have helped shaped the image of The Gene Generation.

I notice that a lot of people have commented about Bai Ling, but the important thing to note about these comments is not one person has said anything about her work or art. As someone who has worked with her, there is really no one who would be more dedicated in her role and push the envelope of artistry than Bai Ling. With that, I don’t think I could go back and cast another actress for the role of Michelle, even if I wanted to.

You seldom meet actors who are extremely detailed oriented. You will catch Bai Ling scrutinizing every detail of her character down to the make up and costume. She’s also one of the rare actresses who will fight to work more and do one more take. Most actors just hope that the director will yell ‘Cut and move on’, but not Bai Ling. I don’t think she was ever satisfied and that kind of perserverance has pushed this girl from a small province in China into a class A Hollywood actress.

When asked about her Playboy spread, I can only say one thing. Why would you judge a person by the way the media portrays him or her? You obviously don’t watch a movie like ‘The Crow’ and start being disgusted with Bai Ling because she ‘likes pretty eyes’. No, you disassociate the fact that Myca and Bai Ling are 2 seperate entities. I urge everybody before they even open their mouths to seperate Bai Ling as a media persona and Bai Ling as a person. Let her entertain you, let her make you cry, smile, because that’s what she is…an entertainer.

BACK IN BUSINESS!

Today, producer has finished his cut so I’ll be worming my way back into The Gene Generation. With both assembly cuts down, it’s finally time to hash out the final product. We’ve already started building the assets of the VFX work. Here’s a little teaser:

As you can see, I’m definitely going biomechanical on the vehicle design, very similar to the glove design, which was built and use on set.

The whole city will have a similar feel but I’ll save that for later.

So with that in mind, back in business and getting ready to reshoot anything that might be necessary. Sorry Parry, hair extensions are going back on.

Lessons in Self Restraint was a link a good friend sent to me which shows pretty much my relationship with the producers of the movie. There are many times I have frustrated them with my extreme views on the movie while in return, they do the same to me in terms of keeping me on time and budget.

Now argument between Directors and Producers are a very common thing. It happens on every set. In some sets, arguments go beyond words! But when it all boils down to it, filmmaking is all about team work and knowing who is the boss. In the end, the producer IS the boss. The producer will answer to his boss, the executive producer who in turns answers to the financiers and the list goes on.

A lot of Directors I’ve met have this ‘I’m Director, I’m God’ mentality which is pretty bad. Ultimately, you always answer to somebody and you always have to know where you stand. After all, this is a business, and like every business, you learn to throw your ego out the door when you walk into the boss’ office. The entire film set, is my boss’ office, so I’m in it all the time.

Having control of the majority of the film set doesn’t make you the boss (it does create that illusion) but I see myself more like the ‘supervisor’. The supervisor is on the floor making sure it happens and happens his way, but without the boss, he has no job and can be fired by him as well.

For most productions, where the director is the producer and writer, this doesn’t apply. But I think it’s always good practice to work on a film set with that mentality, and to throw your ego out of the door before stepping into a film set. After all, it did take me a while to get use to ‘not being the boss’ since I produced all my short films. So, if you’re still a producer of your films, it might not be a bad idea to start early, since at one point in your life, you’re going to be making a film for someone else (big indie financer or studio).

Just my thoughts on this, you might continue to make films even if you are a tough and asshole director to work with, but this is just how I work!

IMPACT PICTURES

Today, I had a meeting with Damon Chua, VP of Impact Pictures. He’s also a Singaporean, where he and I both share a mutual friend. Actually, our mutual friend was the producer who me first saw my script in Microsoft Excel. Things have come a long way since then.

Our sunday lunch was mainly spent catching up on Singapore and the ol’ what nots. We talked a bit about The Gene Generation, about Impact Pictures, and also about several other things like his previous projects, my previous projects, the typical thing you would hear when you put 2 filmmakers in the same room together.

It is nice to see that our industry is slowly making way for new talent and that hollywood is becoming more and more self accepting to the minority filmmakers. In fact, some actually see us as ‘fresh eyes’ and assets to the industry. That was an interesting thought, but the bottom line is, luck gets your foot in the industry, while talent helps keep your foot in the industry.

Damon also talked about a couple of his connections which was interesting because I brought up to him the idea of wanting to option an anime and turn it to a live action film. He agreed to get me in contact with the right people and nothing more. That’s all I need! I’m excited to see what comes out of that. It may be nothing, because in this industry, nothing is guranteed. Hope is a killer in this industry, the best is always make sure you have more work than you have hope. That’s just my point of view anyway.

Regardless, the meeting (to me) sprouted a friendship, with someone that I can relate to. We both come from a tiny country so that makes it easier as well. Well, the most important thing is, work can’t always be about work, it’s nice to have friends who are there to give you advice as well during their free time!

As far as The Gene Generation goes. The producer Keith Collea is making his cut of the film which would end up in the release version of the movie. Some of you may already know that the cut of the film which you see in release is the producer’s cut not the director’s cut. Very rare does a director get to have the final cut of the film. It’s the way the industry goes. I don’t like it. I just work with it.

So, I’m spending my time, twiddling my thumbs, catching up on movies while I wait for the cut to be done. Keeping my fingers crossed!