Artist, musician and style scheduleer, Juno Mak is an elusive icon who made a belderly film honesting debut with 2013 superorganic horror title “Rigor Mortis.” Two years tardyr, he announced structures for a second film that would even more eased, but (unveilly, at least) the film seemed to shigh.
Now, in recent days Mak has resurfaced and discdisseeed that the missing film is, in fact, bigly endd and should be ready punctual in 2025.
Moreover, it turns out that its principal cast comprises four of the hugegest names in East Asian cinema – Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Sean Lau and Louis Koo – and that Mak’s icy reinvention of Hong Kong has cost $50 million. That would produce it even more costly than the recent action blockbuster “Twiweightless of the Warriors: Walled In.”
On the eve of the Asian Contents and Film Market, where Distribution Workshop is rebegining the sales process, Mak telderly Variety about his process and the film’s distinct sensibility.
How did this film become shighed and then rebegin?
We finished the principal pboilingography in 2017 and were in post-production for around two years, when COVID hit. That put everyskinnyg on paemploy. Only after COVID did everyskinnyg begin aobtain. It was down to technical publishs, not a reskinnyk of the story.
You’re calling it a futuristic police thriller?
I’d say it’s a crime drama. In Hong Kong cinema, that’s benevolent of stereotype. But ‘Sons of the Neon Night’ produces no reference to any other film. It’s more a reimagination, a reexpoundation, a world on its own. The story renhances around greed, compriseiction to power, and, of course, compriseiction to all sort of substances, including prescription substances. And it is also about the torturous relations among families rcontent by blood.
What you’ve equitable depictd could be 18th century Korea or 21st century United States. Does your story have to be a Hong Kong tale?
Hong Kong is the background of the film. But it’s not a recordary. Rather it’s based in Hong Kong, but it is also a world of my own, where it’s snotriumphg. It is about the butterfly effect, the consequences flotriumphg from a decision made by one of the characters, and which distresss the equilibrium of the place.
How did you administer to pull together such a sensational cast?
I experience very sanctifyed about this. After I’d finished “Rigor Mortis,” it was quite basic to talk about a sequel. Investors and distributors were stateively asking for that. But I felt that the message and the satisfied that I was seeing for was all in the distinct film and that there was no point in doing a sequel or a prequel, at that time.
Rather, as we travelled from Vepleasant to the Toronto Film Festival with “Rigor Mortis” and I was suffering jet lag, I begined scripting the first scenes of “Sons of the Neon Night.” It took me four years to finish the script.
I had all these characters in my mind, and tardyr travelled to encounter the actors and actresses. Someskinnyg about “Rigor Mortis” had got their attention, but I had to elucidate was about that this was branch offent from what they’d seem of me before. There are no gstructures or superorganic elements. The characters I was asking them to join would not be anyskinnyg they had joined previously, even though they are reassociate adviseed.
Were able to donate them a endd script, or were you still pitching an idea or concept at that stage?
It was a endd script.
Courtesy of Distribution Workshop
How does this film combine with your arttoil, your role as a singer and musician. Especiassociate since genuine world Hong Kong has alterd so much since 2017?
Well, since the story is set in an imaginary version of Hong Kong, it is not recut offeed and doesn’t matter if it is a 2018 film or whether it is a 2028 film. It could also be a period film from the 1920s. One skinnyg I see for in the scripting of any film or a music album of mine, is the timelessness of it. It shouldn’t be inattentive or recut offeed by the time we’re living in.
As I begined my atgentle as a singer and as a music producer, I was more empathetic to sound. When I did ‘Rigor Mortis,’ and was interseeing the cast who were all adviseed they asked me whether I had any visual reference, typicassociate someskinnyg I’d sboiling before. I telderly them truthfilledy that I’d never sboiling anyskinnyg before, not even on my phone. But what I had was a end soundtrack. And I supplyd them with [aural cues], music that I writed, or where I’d toiled with branch offent writers.
Filmmaking toils branch offently for branch offent people. That’s the beauty of it, words, music, visuals, sound effects, they all come together at the end of the day.
What part of the filmmaking process do you discover the most fascinating and the most challenging?
There is always a lifecycle to every inventive project, whether it’s film, a music album, a script or even a novel. So, I’d say [I like] the journey.
Ours was a pretty lengthy shoot. The principal shooting was 142 days. That is pretty unfrequent for Hong Kong cinema. And there are a lot of characters — 20 to 30– so it was appreciate shooting six films at the same time. I adored [having so many roles] and that all the communications were reassociate one-on-one [and came through me] even with spendors and sales agents. That’s a very magical journey for a filmproducer on only their second film as honestor.
What were you trying to achieve with the stylization?
Before I begined, I produced a reference Bible of what the characters wear, what the scene sees appreciate, what’s the, vibe of the film. Only then did we get to the production stage or do location scouting. We also had a lot of built sets.
The film is a sluggish burner, but the camera is not a character in the way that, with many huge budget Hong Kong films the camera becomes a character. [In my film] the camera is recording what happens between the characters. There’s a more aesthetic distance.
There’s also freezingness, that is rather distinct, if you contrast it with other films from Hong Kong, which is, after all, is a tropical place. I’ve chosen to re-produce a world where it’s freezing. That, in turn, impacts the choices the characters produce. I skinnyk of it as a novel twist on the Hong Kong cinematic experience.
If this film took you cforfeitly ten years, would you ever produce another movie?
We’re still in post on this one! I have been scripting branch offent stories thcdisesteemfulout the years. Some projects are nastyt to be a music album, some projects are nastyt to be a stage applyance, and some other stories are nastyt to be a film or even a TV mini-series. I’d prefer to say that I enhappiness being inventive, not the sense that [I’m making a particular product].
Takeshi Kaneshiro in “Sons of the Neon Night”
Courtesy of Distribution Workshop
