— What was it about Nam Ron’s Crossroads: One Two Jaga that convinced you to sign on as producer? What was it like wearing the producer’s hat?
Nam Ron is a dear friend of mine. What started as a working relationship on set as actors, moved organically to a director-actor relationship on three different projects. This project came about by chance. He had just left a project that failed to launch at the last minute. He needed someone to talk to, so he came over to my house. Somehow, our conversation turned away from what went wrong to what kind of story he wanted to share with the world. After a while, it was clear that we share a view of our country, the problems, the complexity, the things that we thought we should to tell through a film. We shot our pre-visualisation a fortnight later to test some of his ideas.
— As an independent film focusing on corruption, exploitation and illegal immigrants, Crossroads: One Two Jaga is truly daring for Malaysian cinema. How do expect the censors and the audience to react?
Considering the way you describe the film, it was surprisingly easy to deal with our censorship board. They gave us a PG13 with minor tweaks to the edit, which we found very generous, considering the kind of story we’re telling. Our police force is much harder to convince. We had our script turned down at the start. After endless meetings and appeals, they relented, and let us shoot the film. Now that the film is done, the censorship board have approved it, but we are still waiting the results and report from the re-review process by the police force. There’s still a possibility that this film may not be shown on Malaysian screens.
— You only make a cameo appearance in the movie. Did you consider taking one of the main roles?
I’m happy with just being a producer on this one. I did think about it, but I realised I wouldn’t have served the project if half of my time was thinking about lines, performance, and so on. Looking back, I think I made the right decision.
— The film has its premiere in Udine. What is your strategy for its launch in Malaysia? Do you expect local audiences to embrace it widely, or do you feel it will be treated more as a niche film festival title?
When we first thought about telling this story, we wanted to share it with as many people as possible. That remains the same, and nothing changed in that regard. Strategy for the Malaysian release will depend on the decision from our police force. Given the early response from local filmgoers, key industry players, and cinema managers, people are excited by it. We take that as a positive early sign in terms of commercial appeal.
— Udine audiences will also see you at the festival in Joko Anwar’s Indonesian horror hit Satan’s Slaves (Pengabdi Setan). Last year, they watched you in another Indonesian production, Upi’s My Stupid Boss. As you are now definitely one of the most, if not the most, active and recognisable Malaysian actors in Indonesian films, could you comment on your choice of working ‘across the straits’ so often?
Maybe it’s time for me to fly across a different set of straits to work with (Philippines producer) Bianca Balbuena now, ha ha. Working abroad gives me a new buzz, new experiences, new material to work with, and new people to work with. I love the buzz of working outside of my comfort zone, taking risks, and pushing envelopes. I like doing things I’m not sure about, and finding some answers in the process. Working across the straits provides me with all those. Life is short, and an acting career is shorter, so why not?
Paolo Bertolin