In a rare feat, Hong Kong director Herman Yau has three films in this year’s FEFF programme – Raid on the Lethal Zone, Moscow Mission and the world premiere of Customs Frontline. These three films have proved that Yau – who is beloved in the industry for his efficiency on a film set and for his tireless energy is Hong Kong’s newest and most prolific action maestro.
Sitting with his signature rock-and-roll T-shirt (he says his collection of band T-shirts make him very easy to shop for), Yau shared the making of the three films’ large action sequences, explained why he doesn’t mind being called a “craftsman” instead of an artist, and the importance of practical experience on a film set when making a big-budget blockbuster.
— Where did the idea of making a film about customs agents come from?
The film company’s producer, Jason, suggested the idea of a customs film. The idea was first floated around 12 years ago. We started planning a story, but we stopped. The idea for this version started around 2018. Around 2017 and 2018, there were a lot of films about uniformed officers, like firefighters and police officers. We thought of customs, to be different.
When we make action films, it’s usually cops and robbers. But there was a period of time when Hong Kong audiences didn’t like watching films with police uniforms. So, what other uniforms could we do? That’s where the idea of customs came from.
— Each of your three films in the programme this year has a huge action set piece. Can you talk about the design of those sequences?
When iQIYI called me up to do Raid on the Lethal Zone, they wanted me to do an anti-narcotics film. They already had a story when they offered it to me. That was at the end of 2019. Actually, what drew me to that story was the flood. Back in 2017 to 2019, there were too many of those “police chase drug dealers” films. Every film company in mainland China had one. If I didn’t shoot one for company A, I could’ve shot one for company B or company C, and so on, and each of them would’ve had a considerable budget.
When iQIYI came to me with this story in late 2019, the thing that stood out to me was the flood. That was the fresh thing for me. I’ve never shot a flood before; the closest thing I’ve shot to that was heavy rain and a landslide. I watched news footage of tsunamis and floods for research. After that, I had to think of how to put action inside that watery environment.
— How much of that was CG, and how much of that was real?
The street was built, but that was only an intersection. If you look closely, we just repeated the same location. Of course, we changed the wall colours so they would look different from shot to shot. The set was about 100 metres or so, and we flooded that set with water. I always try to keep some real elements, unless that thing doesn’t exist. So, there was water, then I added more water with CGI. When a Chinese-language film uses CG, audiences automatically assume that our CG is inferior, so they always think it looks fake. I have to make a lot of judgments in post-production. In that process, I try to help my judgment-making by using as many real elements as I can, then enhance them with CG. If people still call them fake, then what can I say? It always helps to shoot as much in-camera as possible. In my experience, when people expect something to look real, you have to do even better. Look at Troma’s films. Those films are rough, but people love those films because they look so low-tech. But we actually want things to look convincing to audiences, so we try our best to make things look real.
— When I was watching Moscow Mission, I was amazed by the scale that a Hong Kong crew can pull off.
We had the story in place already for that one, too. They came to me with a full script, but that script was very long. It would’ve been four hours long or longer. Most of those action scenes were there already, but I added the car chase in the middle. It was originally a short surveillance scene, but I made it bigger. In the script, there was a lull in that section where there was no action, so I added that chase. The other set pieces were in the script, but the ending required some debating. It was always about bringing the criminals back to China via the train, but the original finale shootout was set on a viaduct. First of all, I’m of a realist tradition. If there’s one elder filmmaker whom I take after, it’s Michael Mak. When we pitched ideas to him, he often rejected them. But if we said, “I saw this and that on the street today,” he loved them. He was very good at spotting lies. He wanted authenticity.
Anyway, that ending is supposed to be set in Siberia, but there’s no tall viaduct in Siberia. It would have to be hundreds of metres off the ground to look good, and that wouldn’t exist there. I told the investors that the film would be dragged by netizens who would complain about that. We thought about shooting a fight on the top of the train, but that’s been done a million times.
Before production, I did a lot of research into the K3/K4 train line. That’s when I noticed the railroad switching on the route. I’m a cinephile, but I’ve never seen that in a film. I found some travel videos about the railroad switch depot, and I found it fascinating. That railroad switch isn’t exclusive to the China-Russia border. Lots of places have this. But the entire train car being lifted for it is rare. So, I decided to set the finale in that railroad switch depot. Actually, I had to fight for that scene, because they thought the depot wasn’t visually interesting enough.
— On Customs Frontline, you were working with your usual scriptwriter, Erica Li. Did the action or the story come first?
We had the story first, too. We had a scene about stealing weapons in the story first, then we designed the action.
As for the ending, we had a container ship being chased, then we thought about what would look good and very local. Honestly, the chase wouldn’t have reached Victoria Harbour in reality, so we used all kinds of ways to get that ship into Victoria Harbour. If we went to the strait near Tsing Yi, there’s not much in the background.
— Which of the three films was the hardest to shoot?
None of them was particularly hard, but Raid to the Lethal Zone was the most physically demanding. The whole crew was drenched every day. Our shoes were covered in so much mud, the hotel wouldn’t let us in. Every night, we had a water truck outside the set to spray the mud off the tires. We had to clean ourselves off before going back to the hotel. When we’re shooting close-ups, we can’t just concentrate the water in one place, so water was everywhere. Even with rain coats on, we got drenched. It was very tough on the cast and crew. Everyone slipped on the ground, especially those carrying equipment. Luckily, no one got seriously hurt.
— You’ve been in the industry for decades. You’ve worked on over a hundred films...
If just directing, it’s only around 90, but definitely more than 100 if you count cinematography.
— How has your extensive experience helped you control the set on large-scale productions?
It’s the practical experience. It’s my experience and training from controlling a set. That’s all accumulated. The scale has changed – now I’m moving 100 extras as opposed to just 10 – but the basic methods remain the same: One, you have to be aware of time; two, you need organisational skills; three, you have to keep your word, meaning you have to take responsibility for what you tell your crew. That means don’t ask for something, then suddenly have amnesia and change your mind. Also, don’t be too reckless. Image-making is about procedure, and I have more than enough experience with that.
— Does anything faze you anymore these days? Or are you pretty confident every time?
The only thing I’m afraid of is whether a finished film will be good. If you’re talking about creating specific shots, if I can imagine it, I can shoot it. The problem is the outcome after you put 1,000 shots together. Getting a shot isn’t hard; it’s just hard to create a creative shot. Execution isn’t that hard, especially with technology these days. I can say with assurance that Hong Kong film crews are the best in the world.
— Some say that directors don’t have time to think about artistry on set because it’s an endless chain of problem solving. Is that your experience?
It’s true for a director like me. There are a lot of artistic types who aren’t like that, but I’m a craftsman director. I don’t find that to have a negative connotation. I’m OK with that. Craftsmen are very professional, too. Those “creative” chairs can be uncomfortable. My chair, on the other hand, is very comfortable. That’s what being a craftsman is about. I didn’t invent the chair, but I can make a good chair.
— What’s the most important quality needed to create a good action scene?
Obviously, you need to have ideas first. But no one truly knows what audiences want to see. By audiences, I also include investors, film critics, the masses and others in the industry. When you watch other people’s films, you form an opinion. But when I watch my own films, I can’t predict how other people will feel. For example, there are some films of mine that I didn’t think turn out very well, but they have great word-of-mouth. There are films that I didn’t expect to succeed, but they succeeded.
I’m always reflecting, but looking back, I still don’t know what’s wrong with The White Storm 3. You probably don’t like the movie, either. I know the story is kind of old-fashioned.
On the other hand, even though Hongkongers don’t really watch mainland Chinese films, Moscow Mission got fairly good word-of-mouth. Even Taiwanese audiences liked it. If you see it as a huge propaganda film, then of course you wouldn’t like it. But as a commercial action film, the reviews I read were pretty positive! I can’t put a finger on it.
Raid on the Lethal Zone has a very barebones story, but people were pretty excited by it. The investor was very confident in it, but the promotion was totally wrong. They withdrew the film after it opened, but it wasn’t because they were scared; they thought the film just didn’t make enough money in that date slot! The investors withdrew the film for better box office, only to turn it into a flop in the end. Anyway, the money is theirs, so I can’t complain, but it’s a waste of our hard work.
— Your strength is that you find room to work around the constraints of a genre. How did you do that on these three films?
Positivity. If one way doesn’t work, then take a more subtle approach. If I can’t be explicit about something, then be implicit. There have always been banned films and banned books. But people have always been able to create, despite their limitations. And the works are able to be passed down through generations. I try to think that way. Finish the film first, then worry about the rest afterwards. If the film can’t even be made, then it’ll only remain as images in your head.
— Your action choreographer on Customs Frontline is also your star, Nicholas Tse. What was that collaboration like?
It was just like any other collaboration. It was his first time in that position, and I’m his elder, so we got along well. He would tell me his ideas, then we worked together on it. He didn’t have any ego that comes from being a big star. Besides, I’ve worked with most of the people on his team. I have been in this industry for a long time, after all. I’ve done 20, 30 films with those guys. So, there was no problem. In fact, I thought he was too reserved. He could’ve been even more outspoken. Being an actor and taking part behind the scenes come with different mentalities. I haven’t talked to Nic extensively, but I think he had fun doing it.
— You’ve blown up so much of Hong Kong in your action films. Do you have any dream action sequences you’d like to try?
No, because the story comes first. An action sequence should spring from the story. For example, in Shock Wave 2, I didn’t think of blowing up Tsing Ma Bridge before figuring out the circumstances. I don’t know how to create in that order. I get to a point in the story that requires action, then I figure out the action. I believe most people think that way. If you pitch an action sequence to investors before the story, your film won’t get made. You have to tell a story, then tell them that you’ll blow up the bridge in the end; that’s how you get investment. You need to tell the story first. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to attract actors, either.
— Action has always been the popular Hong Kong film genre overseas. What do you think is the state of the action genre right now?
It’s not as great as before, of course, because audiences see more now. And the genre has been “Hollywood-ised” somewhat. In the past, action used to have a unique Hong Kong flavour. A martial arts movie is unique because they didn’t exist anywhere else back then. Jackie Chan, for example, made action films in which he risked his life. Those are gutsy films that were fearless. That is what made our action films so appealing overseas.
— You now make three, four movies a year. How do you keep up your energy?
I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m not very demanding as a director or something! Honestly, the workload isn’t that impossible. I know creative work is different, but lots of ordinary folks go to work five days a week. If I make three films a year, and each film takes two months, then that’s only six months of shooting. Of course, there’s post-production, but it’s still possible. There are tiring days, but there are tiring days even when people go on holidays. It’s not impossible.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.