Hong Kong superstars Jackie Chan and Andy Lau Tak-wah certainly seem to be sticking to their promises to support up-and-coming talent.
Enter the Phoenix, the directorial debut of actor Stephen Fung Tak-lun, is close to completion and scheduled for release on April 8. The film, which stars Daniel Wu as the gay son of a deceased triad kingpin, is wholly financed by Chan and Albert Yeung's JCE Movies. JCE has also co-financed Hainan Chicken Rice, the first mainstream film from promising new director Kenneth Bi, which is now in post-production.
Meanwhile, Lau's Focus Group is investing in Jiang Hu, the first mainstream production from independent filmmaker Wong Ching-po, which is currently shooting in Hong Kong. Lau is also starring in the $40 million gangster thriller along with Jacky Cheung Hok-yau and Eric Tsang Chi-wai. Edison Chen Koon-hei and Shawn Yue Man-lok also star as two young thugs who are hungry for fame among the triads.
So far so good, but what makes the film so surprising is that its 30-year-old director, Wong, only has one feature film under his belt. The scriptwriter, Christine To, is even younger, at a precocious 23 years old.
'It's very unusual for a new director to work with such a strong cast, but Andy and Eric are both keen to back the next generation of talent,' says Esther Koo, general manager of Lau's distribution subsidiary, Focus Films. 'They both realise there's a real need for new actors and directors in the Hong Kong film industry - particularly now that the number of films being made is starting to go up.'
The project first came about when Tsang made a special appearance in Wong's debut feature, the grisly, low-budget thriller Fu Bo. The film - about a mortuary assistant, a triad assassin and a chef who cooks for death-row convicts - won a fair amount of attention last year and screened at several film festivals including the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea. During filming, Tsang discussed a few story ideas with Wong and suggested he went away to develop them. When Wong came back with To's script - about the chaos that ensues when a gang boss goes into early retirement - Tsang was both surprised at the quality and shocked at the content. He immediately took the project to Lau who he believed was one of the few people in Hong Kong who would be willing to support a new filmmaker.
Lau's previous company, Teamwork Motion Pictures, had invested in Fruit Chan Kuo's debut, Made in Hong Kong, and cinematographer Lam Wah-chuen's first film as director, Runaway Pistol.