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Carrie Chan

JACOB CHEUNG CHI-LEUNG almost gave up making films in 2001.   The last straw  was when he   went to the mainland to make a television series (in an attempt to raise funds for a film) and didn't  get paid.

'It happens a lot on the mainland,' says the 47-year-old, who has won best director and best film  at the Hong Kong Film Awards and  began making movies in 1988.

What  particularly embarrassed him was that the friends he brought along to work on the  project didn't get   paid either. 'I was sitting by the West Lake in Hangzhou. I felt like I had let down all these friends who  took part  because of me.'

It was a  frustrating end to something he was hesitant to take on  in the first place.  He agreed to do the project  on the condition that the producers would back A Battle of Wits, a film adaptation of a Japanese manga Cheung had been trying to make since he secured the rights  in 1997.  But the promise went the way of the money.

It's just one  of the setbacks in what has been a gruelling journey to  raise funds for the film. Over the years, he's made pitches to investors worldwide - from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, South Korea, Japan and the mainland.  The biggest hurdle was to convince people that although he's known for small-scale dramas, he could handle a big-budget war film.

'When I think of all I've gone through, I could break down in tears,' he says. Five years on, though, it's smiles all around. The general release of A Battle of Wits   today bears testament to Cheung's persistence. The film was finally made on a  budget of HK$160 million.

Set towards the end of China's Warring Kingdoms period - decades before Qin Shi Huang's unification of the country in 221BC - A Battle of Wits revolves around  an attempt by pacifist warrior Ge Li (Andy Lau Tak-wah)  to save the small city-state of Liang from  its aggressive neighbour, Zhao.

Interest in his latest  project rose with the success of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which heralded  a resurgence in martial-arts epics. Cheung met the film's producer, Bill Kong Chi-keung, in 2003, and was promised a third of the budget he needed. Kong's endorsement  was crucial: South Korean and Japanese investors  became far more interested once they learnt of  his involvement.

Although Kong  pulled out of the venture eventually to focus on his next project (Zhang Yimou's court-intrigue epic Curse of the Golden Flower), Cheung's investments were  secured. The backers were even more relieved when  Lau  agreed to play the lead character.

Cheung's  experience with relationship dramas  gave him a new perspective in approaching  A Battle of Wits.     'It's very challenging because I'm trying to deliver  an anti-war message, while at the same time I have to portray war scenes,' he says.

'I want my audience to stay detached.  They should be able to see the film from a distance and come up with their own judgment about war. I hope they can reflect on why they feel uncomfortable about all this.'

Cheung disapproves of  the heavy use of computer-generated graphics in films such as Chen Kaige's The Promise or Stephen Chow Sing-chi's Kung Fu Hustle.  Not that he doesn't use them at all.

'I think it's important to widen the room for imagination,'  he says. 'When the Zhao troops  are attacking their enemies, there are a lot of frozen shots.  The frames are transformed into oil paintings and eventually you can see a long mural with all the  action in it.'

Although Cheung has been in the industry for nearly three decades, he didn't set out to be a director. In 1979, he started  as a trainee in TVB's artist-training course.  Lau was one of his classmates, as was Tony Leung Ka-fai.  Eventually, he switched to directing and made his debut with Last Eunuch in China in 1988.

Cheung's works include Beyond the Sunset (1989), which won  best film at the year-end awards; Cageman (1992), a quadruple winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including best film and best director; and The Intimates (1997).

In all, Cheung has directed 13 films,  and is known for spending more time on his movie than most other local directors. He spent  almost seven years  finalising the story of The Intimates,  about the lives of zishu women  in Suzhou who took a vow of sisterhood and celibacy which, if broken, meant death.

The filmmaker could certainly feel for the characters in The Intimates, considering the way  he suffered for his ideals and his art. Caught in dire financial straits at the end of the 1990s, he once earned just HK$10,000 (from a small acting role) in an entire year.   Cheung reluctantly joined production company Filmko as an administration manager to  make ends meet.

He only finished paying off debts  last year from making The Kid back in 1999. The film stars Leslie Cheung  Kwok-wing as a fund manager who loses his fortune but finds solace in caring for an abandoned child.

Cheung says he's disappointed by the apparent indifference of Hong Kong audiences  to relationship dramas and political films. 'When I watched the Hong Kong Film Awards, I asked myself: 'Why is the winner about triads again?'.'

Such  apathy  was among the reasons he moved to Beijing in 2001. His family lives in Canada, where he says his three children can receive free and better education. 'I don't like the atmosphere in Hong Kong,' he says. 'The media  is very unforgiving and too judgmental. They have the same attitude for the victim or the murderer. And when they praise someone, they do it sensationally. The whole society acts as if they're in a drama.'

Cheung is now working on a cartoon project adapted from a story that's been circulating  on the internet about a woman who agrees to be transformed into a butterfly in exchange for her boyfriend's recovery from a deadly disease.

He has yet to  find an investor - but he's on a better footing than when he was trying to find funding for A Battle of Wits.

'Some investors say, no matter what film I'm going to make, they'll contribute one-third of the budget. If A Battle of Wits is a success, then I can continue.'

A Battle of Wits opens today



My life and debt