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.
