How Bill Yip made indie flick 'Cure' without a permit, script or actors in Thailand
How big a risk taker is Bill Yip? For starters, he shot the movie "Cure" while working without a license in Thailand and Myanmar.
To get things done in Myanmar, he had to resort to bribing officials and employing sleuth techniques.
Yip has been in show biz in Hong Kong for more than 20 years, but his directorial debut was finally supposed to have come last year when he was prepping to shoot a script called "City of Angel" on location in Thailand.
It wasn't until the crew landed in Thailand that Yip found out that authorities would not approve the script, which involved child prostitution.
"I was really frustrated," says Yip. "We were a small production and couldn't afford setbacks like that."
Instead of returning home, Yip improvised in Thailand.
After selling his apartment in Hong Kong to boost the budget, Yip shot a new story, "Cure," a feature-length film made on the sly with no script and no professional actors.
We spoke with Yip after "Cure" premiered as the closing film for the Hong Kong Independent Film Festival in 2010.
CNNGo: This was your first time as a director -- why choose to shoot in Thailand?
The original plan was to shoot the film “City of Angel” in the fishing villages of southern Thailand. It was a story of a brother and a sister in a paradise.
That story was conceived on the discovery of letters from my godfather. I have lost contact with him for many years; all I knew was that he lived in Penang, Malaysia. Looking at those dusty letters from him, I kept wondering if he was still alive.
As the thoughts flew I decided to write about the search for a long lost relative. Having done considerable research, we decided to shoot the film in Thailand.
When checking out the sets on site, we found that the natural beauty of many villages was well kept, and the Chinatowns there also reminded me of the former Hong Kong.
CNNGo: What went wrong with "City of Angel"?
Yip: Unfortunately the script was disapproved by the Thai authorities just before the shooting was to begin, so the plan had to be dropped.
The Thai officials never expressed any concerns over our original script, not until a week before the actual shooting did they come to me and say that because the story involved child prostitution it would jeopardize the image of Thailand as a country and that I should make amendments to it.
My script has no particular emphasis on this issue, but I do believe that this is an essential element of the story.
In the end I decided to shoot a different story. I did not wish to sacrifice the autonomy of my work, hence the eventual production of “Cure.”
CNNGo: “Cure” is a road movie. Do you have a special affection for this genre?
Yip: I have always liked road movies. When the Thai authorities requested me to rewrite the script, all that I had in mind was that I could not compromise.
However, seeing that the crew has already booked air tickets and hotel accommodation, despite the absence of a new script, I decided to take the trip to Thailand first and take it from there.
Though at the time we were in lack of a script, a cast and sets, the filming crew of nine traveled with me anyway just with the hope shooting an improvised road movie.
The entire shooting process was full of unexpected elements. When arriving in a village, the people or events would always inspire me.
Buildings such as train stations and hotels are not only sets for the film, but they also become instrumental in determining the development of the plot.
My shooting process is like the road movie itself, on the arrival at each new village, the local characteristics of a place would inspire a new chapter of the story.
CNNGo: That must have been a tough journey.
Yes it was not easy. So we started from Bangkok and proceeded to the north. When we were shooting in Bangkok, it so happened that the anti-government red shirts were demonstrating and rioting.
We immediately had to pack up and leave the city right away, avoiding being trapped in Bangkok by the curfews.
In Myanmar, we couldn't even get across the border, we had to bribe one of the guards. I had to give them my passport while I was there.
