Technical Information
Category: Fight Experiment
Running time: 2 minutes
Original Format: NTSC DV (Color)
Date of completion: December 2003

Director TRAN QUOC BAO
Producers JOSEPH K. LEE & STEVEN TRIGSTAD

Synopsis
Detectives Kong Yat Hung and Siu Ma are investigating a computer hacking case where the boss of the company was murdered. While on the case, Hung tells Siu Ma that although she has been in Hong Kong for only a month, she was able to memorize all the police records within a week. Siu Ma asks if she remembers any of it. "Of course," she replies.

Cast
Kong Yat Hung JUNE WANG
Siu Ma PHILIP PARK
Knife Thug ALAN LUK
Cap Thug ADAM PHELPS

Director Comments
There's recently been a strong trend in Hollywood to capitalize on both Hong Kong action and its prolific subgenre of female fighting. We see girls kicking butt in The Matrix, Charlie's Angels, and Kill Bill. All of these actresses had no previous martial arts training and went through months of practice under the films' choreographers. This was our attempt to cash in, an experiment in creating a fight scene with an actress who also had no martial arts experience.

We auditioned about twenty actresses for the part, testing them on general physical aptitude and how well they could learn new things. There were a few who had trained in martial arts and looked good at it, but we decided to cast June because she had no experience at all and still did well. I intentionally wanted to make it more difficult by casting a complete beginner. Down the line I may work on a production that casts its actors based on their acting ability and commercial viability and not necessarily physical talent. It's good to get the practice in while you can while there's still room for error.

We trained June five days a week for three weeks. She was eager for the lessons and incredibly dedicated to her regimen. Q: What should I have in my diet? A: Um, not cheeseburgers? It's amazing how much material you can and cannot cover in that amount of time. I've trained martial artists who already knew how to punch and kick to adjust for the camera, but to start from scratch was entirely new and challenging. I hoped she enjoyed the experience, despite having to put up with my lousy Mandarin.

So Close is actually a high-budget Hong Kong film that was released in 2002. It was directed by Corey Yuen Kwai, who has a noted reputation for working with non-martial artists and making them action stars. The film has three well-known Chinese actresses fighting bad guys and each other. It was what actually gave me the idea for the experiment.

For this project I'm assuming that I am directing So Close. I've been hired by Columbia Pictures Asia and handed the script to shoot. This scene would actually be a part of an entire film. What you see is just a snippet, a sampling of what the film would look like if I were to direct it.

There were a lot of challenges in creating the scene. One obviously was getting June to be convincing for the camera. The actual scene in So Close has a shot that relies on special effects, so we had to find a low-budget solution that still got across the same idea. The elevator was very small, about 7 by 6 feet, making both shooting with equipment and movement difficult. The preparation was unique as well, it wasn't just a matter of going in and shooting a fight scene with a bunch of cool moves. As the "director" of So Close, I have to consider the purpose of the scene, its context within the entire film, understand who Kong Yat Hung and Siu Ma were, and shape the scene accordingly.

I recommend seeing the real So Close. Hopefully you will appreciate the differences in approach and I won't get sued now that I advertised the movie.

Disclaimer
All rights to So Close belongs to Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia and Eastern (HK) Film Production Co. Ltd.