François Margolin presents A thriller by Olivier Assayas World Sales France, 2007, 106', International Press MEMENTO FILMS INTERNATIONAL colour, Scope, SRD Richard Lormand 6, Cité Paradis World Cinema Publicity Tel: +33 1 53 34 90 28 In Cannes, May 16-27 Fax: +33 1 42 47 11 24 M: +33-6-1585-9198 75010 PARIS In Cannes M: +33-6-1585-9198 [email protected] 5, La Croisette (1st Floor) [email protected] www.memento-films.com +33 6 06 98 76 32 www.filmpressplus.com Synopsis Sexy ex-prostitute Sandra (Asia Argento) hooks up again with debt-ridden entrepreneur Miles (Michael Madsen). Mixed signals incite the former lovers to give it another go, but rekindling an old romance isn't on Sandra's agenda. She is forced to flee to Hong Kong to seek out a new life. Attractive young couple Lester (Carl Ng) and Sue (Kelly Lin) promise Sandra papers and money. Nothing turns out as expected for Sandra, whose feelings and intentions remain a mystery till the end. CommentsOlivier from Assayas ORIGIN OF THE PROJECT benefits of complete creative freedom. It was something I knew how to do. A news brief caught my eye about the murder of French financier Edouard I made IRMA VEP under similar circumstances and for the same reasons. Stern during an S&M session. It seemed like something right out of my film In March 2006, I scouted locations for BOARDING GATE, followed by Paris DEMONLOVER. That triggered in my mind the story of a murder involving pre-production to start shooting in July 2006. We shot for six weeks, three an ambiguous sexual relationship and the world of modern finance. I also in and around Paris and three in Hong Kong. The film ended up costing thought about a woman on the run, trying to escape both the murder and less than 2 million euros. the past. So the first part of the story ended up being centered around the confrontation between a man and a woman, their cat-and-mouse game. I THE KEY IS TO SHOOT QUICKLY wanted the second part to be about her escape, her being desperate and Frankly, I didn't feel any loss. Less locations makes it easier to shoot for on the move. I knew the first part could pretty much take place in any less. In Paris, we shot primarily in the office and apartment of the Michael Western city. But the second part had to be Hong Kong. I know that city Madsen character Miles. For the other locations, I wanted to shoot in the well, but I had never filmed there before. I had been dreaming about it a city outskirts to give the feeling of a no man's land which could just as long time. easily be Paris or somewhere else. The industrial suburbs of a modern industrial city somewhere in the Western world. This would only strengthen BOARDING GATE the contrast with ultra-urban Hong Kong. I chose this term as a title to evoke the idea of a passage between two The key is knowing how to shoot quickly. This is something I learned a long worlds. Early on, I wanted the film's title to be the word stamped on time ago by simple survival reflex. It's essential to have a solid crew of passports when leaving Hong Kong: “departed.” But I found that Scorsese technicians and actors ready to take the same risks as the director. This had just finished a film that was going to use that word in the title. requires a lot of energy because the constraints and the pressure forces you to constantly invent new solutions. This was definitely the case in Hong B MOVIE ECONOMICS Kong. Shooting there isn't really costly if you do it the local way. If you go After DEMONLOVER and CLEAN, I had originally wanted to make a very there with a full Western crew, Western habits and a Western infrastructure, French film focusing on provincial life. But the project met with a lot of then things will quickly turn expensive and heavy. financial complications. A sign of the times. While waiting to see if my French film was going to happen or not, I decided to write and even shoot ASIA: ALWAYS READY AND WILLING quickly another project. Why not make a sort of B movie in English? Why The narrative was inseparable from my urge to work with Asia Argento. She not take my place in the new order of film finance by constructing a project was the only actress capable of truthfully incarnating the different facets of around B movie economics? Slashed budget and fast shoot, but all the the character. Asia is a physical actress. You can tell she has fun doing common among actresses. There's set. It was like a pressure cooker between them, as if they were constantly nothing prefabricated about her. She's competing, checking each other out. all instinct with an uncommon Even if the shots were carefully laid out and the movements very intensity. She's a surprising actress choreographed, Michael always shook things up with his unpredictability. who doesn't discriminate the trivial Both Asia and I had to manage to follow him. Sometimes even against him, from the sophisticated, B movie we had to firmly hold on to the line of the scene. He broke a plate, he spit situations from the most intimate of out a pit on the other side of the room, he bit his nails… Conversely, there scenes. She's completely herself are things that he resists, that he balks at doing, that he reacts to at a every time, and with the utmost different moment. Everything had to constantly be integrated into the film. generosity. Each take she comes up Asia is on the front line so she has to react in real time. I'm behind, but I still with something new, but she's always have to take in everything and re-orchestrate so as not to lose the whole in the heart of the film, in the heart of concept of the sometimes very long sequences. her character. She has a nearly unreal Michael can be very over-the-top and go to extremes. After a certain point, bond to the camera. he can take you to some very scary places. Things can get out of hand and situations can take on a troubling truthfulness. Asia called his bluff and took They are accustomed to rushing about with the Steadycam, so they were MICHAEL MADSEN some big risks. Michael didn't seem to like the idea of being pushed to the amazed and puzzled by our precision to the millimeter regarding the shots I met Michael Madsen through Nick limits by a girl. For example, the sex play scene with the belt. I originally and our obstinacy at redoing them until we got exactly what we wanted. Nolte, which was a good sign. I was wrote something really simple. But Michael had some very precise ideas The unexpected difficulty we met in shooting the Hong Kong way was that looking for an actor with a strong about what Asia should do to him. There were some takes that scared the crews are big. Salaries are low, so there are numerous technicians for physical presence who could play both of them! every job. For example, never less than six people around the camera. both dangerous and seductive. When Crew members are numerous and the people of Hong Kong tend to be I contacted him, he was able to find KELLY LIN AND CARL NG pretty noisy. This posed a problem when we shot in the streets, when we the time in his schedule to do the film. Since I was going to shoot in Hong Kong, I wanted to do my film under the did guerilla shots in the middle of a crowd. The crew had to be really careful action scenes. Running around with a gun in her hand amuses her. She He was patient enough to stick with us every time we moved the shooting same conditions as Hong Kong cinema. I wanted to look toward the new to be as limited and discreet as possible. Sometimes we had to invent was behind the film the whole way, always ready and willing, even for the dates. We only needed him 10 days or so as his character shot only on generation of actors directly there instead of trying to cast out of Paris. Carl these schemes, pretend to prepare a shot just to keep the excess crew toughest acrobatics. And she fell in love with Hong Kong, which she had three locations in Paris. Ng, who plays Lester, is an actor-model who grew up in London. He's the occupied so that we could go somewhere else and shoot something else. never been to before the shoot. son of Richard Ng, a star from the 80s. He has very strong presence which In such guerilla conditions, the toughest thing is that you're forced to do a WHEN MICHAEL MET ASIA I immediately found right for his relationship with Asia's character. Kelly Lin lot of illegal shots, like shooting in the subway without permits. We did ASIA: ALL INSTINCT The scenes between Asia and Michael were shot in chronological order. has worked with directors like Johnny To and Patrick Tam, and she's won those shots with a team of four people. We did two takes, then ran off. We Asia is one of few actresses completely at home on a film set with no Their first shot together, the one with the cufflinks, was actually their first of the best new Chinese-speaking actresses around.