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SINGAPORE: Director Eric Khoo is happy to declare that his latest film ‘My Magic’ is both “lucky” and “magical”.
“Lucky” because not only did the entire production sail smoothly from scripting to post-production, many events that happened over the course of filming seemed to coincide with the number nine, a number deemed lucky by many Chinese.
For example, the director said ‘My Magic’ was scheduled for a 12-day shoot, but he managed to finish it within nine days. The movie is set to open late September (number ninth month of the year), and has reunited the lead actor and his son on May 9.
Which leads him to “magical”.
The movie explores a complex relationship between a father and son, and addresses issues of love, lies and family ties.
In the movie, the magician father and his son, who are at odds with each other, will set upon a soul-searching journey to come to terms with each other – through a bit of magic.
Incidentally, the story not only plays itself out on film, it also played itself out on the lead actor, Bosco Francis.
Francis, a real magician by profession who did all the dangerous stunts in the movie himself, said he had not talked to his grown son for years due to differences in opinions.
In fact, the relationship between father and son was so sour, Francis had once declared he would not have his son at his funeral when he dies, just to spite him.
But the script, partially written by Khoo, softened him up somewhat and he made a deal with a fellow crew member to reconcile with their respective families.
“Adrian, the director of photography, didn’t get along with his father,” said Francis. “So one time, while we were having a smoke and reminiscing about the shoot, we made a deal to each resolve things with our respective families.
“My son was home from work overseas, living in the house as he got along well with his mother, and I gathered up my courage to tell him: ‘Son, daddy made a movie for you, it is dedicated to you, and it is going to Cannes.'
“My son was so touched he hugged me and we have been keeping in touch by emails or phone calls ever since.
Khoo had the whole event termed as “magical”.
“This film in a way is magical, it has gone beyond just being a film… it’s something like a mini fairytale.”
The movie is Khoo’s first ever Tamil film, and is different from the usual Mandarin-Hokkien fusion that audiences in Singapore are used to. But the director is confident that he will not lose his audience due to the language barrier.
“There aren’t really any language barriers, because I told the story so simply that even if you don’t understand the language, you will definitely understand the film.”
Apart from showing in Singapore, the film will also be making its way to countries all over the world to audiences of different tongues.
It has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival in France, it will be shown to Chinese audiences at the Golden Horse Awards in Taipei under the category ‘Windows into Southeast Asia’, and it is Singapore’s official entry to the Academy for Mother Pictures Arts and Sciences Best Foreign Language Film Award.
While Khoo’s previous films were more local and filled with elements of Singaporeans’ lives, his recent projects have been more international.
But fans of Khoo need not worry that the director is taking a more international direction with his films. Khoo said he looks for characters that inspire him, local or otherwise.
He revealed his next movie will probably focus on Rose Chan, a famous striptease queen of the 1950s.
‘My Magic’ will be in cinemas September 25.
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