CAN you keep a secret? If you can’t, then you’d better not watch the Taiwanese movie, Secret, because its director, Jay Chou, would rather no one leaked the movie’s pivotal “secret” to those who have not watched it.

Wait a minute. Jay Chou the director, you say? That over-achieving Taiwanese pop star-singer-songwriter-actor extraordinaire is now a film director?

Well, you’d better believe it, because Chou doesn’t just make his directorial debut with Secret. He also stars in it, came up with the story, wrote the soundtrack, and even funded the movie from his own pocket.

According to Chou, despite his experiences in directing his own music videos, making a feature film turned out to be a different kettle of fish altogether.

“Shooting a film like this in 40 days was really hard. It was very, very tiring, and took up a lot of my music-making time,” he recalls during an interview in Singapore recently.“On hindsight, I guess we were probably a little too relaxed in the beginning. However, near the end of the shoot, we had so many things left to film that I thought we’d never be able to finish it in time.”

Based loosely on his own experience of first love, the movie begins with Chou’s character, Lun’s, first day at the Tamkang Secondary School, where he meets the pretty Yu (Kwai Lun Mei) in the music room, playing a mysterious tune on the piano. However, even as the two of them become fast friends and eventually fall in love, Lun suspects that Yu is keeping something important from him, a secret that would change their relationship forever.

Acclaimed mentors

One advantage Chou probably has over his peers is the fact that he has worked under some of the best directors in the Chinese filmmaking world – the critically acclaimed Zhang Yimou in The Curse of the Golden Flower, and the award-winning Andrew Lau-Alan Mak team in Initial D.

Chou has put the lessons he learnt from working with these acclaimed directors to good effect. For instance, when told that his leading actress had praised him for his pleasant temperament throughout the shoot, Chou humbly says he learnt that from Zhang while shooting Curse of the Golden Flower.

“I’ve never seen Zhang lose his temper even once. He taught me that the job of a director is not only to take charge of the shoot, but also the get your crew to co-operate and respect you.”

While Zhang’s strong Chinese cultural leanings have influenced his music videos, Chou reckons that the influence of Lau and Mak (directors of the acclaimed Infernal Affairs trilogy and Initial D) is more apparent in Secret.

“I think there is more of Lau’s and Mak’s shadow in Secret. It is atmospheric and dramatic; and the way they use different angles and cinematography to tell the story is unique.“Even Lau himself noticed after watching the movie that I was following his style.”

Another common element Secret has with Lau’s and Mak’s movies is that seasoned Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong is in it, once again playing Chou’s father, which he did in Initial D.

While any other first-time director would probably be intimidated by the thought of working with such an established and decorated actor as Wong, Chou had no such problems, mostly because he considers Wong his “godfather”.

“I didn’t have problems with him, but many of the crew members were afraid of him and always asked me to convey their messages, even for small things like telling him that it was time to eat,” he says with a chuckle.“Maybe the impression he gives most people is that of a very strict and serious person. But through this movie, we find out that he is not really like that – he is, in fact, quite funny.”

Nevertheless, even Chou was taken aback when Wong decided to show off one of his hidden talents – playing the piano.

“One day, Wong decided to show off to us by playing the piano and imitating Elvis Presley! I was quite surprised at the time, and thought, ‘Hmm, so Anthony Wong is not just good at making char siew pau!’” he jokes, referring to a movie in which Wong played a serial killer who makes char siew pau (meat dumplings) using human flesh.

Piano Playing Pains

Secret is literally filled with piano-playing scenes (almost every main character plays the instrument at one point or another), and Chou admits that filming those scenes gave him the biggest headache.

“Those piano-playing scenes had to be done in one long shoot because I want people to see that the actors themselves are actually on the keys,” says Chou, who started playing the piano when he was four.“So every time there was a wrong note, we would re-shoot the entire scene.”

Chou shot Secret in a quiet seaside town called Tan Sui on the outskirts of Taipei City, which incidentally was where he spent his secondary school years.

“Filming there brought back fond memories. It felt like I was back in school.“However, I know I cannot turn back time – so I made this film to remind us to cherish our youth, and cherish the present.”

It is this desire to do as much as possible while he is still young that led him to directing.

“I direct my own music videos, but that alone can’t satisfy me anymore. Then, after filming Initial D and Curse of the Golden Flower, I thought that becoming a director is a really great challenge.“It’s also part of my dream – to become a director and maybe get an award for it before I turn 30,” says the 28-year-old Chou.

After putting so much effort into it, it is no wonder that Chou has been more than a little anxious about the feedback on the movie.

“During a screening in Hong Kong, I watched the film seated next to Lau and Mak, and (Hong Kong star) Aaron Kwok,” he recalls.“Throughout the movie I kept trying to sneak a peek at Kwok’s reaction to it. I wanted to see if he liked the film or if he had fallen asleep.”

Thankfully, Kwok later told him that the movie was very good, and encouraged him to keep up the good work. Even Charlene Choi, who was present, cried throughout the movie.

“That sort of recognition from my seniors in the industry is very encouraging for me. I hope I’ll have the chance to get the best new director award because this is the kind of award that you can only win once in your lifetime, “ Chou says.

# Secret is playing in cinemas nationwide.

source : Mass Media

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