Clockwise from top left: Scenes from the video game-adapted blockbuster Double World featuring the tiger mastiff, a fictional creature; an orphan who becomes the hero, a role starring Henry Lau; thief-turned-warrior Jingang Xiaomei, played by Lin Chenhan; and the deserter portrayed by Peter Ho. CHINA DAILY
For more than half a year, Hong Kong director Teddy Chen Tak-shum has been stuck at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A self-described travel enthusiast, the filmmaker best known for the award-winning blockbuster Bodyguards and Assassins, says his feelings are a bit complicated now.
Chen tells China Daily that he has become bored of his insipid self-quarantine, but is excited to see his latest directorial outing, Double World, make a huge splash overseas.
As one of China's biggest-budgeted video game-adapted films, Double World cost nearly 300 million yuan ($43.2 million) to make, with around 80 percent of it comprising 1,800 special-effects scenes.
The visual effects－created by a Chinese company, More VFX, best known for its work on China's highest grossing sci-fi epic, The Wandering Earth－took 26 months to produce.
The film skipped a cinematic premiere to debut online on July 24, and is now available on the streaming service iQiyi in China and globally on the US streaming platform Netflix.
Charging 24 yuan per view for non-subscribers and 12 yuan for subscribers on iQiyi, the film is adapted from Zheng Tu, a popular Chinese massive-multiplayer online role-playing game which has accumulated more than 500 million players.
Within its first week, Double World achieved huge popularity overseas, landing sixth on the list of the 10 most watched films on Netflix between July 24 and 31, according to the streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol.
"While reading the figures, I was quite surprised as I didn't expect that a story set in ancient China would be so welcomed in some foreign countries－for instance, Oman listed it as the most watched title, and Romania listed it as the second," says Chen.
However, the film has received mixed reviews online, with plaudits mostly going to the visual effects, but criticism leveled at the storytelling.
Taking the initiative to mention the online controversy, Chen says he has always classified filmmakers into two categories.
"There are 'cinema art creators', and there are 'cinema entertainment producers'," says Chen. "I believe I'm kind of the latter. I just want my films to entertain the audience rather than introduce too many thought-provoking elements."
Director Teddy Chen Tak-shum (right) on set during the filming of Double World. CHINA DAILY
Chen was invited to direct the film in 2016, when the Chinese studio Filmko Film－which has coproduced Double World alongside Giant Interactive's film arm, Giant Pictures－was holding a promotional event for the fantasy sequel The Monkey King 3 in Shanghai.
"I was asked if I would like to get on board. It was such a sizable film, and I had dreamed of directing a cinematic adaptation of a video game for a long time, so I thought, 'why not?'" recalls Chen, revealing one of his hobbies is to play online games in his spare time.
However, the challenge was big and obvious: there have been few successes in the genre.
Citing Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, respectively adapted from the popular games with the same titles, as probably the two most influential examples, Chen reveals that he set a goal to empathize with game fans as well as appeal to a non-gaming audience.
"One of the main draws to playing a multiplayer game is that you can make many friends," Chen explains. "The players will probably establish a stronger connection with each other than with their acquaintances in real life, after they 'fight' shoulder-to-shoulder and share 'near death' experiences or a sense of loss when 'dying' on the battlefield in the digital world."
As a result, the film has a strong theme, highlighting the bonds forged between comrades.
In an imagined ancient China, the fantasy epic Double World fictionalizes that eight clans are called to recommend three of their best warriors to join a deadly competition to strive for the position of top military leader of the South Zhao Kingdom, which is preparing for war against a foreign enemy.
After accidentally finding themselves representing Qingyuan, one of the eight clans, a trio－comprising an orphan, a deserter and a thief－defeats the other clan champions and fulfills a series of seemingly impossible tasks, such as stealing an egg from a dragon, to be named as the eventual winners of the trial. It doesn't end there, however, as the plot twists to reveal a thrilling scheme.
"It's a very touching and emotional story. I have worked in the film industry for many years. I know that a big action scene might be forgotten as time passes, but characters who move an audience are etched into their minds for a long time," says Chen.
He also reveals the female protagonist, Jingang Xiaomei (Tough Girl), is named after a popular former player of Double World, who, after disappearing from the game, was discovered to have succumbed to illness and died. Her story touched the hearts of many of her online comrades, and no doubt they will see it as a fitting tribute to their fallen friend.
A Hong Kong native born in 1958, Chen started his showbiz career as a TV channel scriptwriter at a young age before working as the private assistant of kung fu giant Jackie Chan in mid-1970s.
After a few months, Chen quit the job which he once described as "a position below one person but above thousands"－as Jackie Chan was the most sought-after celebrity in Hong Kong at the time－to pursue his dream of becoming a director.
Hong Kong director Teddy Chen Tak-shum. [Photo provided to China Daily]
With a series of blockbusters, especially the aforementioned 2009 hit Bodyguards and Assassins, which swept the 29th Hong Kong film awards by winning in eight categories, Chen is ranked among Hong Kong's top directors.
"My favorite director is Steven Spielberg. He's a master, able to handle quite different themes, from the thriller Jaws to the sensitive biopic, Schindler's List," he says.
"I didn't receive a high education. All my filmmaking skills have been learned on the job, but I do hope I have the chance to try my hand at different themes."
Now, spending most of his quarantine nights penning his next project, Chen reveals the inspiration came from his friend Gao Xiaosong, a popular singer-songwriter and variety show host.
"Gao told me an interesting story about a prisoner, an orphan who was abandoned at a railway station and grew up there. In the years before he was arrested, the station was his only shelter," recalls Chen.
The new story will be "sort of like The Legend of 1900", about a piano prodigy whose life is tightly bonded with a ship, adds the director.
Now, with his main wish being to see the pandemic completely under control so that he can return to the film set, Chen says: "Although I was not well-educated and I write stories slowly, my films are like my babies. No matter how critics judge them, I love them and feel proud of every single one."
