Interview with an Actor

Recently Ceekay (Detour's Actor) was invited as a guest in the fictional ‘Late Show with Julianne B’ where he talked about the spiritual calling which led to his venturing into Bhutan, Tibet and further down south to Timbuktu; his chance meeting with Adam King; the patterns of pigeon feeding; and being the first person to bring a goat up the KL Tower and come down with a bottle full of cow milk.

Among other farcically comical and obscene topics, at the end of the show Julianne asked about his recent foray into acting in independent movies.

Below is a partial transcript of the show (the part about acting in Detour):


****** ****** ******

Julianne: At least now we got the bull and garbage out of the way and hear your take on the matter.

Ceekay: Yeah, but then again, it’s all bull isn’t it? (Laughter)

(Pammy the Goat walks away from her chair)

Julianne: Where is she going now?

(Bruno the floor manager carries Pammy back to the chair)

Pammy: Baaa… Baaaa! (Audience laughter)

Ceekay: She doesn’t agree with me most of the time, anyway. I know she doesn’t do it here but she talks way too much, really.

Julianne: On a final and more serious note, if that is ever possible, what is this I hear about you acting in a horror movie?

Ceekay: Oh… Yes, yes. In fact, I did. That part is entirely true, I’m afraid. A friend of mine, the director of the movie… it’s called Detour, by the way. So, this director friend of mine was bonkers enough to ask me to act for him, to which I obliged wholeheartedly. It’s always hard to reject offers that are so obviously misguided, you know, and I thought to myself, only good can come of it anyway. Or at least a good laugh. It’s like asking Woody Allen to act in a horror movie. And halfway through the shoot, in the dark abandoned house, we actually amended my contract to include a clause that says the director has the option to remove me from the final edit if it doesn’t work. (Laughter) So yeah, talk about unappreciated talents.

Julianne: There was this other guy who acted alongside you.

Ceekay: Rama, yes! It really was me acting alongside him, rather than the opposite. If there ever was an undiscovered genuine talent, it would be Rama. And the fact that he looks naturally terrifying makes him the perfect cast in the movie.

Julianne: Give us a hint about the story, and also tell us about the shoot itself. Did anything ‘interesting’ happen? I mean, the house was haunted, right?

Ceekay: The house was so very haunted, with no less than six ghastly creatures. At least on that day, it was true. Two were white in appearance, and the others were black or black-ish. Or maybe it seemed that way due to a lack of lighting, I don’t know. But yeah, it was frightening enough, not only for us, but the neighbours too were so frightfully terrorized by the whole thing that they called the police. But the two men in blue didn’t venture any further into the house. They got as near as the front gate, shone their trusty torchlights around for a few minutes and went off. They didn’t see anything, so they left us. So yeah, that was that. The story itself, ummm, it’s really about these two friends who went into a haunted house and came out a different person. Literally. In that sense, at least in acting terms, it is a horror movie where the characters actually went through a shift in personality as the story progressed.

Julianne: That, in itself, is rather unusual for the genre. Isn’t it?

Ceekay: Yes, indeed. You are right. And it does give the impression that there’s more to it, umm, that a sequel might be in the pipeline. Or at least somewhere in the director’s dreadful brain.

Julianne: So, tell us, when will we get to see this movie? Detour.

Ceekay: I’ve already seen the first cut and, umm, I must say… I’m actually surprised by its sheer brilliance, what with the lack of equipments and all that. The camerawork, editing, sound and scoring was magical. Yesterday I was told by the director that a date has been set for its screening.

Julianne: When’s the date?

Ceekay: It has been confirmed and it’s gonna be on the…


(At this point the studio ran out of tape and the whole building experienced a total blackout)

Ghost Tale Pt.2

Still feeling the creeps after the "spirit of the coin" incident, we went back to our normal routine for another few weeks. Then someone suggest that we have another go at the coin game, and it when I volunteered myself to be in it. It didn't take too long to get the other 3. A day was chosen again to play, and we eagerly awaited.

The time has come and I am actually feel like pulling out, but I told myself to see through it. The table was set...the chairs were all in place, and the we got into our seats. As so it began, we placed our middle fingers into the centre where the coin is and started reciting the calling prayer we were taught earlier by Chow. The first call lasted a few minutes, but nothing happened. Then we took a short break and continued the calling...and after a while the coin moved. I was scare-shit, coz I didn't know what too expect or how to react. It was moving, the coin moved about and the 4 of us just kept silence watching it move. At 1 point, I looked up to my fren next to me and I said "sure u did not move this", he answered "no", then I slapped him and asked him again...this time he was about to tear and answered "No! I didn't move this...and I don't want to play anymore". It was then, I was so frighten and shivering a bit.

Then Chow told us to calm down and concentrate to send it back. So, we tried to concentrate and recite again to ask the spirit to go back. It then started moving faster, seriously...my heartbeat pounded faster as well, feeling damn creepy. But trying to concentrate hard to call it back. Finally it when back to the centre, and the relieve in our face were like in joy...quickly lift our fingers and move away from the place.

From then on...no one in my class played it anymore. Well, at least not in my class anymore. That experience will stay with me forever. So, anyone wanna play?

Ghost Tale

I have been very curious with this topic for a longtime. We just cant help it, no matter the occasion is in the end it will always end up discussing it. So, my began to have more interest in it, as I dont really know whether is true or not...ghost exist! I think my 1st ever encounter with these paranormal stuff is when I was in form 2...14 yrs old. A few of my frens were who started we should embark into it, and so this "brilliant" idea were sold fast like hot cakes...in a matter of minutes...every1 in my class agreed to participate in. A date was chosen...when we had downtime during the evening.

Every1 put in effort to ensure the "brilliant" idea will turn out smooth and without much problem. The game were gonna play is "Spirit of the coin". Well, to me at that time it sound like right, moreover I have seen it in the chinese ghost movie...and in reality it looked quite harmless...a chinese amulet on yellow paper and a coin. It required 4 players...and I was not the 4 who played at that 1st time we're playing. The 4our person will then place their middle finger to the coin and start some chinese prayer to invite the spirit up. They tried for about a few minutes...but nothing happened.

Then they rest a while, and they tried again...after a while...the coin moved! We were all amazed, and also speculating whether it was a hoax between the 4 of them. And so it moved...quite slowly, and 1 of the 4 started asking question...I think the 1st question was about the gender...and the coin moved to the chinese character "male". The 2nd person than asked how did he die...we were all in shock, coz the 4 was brief by my fren to avoid those questions...but it answered...car accident! The 3 person then ask, we are u now? He answered in our classroom, and the next question...which part are u standing in our classroom...it answered...next to you...wah!!! we were all them creeped out, and every1 who was standing next to it, started moving away...it was quite funny, but scary at the same time.

Then we all decided to end the session, and the 4 started to say some prayer and bought the coin back to the centre of the amulet. That was my 1st encounter. Later...I played...but will share it on the next post.

Delay...

I know...I haven't been updating regularly, mainly due to work commitment. "Detour" will be releasing soon in youtube real, real soon. We will working on it this week and hopefully to be uploaded by end next week. Please be patient for a little while more. From time to time these few weeks, I have been also trying to complete the 2nd part. I have done a preliminary on the location and casting. Will update all this soon, to give a feel to the 2nd part. Do stay tuned....

Halloween

Looks like we all will have to wait a while more before we could release "Detour". There have been some short delays, due to us been tighted down on our day job. So, have to reschedule for another release date soon. Keep on tracking the progress. Also, a I am reserving sometime to finish up the 2nd part of "4". Happy Halloween!

Detour - The Final Touches

Finally, "Detour" is done! Luckilly there was Ananth as the editor as he just makes the process so smoothly. He and Jayanth even went to the extend to find the film score for the whole movie. When I arrived at Ananth's place, I quickly ran up to his suite to look at the revised cut of the film. So far we did 3 cuts already, and the 3rd cut was the final. To my surprise, the whole music score and effect was almost as I have imagine. So, we got started and when through the visual again, to get the most accurate timing and then the music score and effects which took most of the time.

But it felt good, so satisfying to see it finished. We now have to go back to cut a trailer and add subtitling to the movie. Ceekay will be working on the subtitle, which it's his area of expertise. The whole visual look was treated to as we have poor lighting while shooting. Some parts didnt really stand out, but we did the best we could to the capability we currently have. Still, I am glad and the whole film was actually better than I have expected. Next update will be the trailer.

Detour - The Crew

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the crew for committing their time and effort to this project. Here are the crew who deserve the acknowledgement :-

Ananth
Sugu
Ceekay
Jayanth
Rama

Also I would like to credit the others who helped inspire this project :-

Kee Poey
Ian Khoo
Chue Yee
Elina
Christina
Ryan
Aliyar

Detour - The Direction

Right from the start I knew what kind of films I will eventually make. My style of film direction is very much influnced by the films from the 70's era and director Quentin Tarantino. I just like the realism of the acting as opposed to crafted dialogue. Even the camera work in "Detour" are from the style of before, extreme long-shot, extreme close-up. These camera angles are seldom used in current films of late, due to new technology available. In "Detour", the direction we chose was very much a tribute to the 70's horror feel. The term "low budget" really fit our style, but for our case, we when a step further..."no budget".

Detour - The Cast

Due to the simplicity of the storyline, "Detour" phisically only have 2 actors. That's why this story is the most suitable for us to produce due to our limitation in resources. Like I mentioned, I wrote the characters in "Detour" based on my 2 friends, Rama and Ceekay. It didn't took me long to get them on-board to this project, as they themselves belong to this industry. I was a feeling a bit negative about Rama's willingness to act for me, and he did even doubling up as the cameraman. Ceekay too gave more than becoming just an actor, as he also contributed much to at the editing stage and eventually providing the subtitles to "Detour".

I knew all along they can act and have the chemistry to pull this off. That was all confirmed during rehearsal of the script. During the rehearsal, I was blown away with their chemistry, and their initiative to make the script more real. Though this is just a short film, more of a personal project...I when ahead and treated the whole process as a real production. Script revisions, location scouting, talent auditions, rehearsals....practically the whole works.

There was a point where I wasn't sure if Rama and Ceekay would agree to act for me, and so I did move with plan b, looking for the actors. Ananth was involve when the plan b was rolling. He also suggested me to take one of the roles...which I thought...that I would be the last choice. So, there you have it...in the end I found my actors...actually my original actors for "Detour"...please to introduce Rama and Ceekay!

Detour - The Story

"Detour" is a story of two buddies going out to for a mamak session, which on their way got detoured to a visit to a haunted house.

Detour - The Beginning

Alrite...about "Detour"...It's a short story I wrote couple of years ago, based on 2 friends of mine when we were all working in the same place. The story here is simple and suppose to give a feel of what ghost movies should be, I meant under the context of ghost movie. I shelved this project away...until 2 months back, where I had a meet with my buddy Ananth and Sugu. Sugu a lawyer by profession, was already venturing into his passion...music, and even has an album...all done on his own time and expense. So, we met after a while and started catching up on each other...the "ghost" story time just slipped into our conversation, and got me thinking of my selved projects. Then Ananth said, "eh, comelah, let's do your ghost movie man!". Within seconds...I said "Yes! Let's do it". Ananth Kumar is an video/film editor, for a very esthablish post-production house in PJ. We share the same passion for films, music and this will mark our 1st collaboration.

That was it...the defining moment. Quickly, I went back to finish up the script and came up with the timeline for when we should shoot this. This time around, finishing the script was tougher because now I have to factor all locations, logistics into the plan. Bear in mind, this project has no budget...and I mean NO BUDGET. I sadly have to revised the original script to fit into the current situations. I have originally wrote about 6 to 7 short ghost stories at that period, but will only choose 4 for the final feature. "Detour" was not the choosen story to be in "4", but of all stories, it was the most suitable story to be shot at our current situation. Without budget, proper equipments, manpower and etc.

Taking A Break

I will be away till the weekend for a short holiday, so during these few days there will be no postings. I will start posting from next week onwards. So, see you all soon. Have a good weekend ahead.

"4"

"4" was a product of watching many horror films. From western horror to eastern horror, I have seen most of them, and I like it, I like being scare. Horror films are the most fun movies to watch, you actually feel it while watching, and even after that. The topic itself has puzzled mankind even till today, does ghost exist? Hmm...and that's why I decide to write "4". I find that the only reason we watch horror, it to get scared, so why not get scare 4 times more. Make the scare trip more meaningful, more worth the price, blah, blah... So the birth of "4", all collected from stories we hear from friends or friend's friend. In "4" all stories are simple and they dont try to find an answers or try to have an ending to the story, but just simple scary movie. So, after about 6 years, I have now shot the 1st part, titled "Detour". Coming next, the insight to "Detour". Stay tuned.

Passion for Film-Making

Having more than a decade in the TV/Broadcasting industry, I have now finally step into film making. Along the years I have wrote many stories or scripts of the movies which I may produce. I am strongly influence by martial arts, horror and mystery film genres. I have also done many research on my own time on film industry in Malaysia, which is sadly still at it's early stage. In restropect, to my opinion, our film industry died when P.Ramlee died (hope I didn't sound too tragic).

Since then we never really had any movie hits which we can proudly talk about. But many Malaysians will always have comment on P.Ramlee's movies. Regardless the race, many are really into his movies. Beautiful script, simple story and acting was the success of all P.Ramlee's movies.

The blend of the multi-racial was beautifully crafted into the storyline in almost all his productions. The realism of the way of "Malaysian Life" was really captured, as opposed to today's Malaysian movies...mostly a bit fake.

Anyway, back to me...my latest film-making venture is a horror feature, titled "Detour". It's the 1st of the four chapter of "4", which consist 4 ghost stories. This project started 6 years ago, and finally I get to make it. Will feed you all more on "4" on the coming updates.

Welcome

Welcome all bloggers! Finally, my own blog...do stay tune for the coming days or weeks for more updates on stuffs in here. Will be right back!