[cilou]

Hi there !

I’ve found a great article about ICWR in French Premiere magazine of May (there is George Clooney on the cover, if ever some of you are interested to find it in kiosk). I’ve scanned and translated it first to post on Annie’s site in fact and Jocasta read my post and asked me if I can post it here. So here am I !!
The link below is where you’ll find the scans of the article.

http://luckynumberjosh.com/gallery/t....php?album=598

I have also made a translation of it, as I suppose most of you can not read French Good reading !

After the rain, summer

Josh Hartnett is the hero of I come with the rain, an existential thriller directed in Hong Kong by Trân Anh Hùng, eight years after The vertical ray of the sun.

September, the 30th
It is closed day for the team of I come with the rain, the new film of Trân Anh Hùng. Last week they shot by night and only had the week-end to recover a diurnal rhythm. That is good timing for me, who is in the same state of time difference. The evening of my arrival, the production assistant invites me to a party organised by seven members of the team. As a lot of Chinese people, they play lottery and have just won 21 million Hong Kong dollars that they will share, that is to say 250 000 euros per person. All the team is here. A good occasion to meet them.
Wine and beer are flowing freely, and the loud music from the speakers is often interrupted by speeches, clamours and applauses. The background noise is considerable. You need to speak really loud to be heard but this frenzy stimulates instead of tiring. Welcome to Hong Kong.
The producer Fernando Sulichin gives me the low-down and introduces me. His curriculum vitae shows that he is used to slightly acrobatical international productions : he produced Abel Ferrara (The Addiction), Larry Clarke (Bully), Spike Lee (She hate me) or Oliver Stone (Alexandre). Trân Anh Hùng, who had trouble editing his films after the failure of The vertical ray of the sun, which came out in 2000, needed someone like him to produce the film. For this one, Sulichin is associated with a few European producers. According to him, it is the hardest project he has undertaken. We are at the middle of a shooting that began in Los Angeles and passed in transit in the Philippines before concluded here in Hong Kong. The story follows the inquiry of a former cop (Josh Hartnett), who has to find out the missing son of a Chinese millionaire. The trail leads to a hong-kong gangster (Corean Lee Byung-Hun, seen in A Bittersweet Life) and his junkie girlfriend (Trân Nu Yên-Khê, Trân Anh Hùng’s wife). The more the inquiry progresses, the more the cop’s past come back up to the surface, particularly his traumatic relationship with a serial killer (Elias Koteas). Josh Hartnett passes his last days here : he has to set off soon for a worldwide promotional tour for David Slade’s 30 days of night. Very simple and approachable, he knows everyone and all seem to appreciate him. Hùng comes late at the diner. He is slightly tense, but the contrary would be abnormal for a director in shooting. At midnight, the restaurant empties due to the timetable – the next day will begin early.

October, the 1st
On the journey to the set, the composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Collateral, The secret of Brokeback Mountain, Babel) speaks of his work for I come with the rain. As much as possible, he is attached to be there for the shooting, in order to absorb the different ambiances and use the local sound : tropical rain in the Philippines, sound of the town in Hong Kong. Yesterday, he spoke for a long time with Hùng, suggesting a series of themes. The film-maker had apparently very much appreciated them.
Inner scenes in a gangster villa are programmed today. The decoration is very modern and luxurious. Calm and relaxed, Josh Hartnett shoots his last scenes, mostly dialogues with Lee Byung-Hun and Yên-Khê. Between two shots, the actor speaks of his character (“The more he progresses, the more he gets out of his depth.”) He comes to life speaking of the Philippines shooting, in a gold diggers’ town located in the jungle. As a “boom town” of the Far West, it develops for 20 years near a gold mine. Prospectors came massively, hanging their houses to the sides of the sheer hills. After them, a coloured crowd came : private militia to maintain order, but also procurers, prostitutes and criminals on the run. During the shooting, the team was constantly in charge of servicemen. “But I never felt in danger”, clarifies Hartnett, “Thousands of inhabitants followed us constantly. A lot of them had never seen white people.” Until now, the town was privately managed, the town - that counts 43 000 inhabitants – passes this year under the control of the state. Such a set will not be seen again in cinema for a long time.
On the contrary of the other actors, Hartnett came two weeks before the beginning of the shooting. He took advantage of this time to speak with Hùng of all the details of his role, which he tackles with serenity. On the set, the actor is interested in everything, and particularly in numeric camera Viper (the same that was used by David Fincher for The Zodiac). The director of photography, Juan Ruiz Anchia, speaks about its advantages : high flexibility of use, reduced needs for lighting, higher night vision, unlimited recording time, possibility to correct colours immediately. Moreover, rushes are directly calibrated and the adjustments recorded in computer. However, the camera itself is equipped with a hard disk that limits its handiness and makes it as heavy as a 35mm camera. Its working is so complex that a highly specialized team is necessary as well as a monstrous series of computers. As Anchia said, the colour film is not still overtaken.
At the end of a tedious day, the team says goodbye to Hartnett, who turned his last scene. He flew two days later. In his farewell speech, the actor emphasizes the chance of the team – an allusion to the seven lottery winners. He leaves a pile of lottery tickets – enough for each person – so that chance stays with them. This gesture is appreciated to its fair value.

October, the 3rd
On the set, everyone speaks of yesterday’s evening fireworks (Tuesday was a public holiday), which gathered under the rain hundreds of thousand Hong-Kong people. The same series of inner scenes between gangsters are programmed today. David Tang, the Hong-Kong millionaire, is present. He is known in Occident as the Shanghai Tang’s creator, the international brand of chic Chinese clothes. He provided a set for the film and in gratitude Hùng gave him a gangster’s role. In the incoming scene, his character has a conversation with Lee, to whom he brought a gift which takes a particular significance in French version : a crabs’ basket. Certainly not innocent from Hùng, a distinguished French-speaker. Very scrupulous, the cineaste adds water on crabs with a brumiser to make their shells shine and adjusts a mirror’s position to have the reflection he wants. Once finished, Tang leaves the set and lets Hùng prepare the next scene, a complex plan-sequence which follows Lee in the apartment till a bathroom decorated with lush plants. During the rehearsal, a Radiohead’s piece is broadcast as the director wishes. Huang was one of the first to use this band’s music in cinema, in a famous Cyclo scene.
On the evening, David Tang has organized a party in Josh Hartnett’s honour in his restaurant/nightclub, the China Club. The place, which combines English clubs’ way of life and resolutely Chinese decor, is located at the top of the former Bank of China, an art deco building now isolated in the middle of skyscrapers. The businessman had fit it out with an exceptional taste, decorating it with his own private collection of paintings and antiques.
This evening, along with some persons of I come with the rain’s team, he gathered local prominent citizens, English-speakers expatriates and jet-setters. While the dinner is well started, a very beautiful girl comes in. She has a familiar face. Tang breaks off to tease her : “I ask you to welcome a woman well known throughout the world for arriving late : Naomi Campbell.” At the end of the evening, the guests scatter to see Tang’s collection. Josh Hartnett takes advantage of it to slip away. His plane will not take off before a few hours. With his experience of the place, he surely knows where to spend his last moments in Hong-Kong, the city that never sleeps.

Gérard Delorme