By James Fletcher
Was it difficult to take such a well loved series and actually make that transition to the big screen? Was it intimidating considering the fan base that it had?
“Yes, it’s quite difficult, because for the comic book and the cartoon, it’s only a drawing, so if you want to make it into real life action in the movies, it’s really quite difficult. So me and Andrew thought about that a lot before we agreed to make it into a movie. I wanted to make a really unique film. But for the market, we had a comic book and we had a cartoon that were both very popular, so it was easy to catch the audience. You have to put something out there that the audience really wants. That’s the main point for me.”
The Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou [who plays the lead role] is a bit of a teen idol; how did he become involved?
“Jay Chou is very interesting. The producers asked if we wanted to audition him for the role, but he was the first person we thought about anyway. The budget for Initial D was very big, so it was good to have a star who is so popular in China and Hong Kong. Jay Chou was the first person we thought about, and after we interviewed him, Andrew and I also thought that Jay Chou was the most suitable person for the character.”
How much of the driving was actually the actors getting behind the wheel, and how much of it was stunt guys?
“Before shooting, we arranged a learning session for the actors, but when we were shooting we also controlled the safety issues with the actors. We let the actors do some of the drift racing that was a little easier. After so much rehearsal, they enjoyed it very much. They were always asking me to do it themselves, but I didn’t let them do it, because it was actually quite dangerous.”
With the success of Initial D, are there plans to do a sequel at all?
“So many people are asking that question, including the investors! But I have answered them before: it’s very easy to make a sequel to Initial D; you just have the main character challenged by another group of people. It’s easy to do that. But shooting the car chasing would be quite difficult for the sequel, because Andrew and I don’t want to use so many computer graphics with the movie. We don’t want the computer to do the whole thing! What’s the point in that?”
Alan Mak’s The Procurator is in cinemas now. Initial D is available now to stream on Netflix.
