15 - 10 - 09 : The Blood Bond Saga (Part 10)

Simon Says

I’ve known Simon Yam for about as long as I’ve been in this business. He starred in the very first film on which I worked as a producer, ‘Guns and Roses’. This was a Hong Kong actioner shot on location in my then hometown (God help me…) of Birmingham, in London and also in Paris.

Given my utter lack of experience, I very much appreciated Simon’s brand of calm professionalism. Not everyone you make a film with becomes your friend forever, but Simon certainly did. After ‘Guns and Roses’ wrapped, I visited Hong Kong, and spent some happy hours with Yam, reminiscing about the shoot and talking about the many projects he was working on at that time.

This was back in then 80s, when the Hong Kong film industry was booming. I remember him going over a list of films shooting at that time, and ticking off the ones he was in. I think he was in about half of them!

After I relocated to Hong Kong, we renewed our friendship.  I was amazed at the pace Simon set for himself, as a performer, photographer, philanthropist and man about town.  It was also gratifying to see that, as a key member of director Johnnie To’s regular players, he really came into his own as an actor.

Few local performers had been as prolific as Yam Tat-wah, and he had been in some classics (John Woo’s ‘Bullet In The Head’, Ringo Lam’s  ‘Full Contact’). He had also been in a lot of dross; he was the Michael Caine of Hong Kong. Given the right project there was no better film actor in the world, but he often wasted his talents on films that were beneath him.

Johnnie To gave Simon choice roles ni such projects as ‘The Mission’,'Expect The Unexpected', ‘PTU’, ‘Exiled’ and, recently, the flawed yet fascinating ‘Vengeance’.  He was also impressive in ‘SPL’ (AKA ‘Kill Zone’), the first release on my Dragon Dynasty label, and showed his range as an abusive father in Ann Hui’s ‘Night and Fog’  and as a gentle businessman in ‘Ip Man’.

‘Blood Bond’ director Michael Biehn first worked with Simon Yam on an earlier film I co-produced, ‘Dragon Squad’ (AKA ‘Dragon Heat’).  I also acted (if that’s not too strong a word) in that movie, and was honoured to work opposite Simon in a number of scenes. For some reason, the film’s director, Daniel Lee,  didn’t see eye to eye with Yam, and many of the latter’s better moments were lost (forever, as it happens; Lee didn’t save the outtakes.)

Given my long and happy history of knowing and working with Simon, he was an obvious choice to join the cast of ‘Blood Bond’, especially given that Michael (with whom he had cooperated well on ‘Dragon Squad’) was both directing and starring.  (I remember sending MB a copy of ‘Exiled’, back when Josie Ho was set to play Deva, and Michael called me to say he thought Simon was the best thing in the film.)

After various preliminary discussions, I met with Simon at the Union Bar in Hong Kong’s IFC to try and close a deal. Initially, given his busy schedule, we had thought of offering him a supporting role, that of Captain Trayng. The meeting was off to a bad start. Simon rejected the role out of hand. He’d played versions of his so many times before. Was there any other role we could offer him?

As it happened, an actor we had been in discussions with had dropped out, and the role of our Che Guevara-esque villain was up for grabs. I tentatively mentioned it to Simon, with the caveat that we really couldn’t pay him that much more money.  “Don’t worry about the money,” he snapped, eyes lighting up. “Tell me about the role.” After we described Lompoc to him in greater detail, Yam accepted on the spot, and then it was just a question of confirming the details with his manager.

After Michael arrived in Hong Kong for pre-prep and casting, we had a wardrobe session with Simon. The costume was sent from our wardrobe mistress in Nanhai, so we were all relieved when it fit perfectly! It was evident that Yam had a very clear ‘take’ on how he was going to approach the role. MB gave him James Toback’s ‘Tyson’ documentary as a reference for his rage in certain scenes.

I had to go back to Hong Kong on ‘Blood Bond’ business, so I missed Simon’s first visit to the Ace Studio. He was actually attending another event at a neighbouring town, and decided to drop by. He was warmly received by MB and the team.

I think that, when the history of Hong Kong genre cinema comes to be written (probably by me) , Simon’s name will loom large. It’s an honour to have him working on ‘The Blood Bond’ with us.