21-9-08: NO SMALL PARTS (part two) : How Selina got the Lo down on ‘Shanghai’.

prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /  Selina Lo and Sir David Tang at the 'Shanghai' studios

In an earlier blog, I described how rising Hong Kong star (and fellow Alive Not Dead-er) Andy On came to be cast in ‘Shanghai’, a period epic shot in London and Bangkok by The Weinstein Company. As TWC’s V-P for prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /Asia, I got the usual unlikely line-up of challenges relating to a film of this scale, several of them cast related. In Andy’s case, there was an existing role looking for the right actor, in this story, there was the right actress looking to create a role…

I first met Selina Lo through an old friend from England, Dean Alexandrou. (Actually, unlike me, Dean is still young; it’s just that I’ve known him a long time!) Dean is an incredibly talented martial arts actor, who has appeared in feature roles in a number of lower budget films, and deserves something bigger and better. He and Selina had both relocated to Bangkok, reasoning that there was probably more work for kung fu fighters in the east. I guess it is true that, in sleepy London town, there ain’t no place for a street fighting man (or woman)…

Selina is an unlikely mix: she has FHM/Maxim model looks, can wu her shu like a Shaolin monkette and has proper acting chops, being a graduate of Paul McCartney’s arts academy in Liverpool. She’s ethnically Chinese, speaks perfect English, Mandarin and (get this) Creole… However, the great thing about being involved with a film like ‘Shanghai’ is that you can sometimes provide a fresh opportunity for a rising star (as we did with Andy). The frustration is that often, with the lead roles already cast, there aren’t many other opportunities to showcase new talent. Despite Selina’s entreaties, it didn’t seem that there would be anything beyond walk-on for her in ‘ Shanghai’.

Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong train station has a special place in my heart. It’s where Sammo Hung shot the opening scenes of his action comedy classic Shanghai Express (AKA Millionaire’s Express) (available now on our Dragon Dynasty DVD label, with audio commentary by myself, end of free plug...) When we were prepping to shoot the opening scenes of the film Twins Effect, on which I was a producer, action director Donnie Yen wanted to stage a scene at a European style railway station, and I suggested the one from Shanghai Express. ‘Oh, do update yourself, Logan…,’ everyone cried, but that didn’t stop us from filming there. Then, when we decided to shoot ‘Shanghai’ in Bangkok, we needed a railway station to match the one in the eponymous Chinese city, and I mentioned the one in ‘ Shanghai Express’ and ‘Twins Effect’, and everyone went ‘Oh, that was years ago, Bey, get serious, its probably been torn down by now…’. So there we ended up, sitting with action unit director Vic Armstrong, at Hua Lamphong, shooting this epic David Lean-scale scene (and next time someone asks me about a railway station, they can bloody well find it themselves!).

The legendary Vic (whom I discussed in an earlier blog) was setting up a major action sequence set during a fashion show. He mentioned that he already had one stunt girl who would perform a fall into a fountain, and was wondering if any of the other models were physical enough to be thrown around during the scene. I told him I might just be able to come up with someone…

In the scene concerned, a fashion show is disrupted by an assassination, with bombs and gunfire forcing our bevy of beautiful models to run, dive and scramble for cover. Selina gamely gets thrown into the midst of a brawl between star John Cusack and a brawny Chinese assassin. The role was particularly demanding because you needed someone who could look good in a skirt and heels, get thrown across the room and be actress enough to deliver the fear and confusion necessary as Cusack’s character protects her. The divine Ms. Lo did a great job, and the denouement of the scene evolved into a beautiful moment of spontaneous cinematic symmetry (which I shan’t spoil here, go see the movie this December…).

Selina did such a good job that Vic brought her back for a further dramatic action beat in an even bigger scene, the fall of Shanghai sequence that ends the picture. She plays one of the luckless evacuees trying to escape the ‘ Paris of the East’ as the Japanese invade. In yet another moment of symmetry, the actor who plays her ill-fated husband is Dean Alexandrou.

Selina impressed us all with her energy and work ethic, and I was happy to play my small part in getting her involved with a film of this scale. You can find out more about her athttp://www.selinalo.com/, the password is (naturally enough) ‘enterthedragon’. (And not to forget her partner in crime, Dean, whose news and views are located athttp://www.stuntpower.com/new/index.php).