Putting The Tang Into 'Shanghai' (part two)

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Joyce Hu and Sam Roseman flew in to Bangkok prior to the fashion show shoot days, and we had to figure out how to get our posse of models rehearsed and ready. We had a guide track for the girls to dance to. It was some slinky 30s song about ‘Santy Claus’, and if I have to hear it just one. More. Time...

One of Sam’s finest contributions was his accessorizing the models with large feather fans to move as they danced, and these cast such wonderful shadows across the stage. (Sam’s original idea was for them to hold cages holding live birds, but this proved unworkable!) I had to spray paint the fans their appropriate colours the day before the shoot. This is definitely less a job, more of an adventure…

The biggest challenge was that, true to form for a production as under pressure as ‘ Shanghai’, the set was being constructed and pre-lit the night before. We had to figure out how to get our show ready without stepping on too many toes in the process.

The first time we had a full contingent of models on the set, Joyce suddenly stepped up to bat, and proved to be a world class choreographer. Is there anything this woman can’t do? With English, Thai and Vietnamese speaking models on the stage, it sometimes felt like Babel more than the Bund, but we finally managed to get each of them dancing in the right direction to the right beat at the right time.

The following day, the stage was set for Sir David Tang to arrive, accompanied by his lovely wife Lucy, to add his own insight to the scene. It’s always fun being around Sir David, who seems to say absolutely what he’s thinking out loud all of the time. His input gave us another level of Shanghai-style sophistication, and director Mikael Hafstrom, visiting the fashion show set to see what had been arranged, was clearly delighted.

We had also arranged for Sir David to make a cameo appearance (though, given that the film is still in post, I’m not absolutely sure it made the final cut.) Here’s a note to all of you who think its fun to make cameo appearances in movies: its actually work. If you’re heavily featured throughout a scene, you have to be there all day, every day, under the hot lights. With this in mind, it was decided that Sir David would play a Shanghainese businessman who exits the fashion show set at the top of the scene. I volunteered the lovely Joyce to be his arm candy (or perhaps, as Sir David quipped, he to be hers...) Given that this hot couple was only visible leaving the room in a wide shot,  Sir David was free to improvise his dialogue, delivering parting bon mots to his fellow guests en passant. These grew more outrageous with every take, and it was probably a good thing he wasn’t wired for sound.

It was great to bring ‘ Shanghai’ Tang back to the city with which he’s become eponymous, and Sir David was greeted warmly by Chow Yun-fat, Gong Li and the other members of our stellar cast.

After establishing our glamorous set-piece, this being a period thriller, we then proceeded to blow it apart. As I mentioned previously, we had legendary stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong on hand to detonate the room in the wake of a bloody assassination attempt. A grenade rolled beneath a table causes an explosion that sends our models scrambling for cover. Joking aside, casting the ladies wasn’t that simple. We needed people who could look great in period Shanghai Tang wear, move to the music and were also sufficiently capable as actresses to respond with appropriate shock and awe to the chaos.

Our Thai stuntwoman did an amazing job. When the grenade goes off, she has to dive off the stage, high heels and all, down into the shallow water of a decorative fountain arrangement surrounding the stage. On the first take, she plunged on cue, then kept acting after she surfaced, swimming around the fountain towards the exit. That’s another note for actors, even those in small roles: if you go that extra mile, people do notice.

After the models flee the stage, the scene evolves into an action sequence featuring John Cusack, Chow Yun-fat, his bodyguard (on-screen and off) Don Thai and various others. The assassination is orchestrated by the character played by Andy On, along with his fellow rebel Chen. Chen is played by burly Chinese-British actor Hon Ping-tang. Hon did a great job, though I had initially thought of cult martial arts star Bolo Yeung for the role!  

I’d like to thank everyone at Shanghai Tang for bringing their magic to the scene, and to everyone else on the ‘ Shanghai’ shoot for their talent and patience. I hope it sounds like fun, ‘cos it was!

Bey with Joyce Hu (in costume for her 'Shanghai' role) at Moonstar studios