Spiking The Beach# 2

Old school rewrite and becoming Mister Brewer

I arrived on set at the Cyberport for a scene where our two vampy villainesses hold a meeting to discuss the development of an unspoiled Hong Kong beach into an exclusive playground for the rich. Ironically, the exact same story unfolded, in real life, just as we were prepping the film. (Fortunately, in fact as in fiction, the developers were thwarted.)

Our director, Tony Tang, arrives, true to form for a Hong Kong helmer, with a full rewrite of the scene, but one that works much better than the original. As the whole sequence is in English, I sit down with our lethal lady producer, Peggy Lee, to work out the dialogue.

I was happy to have my good friend Leon Hill on hand to play the Project Manager. Leon has a great voice and presence, and is always fun to work with.

My character in this film has everything: a beautiful wife, three wonderful kids, a lovely house and he's also very rich. He's also dead, but no-one's perfect... Today I get to dress up as him to take photos of myself with two little girls who represent the daughters you see in the film, when they were young, so that you can see photos of me as remembered by them... Confused? It was an unusual feeling, kind of like being a ghost on my own set... (Though actually 'Dragon Squad'  sometimes had a little of that as well!)

One of the little girls loved taking photos with 'Daddy'; one did not:

That's my official Clan Logan tartan tie I'm wearing in the photos above. (My thanks to Craig Miller for acquiring this for me in the auld country...)

We moved outside the Cyberport for a scene shot at the exterior of a hospital. Jessica staged an impromptu 'impersonate the t-shirt' photo shoot (doing a panda etc...). I had Bruce Lee on (see photo above).

If you're a producer and have kids who express an interest in the film industry, you have to walk a fine line between occasionally bringing them to the set and letting them run wild and disturb production... Fortunately, my eldest son Ryan is quiet and thoughtful, on set, anyway, and keen to help where needed. (Especially when there are hot chicks around...)

He did help Phoenix with her Cantonese dialogue and Law Jung-him with his English lines.