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| courtesy of singtao.com |
Adapted from famous Taiwan writer Giddens Ko's novel, THE TENANT DOWNSTAIRS is a dark comedy and a mystery feature film. In the story a vagrant who inherits a rental apartment posts rental advertisements near the university in hopes of recruiting some renters with dark side to satisfy his own voyeur desires and reveals a secret that not everyone knows.
Playing the landlord who lost his mind over his daughter's death at the hands of a rapist, Simon Yam Tat Wa recalled his preparation before hand and admitted that he has visited many consultants. "I went to dentists and OB/GYN doctors and asked them 'what are patients the most afraid of and what hurts them the most?' Later I also visited a psychiatrist and asked the same question. The psychiatrist gave me the best answer, which was losing the closest relative. I used his explanation to interpret my character."
Brother Wa said that he was mad for two months, after which he still wanted more. "Voyeurism is not permitted in the real world, but through this gray area of film production I can try to peep." He also said, "My character in the film would split into eight characters, I would keep thinking about how to control other people's desire everyday, keep imagining that I am different tenants and putting myself in their shoes. The method is not the same as my previous roles. My brain never stopped, which was very exhausting and very painful. For two months I thought I was making a movie, but actually I made eight movies."
Brother Wa admitted that this was the best script that he has seen in five years and even said that after making the film he was deep in thought, thought of the Hong Kong situation and the chance of making the sequel himself. "The next time I want to try a horror film with a split personality character. I have already found the location and I hope to be able to direct myself. It will be a horror love story, the next one will be either THE TENANT UPSTAIRS or THE TENANT ACROSS THE HALL. Hong Kong is a melting pot for different races from around the world, I want to write a script that takes place in Hong Kong."
In the story the mysterious writer Cheung Wing Yu would put on a "foggy raincoat" ceremonially every time he kills. Shao Yu-Wei daringly performs this character in the buff. Through the raincoat the curves of her body can be seen, so she deliberately worked out a lot. She did so not only to sculpt her figure but also to build herself up psychological, which was even more important. "I had to really get into this character to dare to take off my clothes for the camera to shoot, because at that moment I was Wing Yu and not Yu-Wei."
Having always played sweet characters from the beginning, Yu-Wei tried to play a cold blooded killer for the first time and felt very excited. "My killer is different from other characters. My motive for killing is very simple, the killing process to me is like other people cutting up vegetable in the kitchen. I define Wing Yu as a cat, a cat would play with a cockroach to death, then present it to its owner. Killing to Wing Yu is a very pleasurable thing. The most terrifying is not people who feel guilty after killing, but someone who feels no guilt at all after killing. Wing Yu is such a girl who makes people shiver."
They also have many scenes together. Yu-Wei said that Brother Wa was like a child. He was great spiritually and physically and brought joy to everyone. Was she nervous about working with Brother Wa? Yu-Wei admitted, "Whether in age or experience I had much less than Brother Wa, at the beginning I indeed was rather nervous, but because Brother Wa was very interesting, I was able to relax with my acting."
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