[2024.12.20] DANNY PANG: THERE WILL ALWAYS BE RETRIBUTION FOR THOSE WHO HARM OTHERS

Kiki Tam, Jessica Chan and Yvette Chan receive praises from director Danny Pang for performing well
courtesy of singtao.com

Director Danny Pang Fat's new film HAUNTING CALL (SAU GEI GEIN GWAI) brought out the subject of school bullying through his expertise of a horror film. Director Pang said that school bullying incidents occur from time to time all over the world, but the bully seems to be difficult to be punished by the law; so he came up with the idea of making this movie, thinking that there are gods above, and there will always be retribution for those who harm others.

HAUNTING was the first ovie to be shot completely on the mobile phone in Hong Kong. He said that compared with traditional cameras, before shooting with mobile phones he needed to make sufficient preparations. He revealed that it took three months to record the production effects of different mobile phone models in different scenes, and there are different models between day and night scenes. In addition this was a theatrical movie, and after filming he had to adjust again. He joked that that the preparation process in advance was very complicated, but as long as he kept a good record, the shoot would be very smooth. "We have to use 6 different models of mobile phones when shooting, and the mobile phones will quickly run out of power and overheat. The memory will run out, so it needs to be replaced frequently. You can say that there are more mobile phones than people on the set."

Speaking of working with three new forces in the film industry, including Jessica Chan Yee Chun, Yvette Chan Shing Yu, Kiki Tam Kei Kei, Director Pang praised them for doing a good job. In particular Tam Kei Kei simply played the bully in style, and added the strangulation scene herself. One would almost thinking that she had violent tendencies. Tam Kei Kei emphasized that she was friendly and cheerful. When she got into character to bully Chan Yee Chun, she regarded her as an enemy who killed her father. When the director yelled cut, she immediately rushed to the toilet to vomit and release the pressure.

As for Chan Yee Chun being bullied by Chan Shing Yu and Tm Kei Kei in the film, she admitted that she has also been cyberbullied when she was at school. She could be empathetic during filming, and said that she would be beaten in the film. She told them not to hold back beforehand, and mentioned that in one of the scenes she was set on fire. "The crew has taken all the safety measures, but because the fire is difficult to control. The fire still burns my skin during filming; but the shoot continues before the director yells the cut, so the pain of that scene is a real feeling."

The movie's subject is school bullying. Director Pang bluntly said that he never understood why this happened. "In my era, at most someone would do was draw a turtle on your back; but now bullying is eager for you to die, and there is no reason. Maybe there are too many violent games now. After these things happen, the law seems to be unable to punish the perpetrator; but I believe that there are gods above, and people who do harm would always have retribution. This is the reason why I made this film." In addition, Director Pang filed for bankruptcy last year to save his wife with cancer. This year his economic situation has improved, the bankruptcy application has been cancelled. Director Pang revealed that his wife was still fighting her illness. Her condition has improved, so he returned to work. He said that he would keep working hard. Speaking of the Pang Brothers not working together for awhile, Pang Fat joked that for both brothers to direct together it would be expensive. "How can we shoot when we take up 70% of the production budget? It's better to shoot separately."