A Love Letter to Shanghai

http://www.chinacoproduction.com 2008-06-06 China Film Co-Production Corporation

Written by David Ren, director/writer for Shanghai Kiss (2006)

I'm not familiar with the specifics of our co-production because my producers arranged all of that. As I recall, there were certain advantages to doing it as a co-production including being able to secure distribution in China and ensuring things run smoothly during production. I chose my producer specifically because he had shot a film in Shanghai before and went through that process. I had to translate and submit the screenplay to the government for approval. They had a few small things they wanted me to change, but otherwise, we had no problems.

The movie was written as a love letter to Shanghai so I wanted to show off the beauty of the city. I was familiar beforehand with most of the locations I wanted as I lived there previously. Our location manager was able to secure most of the locations I had in mind as well as find the rest quickly. He took direction very well and was able to show me exactly what I had in mind.

We brought over the main actors from Los Angeles and secured the rest once I came to Shanghai. Some of them weren't polish or professional actors but they had great character in their faces and I felt I could direct them. In the end, the Chinese day players gave the most naturalistic performances in the film. The language barrier was somewhat of a problem. I had a hard time finding actors who spoke English. We were casting the part of a taxi driver, who had lines in English. The actors who spoke English couldn't drive. The actors who could drive couldn't speak English. We actually ended up giving our art director the role, who couldn't drive nor speak English, but somehow ended up perfect for the role. 

When I was shooting a scene in a movie theater, I wanted to show an extra holding a video camera in the background. I thought it would be funny to lampoon the rampant piracy in China. One of the Chinese co-producers wouldn't allow it and in the end, I let it go. This is the only censorship I experienced during shooting. I personally didn't think it was a big deal and the Chinese crew was otherwise very friendly and professional towards us.

There were many advantages to shooting in China, a lot of which were financial. Labor is obviously cheaper, as is background actors and most of the locations (compared to Los Angeles). For our budget, we were able to get production value that would've been impossible in Los Angeles. I was also spoiled with the Chinese crew, who was fast, hard-working, passionate, and committed. I shot my last film entirely in Los Angeles and had the opposite experience with the crew. It was a bit frustrating. So much in fact that when I got another offer to do a film in China, I jumped at it. I will be returning this summer to Shanghai to direct this Chinese follow-up.                                               

                David Ren                                           Poster of  Shanghai Kiss

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