Singaporean film director Eric Khoo would be the first to say that he's focused on his movies' bottom line. 'Basically, I'm a numbers man,' says the 42-year-old.
'The worst thing with 35mm cameras is the sound: You hear the magazine [reels] going, 'Grrr, grrr, grrr,' and it's like, 'One dollar, one dollar, one dollar.' Oh, s***! Digital is less than one-third the price.'
No surprise then that My Magic, his fourth and latest feature film, was shot on high-definition digital video. What surprises are the numbers: scripted in English then translated into Tamil, one of four official languages in Singapore, it was shot in just nine days for S$200,000 (HK$1.14 million). It could have been a 90-minute film, but he slashed it to 75 minutes (I didn't want to subject anyone to go, 'Why is this so long and boring?''). Most importantly, it's Singapore's first film to make the main competition at Cannes, where it has its world premiere tonight. It could well be the cheapest of the 22 entries in contention for the Palme d'Or.
On that tight budget, Khoo weaves magic out of a simple tale about an alcoholic father redeeming his failed relationship with his teenage son. 'This may sound trite or contrived, but the film was really magic. It was like a magical force was guiding us,' he says. 'When we wanted rain, it rained. Things just happened.'
It's the lead actor, Francis Bosco, who is, quite literally, magic: the 48-year-old Indian is a professional magician and plays a former magician who's become a sad shadow of himself, working as a cleaner in a nightclub.
'Without Francis, there's no magic,' says Khoo, who met him in a club about 10 years ago. 'We became drinking buddies, I would joke with him, 'The great thing about you, Francis, is if I made a film with you, I wouldn't have to spend money on special effects - it's free.' That's the producer in me talking. When I shot [Magic], I always looked at Fong Cheng [the producer] and asked, 'Are we going to OT [go overtime] or not?'. Most directors would just shoot and shoot, doing it, doing it.'
